Stella Supper Club: How Food and Storytelling Combined in a Uniquely Captivating Campaign
What makes for a truly great night at a restaurant? Of course, the food needs to be unforgettable - the kind of tastes you can’t help but bring up amongst friends for months, perhaps even years, into the future. But more than that, what invariably makes for a stellar dining experience is the company you share it with, and the stories you exchange with one another.
That was the insight behind the Stella Supper Club, an innovative series created by Stella Artois and Pop-Up Magazine where famous faces are invited to share stories amidst the intimate setting of a top restaurant - and where their only audience is their fellow diners.
Leading the way with the project’s first outing was Will Butler, the multi-instrumentalist and composer perhaps best known as a former member of Arcade Fire, at the beautiful Besharam restaurant in the heart of San Francisco. Over the course of an engrossing evening, the rocking raconteur told the story of his incredible grandfather - Alvino Rey - who helped popularise the electric guitar in the USA and beyond.
What’s unique about watching the Supper Club - a groundbreaking new series which Stella will continue to support through future episodes - is that the viewer truly feels like a diner at the Besharam restaurant. It’s concept which looks to prove how the magic of storytelling is alive and well, not just through stellar cinematography but also a stripped-back focus on the art of narrative itself.
Pop-Up Magazine (the creative powerhouse based in San Francisco) reached out to Revelator director Jonn Herschend to collaborate with them on ways to bring the experience to life for viewers. Juggling the pressures of a live event with the need to create a simultaneously ‘cinematic and intimate’ piece of film, Herschend and his team were able to produce a beautifully-made short film which essentially places the viewer at the dinner table.
To go behind the scenes of this unique campaign, LBB’s Adam Bennett spoke with Revelator’s Jonn Herschend, DOP Paul Helzer, and editor Wenjing Zhang…
Above: Will Butler, formerly of the legendary indie rock titans Arcade Fire, held court in the first instalment of the Stella Supper Club.
LBB> What were your initial visions going into this project, and how closely do they align with the finished film?
Jonn> We went into this thinking it would have a hybrid look of something from Chef’s Table, coupled with energy of The Bear. Doug McGray from Pop-Up pitched this to me as having a feeling like one of those nights when you are at a dinner, and you find yourself falling into a really incredible conversation with great food.
Paul> That’s right - one of Jonn’s main concerns when we were discussing the vision for this project was the issue of intimacy. In other words, how do we create a feeling of theatricality but maintain an intimate feel between the audience and storyteller?
Jonn> At the same time, I wanted the viewer to feel that they were in the middle of this experience, listening to the story, drinking Stella and eating incredible food. In order to make that work, all the shots required elements of other diners: their shoulders, their hair, their hands, etc.
Because this was a live experience, we couldn’t stop and start and readjust as we might normally do - we had to treat it more like a 1990’s sitcom. On top of that we had to juggle the restaurant’s need to get food out to the tables in a timely manner. We couldn’t let things drag, or the audience would lose their excitement. It was intense.
LBB> Wenjing, the animation flows perfectly into Will’s story - what makes the look and feel of it so right for this project, in your view?
Wenjing> There's a musicality to the animation, where the hand drawn lines and constant movement mimic the unpredictability of jazz. It feels fun and full of energy, just like Alvino was himself.
LBB> Although your goal was to create an ‘intimate’ feeling to the film, I understand that you also wanted to make it ‘cinematic’. How do you strike the balance between those two characteristics?
Jonn> Two words - Paul Helzer! I had worked with Paul a handful of times previously on some music videos and other Pop-Up projects, and I really love his style.
Paul> We really focused on making sure that a lot of our shots of Will had some piece of the audience in it. One of the cameras was roving around the audience trying to get shots with as much foreground of folks as possible, but with a long lens so that it felt really packed in.
By contrast, a lot of the listening shots of the audience's faces were shot fairly tight to foster this sense of intimacy. We also wanted to celebrate the food, so we focused on plates coming out of the kitchen and grabbing peoples’ reactions to them landing on their tables.
