Pringles and Great Guns Asia today welcome the World Cup with the brand’s latest campaign, ‘Kick-Off The Fun’, directed by Tal Zagreba.
The spot opens in a living room with a Pringles lid being flicked off the classic red can. As it flies into the camera, suddenly the scene changes to a football pitch, the blow of a whistle letting us know the action is about to begin. From there, energetic shots are paired with exciting transitions to seamlessly blend the living room and stadium scenes, until the act of eating Pringles is transformed into a high-octane sport.
The initial brief for director Tal Zagreba was to manifest how opening a Pringles tube can bring the fun, elevating every football game to a World Cup level of thrill. With this in mind, Tal began visualising a high-speed parallel edit between the fans in the living room and the players on the field, so that every time a Pringle gets eaten, something exciting happens in the stadium.
In combining the world of football and Pringles, Tal wanted to take viewers on a ride that makes them feel the fun rather than just see it, striving for a stirring visual experience kick-started by opening a Pringles can, which then accelerates up to the grand finale of the free kick scene.
In order to achieve this, Tal had to establish a strong connection between the consumption of the Pringles in the living room and the energetic moves at the stadium. He designed the visual language out of sharp match cuts between the players and the fans, dynamic camera movements to hold the rhythm and boost the drama, and creative transitions for a dose of roller coaster energy - almost like a duel between the fans and the players.
One of the biggest challenges of the project - aside from shooting in Bangkok in the middle of the wet season - was pulling off the large number of complex shots in the most dynamic way. In close collaboration, Tal worked with DP Andrew Strobridge and the Great Guns team with EP Lucien Tyssendier to deconstruct every shot, make tests for the tricky scenes (such as the free kick routine shot in reduced FPS to perfect the realistic motion blur), and set up the rigs, lenses, and special camera equipment on set to capture the most exciting results.
Director Tal Zagreba comments, “I’d like to thank the agency and client for giving me such amazing artistic freedom and believing in my vision from the start. A huge amount of gratitude goes to my team and crews for being so professional and passionate during all the production stages to execute the best result I could ask for. Oh, and eat Pringles – they’re yummy!”