BBQ GONE WRONG

Directed by Liam Elias

ExtraMile Brand® | Scholar

the story

Who loves a BBQ? 🌭🏖️ I’d say just about everyone. To kick off ExtraMile’s summer season, we brought ExtraMan® back in style alongside hotdogs, palm trees, and a whole lot of backup snacks. From the sizzle of the grill to the gleam of the snack aisle, we set out to create a full-on summer sensory experience to bring ExtraMile’s delicious universe to life.

This spot was all about rhythm and reveal, cutting between the confident calm of Tina to the charred chaos of Gus at the grill, all while building a world that feels vibrant, warm, and cheekily familiar. I had the chance to help shape that world through lighting, design, and visual storytelling, highlighting the golden glow of a summer afternoon and the little cinematic details that make the whole thing feel real.

A SIZZLING
SUMMER

For this one, I really wanted the lighting to feel like we grabbed a camera, stepped into a real summer afternoon, and just started rolling. Instead of leaning into overly stylized CG lighting, we took cues straight from live-action cinematography and those little atmospheric details you only get when the sun’s doing half the work.

In stylized worlds, it’s easy to crank the contrast and go full gloss, but I wanted the opposite: something that felt grounded and familiar. Like these could be real people making a snack run to ExtraMile on a scorcher of a day. We chased the warmth of summer, the glow on the pavement, the shimmer off hot metal, those soft patches of dappled sunlight that make you want to dive straight into a pool.

And of course, we shot into the shadows. Always. It gave our close-ups a sense of intimacy and drama, sculpting faces, drawing focus, and adding that delicious bit of visual poetry that makes CG feel like it has a soul.