Jonn> One other thing to add is that we also knew that we were developing a style for the future Stella Supper Club episodes. Paul selected our sight lines, and we both leaned into the Flea Bag dinner shot set-up and worked to create something that could be nimble and allow for Paul and his team to focus on getting really great shots.
Above: A gallery of behind-the-scenes images taken from the shoot. Photo credit: Drew Bird.
LBB> Jonn, you also worked with Will on the scripting of the story. What were you looking to achieve heading into that process, and do you see it reflected in the finished film?
Jonn> Will had performed this story during a Pop-Up Magazine tour a few years earlier, so I had a video of it and was able to get his timing. In that sense, there was already a script - but Pop-Up wanted this to appear unscripted and conversational.
My conversations with Will were more about hitting certain beats and keeping things going. He’s a natural performer and has a charming, scruffy elegance. Plus his music is rad. He’s been on stage for most of his adult life, and knows how to entertain and take direction. He was an absolute pleasure to work with.
LBB> I understand that you guys will be working with Stella on future instalments of the Supper Club. What can you tell us about your vision for where this series is going to go in future?
Jonn> In a broad sense, storytelling is a way to slow things down and live an experience for a few moments in real time. In the commercial world, everything is getting faster and faster. The algorithms are dictating content and pacing. Literally the first second of a video determines how many views, clicks, likes...etc.
But Storytelling is about taking time. It's literally about craft, art, and pacing. And when it's done well, you get lost in it. I'm positive that Pop-Up and Stella recognise the importance of this and are working out ways to push the envelope a bit more. Our current plan is leaning towards an embrace of that experience, the anti-algorithmic moment when the story pulls you in and you just let go and listen because it's compelling and beautiful. That's the sort of work we love making and it’s why we feel right at home working on this series.
LBB> What was the most challenging component of the project, and how did you overcome it?
Wenjing> Conceptually, it's not the most fun thing to simply watch a guy talk for six straight minutes, but at the same time you don't want to overdo the cuts and lose the flow of the story or make it too choppy. Ultimately you have to really feel out the story, and notice the natural places to change camera angles, or add a reaction, and keep the flow going without forcing it.
Paul> As with most projects, time is always the most limiting factor - that and working with the tools you have on hand. We had a big space to light in a short amount of time, and getting the light levels right so you can see everything but maintaining the right feel throughout the space was a challenge. Early in the set up we were able to rig a series of units throughout the space so we could dial in the right hint of light without it feeling lit.
Jonn> For me personally, the most challenging part involved the live audience element. We realised that this would be a fairly intense live experience with a lot of moving parts that would not really allow for us to retake the shot until we got it right. Our producer, Andrew Hummel, got way out in front of all possible scenarios and helped us build a schedule that would account for any sort of bump or misalignment. I had to keep the audience amped and became less of a director and more of a warm-up guy in the occasional instances where we had to re-light or repeat a shot. The vibe in the room was super excited and supportive, so we had a bit of grace.
LBB> Finally, imagine that you’re hosting your own storytelling evening. You can choose any restaurant in the world that you’ve been to as your location - where are you headed, and why?
Wenjing> I like the idea of this being outside, blending together storytelling with live music and the sounds of nature. There's a place in Kyoto that serves a multi-course meal all centering around tofu, and you have to do a short hike to get to this restaurant. It's very traditional, where everyone sits on tatami mats, and the windows are all open and you're basically in the middle of a forest. That would be a special place.
Paul> As a parent of young folks my dining experiences are limited, but Outerlands in San Francisco comes to mind. The food is simple but made from quality ingredients and that type of comfort food seems appropriate for sharing stories.
Jonn> I’ve just moved back to LA after being gone for almost 30 years. So I’m in love with the city all over again, particularly the East Side. There’s an old school Italian Steakhouse in Eagle Rock called Colombo’s. It’s got a piano bar and old school, red leather banquette seats. It’s perfect for this sort of thing!
