This project for the Boston-based agency Hill Holliday was a storytelling dream project for Timothy. Initially planned as a library footage shoot, this project took on a whole new life of its own when we realized that the story we were capturing, paired with a beautifully written VO, would give us a truly unique perspective and commercial about what it really means to be a once in a generation talent like Joan Benoit Samuelson. The Creative team at Hill Holliday took the finished 60-second spot to Harvard Pilgrim, and the client bought the commercial and has run it for the last two years during the Boston Marathon season.

During the Editorial process, Timothy wanted to use his visual effects experience to add some depth to the timeframe of the project. Since we only had two days in September to shoot, we could only get so many different scenes, weather scenarios, and outfits. With the use of VFX, we changed Joan’s shirt colors and the seasons of the Maine wilderness she was running in, which resulted in far more depth of storytelling. The goal was to make these effects seamless, so no one would notice the nearly 10 visual effects shots throughout the piece. A sample of the VFX is in the last video below.

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