The Directors: Miguel Alvarez

Miguel Alvarez is a filmmaker who has received awards from the Directors’ Guild of America, Panavision’s Emerging Filmmaker program, the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, and the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture. His most recent project, the short film Atlantic City, premiered at Aspen ShortsFest, and was chosen for the inaugural Kodak + Kickstarter Film Initiative. His short documentary, The Giant Still Sleeps, recently premiered on PBS and the Washington Post Online. Miguel holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering and an MFA in Film Production from the University of Texas at Austin, where he continues to lecture today.  His commercial clients include ESPN, Pandora, Ally Financial, WebMD, Ethos Life and many, many more.

Name: Miguel Alvarez

Location: Austin, TX

Repped by/in: Revelator

Awards: 

• Lone Star Emmy, 2018
• Kodak + Kickstarter Filmmaker Award 2016
• Cinefestival/Sundance Latino Writers Lab Fellow 2013
• National Association of Latino Arts and Culture Fellowship 2010
• Directors Guild of America Student Award 2008
• National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts Scholarship 2006, 2007, 2008
• Panavision Emerging Filmmaker Award 2007

LBB> What elements of a script sets one apart from the other and what sort of scripts get you excited to shoot them?

Miguel> I love scripts that are visual and that tell a really clear story. I usually know they’re good if I start getting multiple images in my head as I read it. The ideas start popping in and with a good script, they don’t stop.

LBB> How do you approach creating a treatment for a spot? 

Miguel> I really need to connect with the script in order to start putting a treatment together. I usually settle on tone first, and then let that inform everything I put together. As a filmmaker, I want all my pieces to feel cinematic and bold. To pull this off I try to cull images from Shotdeck as well as visual art pieces. In some cases, there is no script, just an idea. When that happens, I clearly outline the narrative of the piece, as story is key to engaging with an audience. For instance, with this piece I did for Ravensburger, we pitched a concept for their Alien: Fate of the Nostromo game. To me, what makes any game addictive is the ability to immerse yourself in the world of that game. I wanted to imagine that our Gameplayer is literally in the game. Fate of the Nostromo centres on moving around a ship trying to avoid the titular Alien. So we pitched an idea based around a gameplayer who goes to the fridge to grab a drink and on the way back, his house slowly transforms into the Nostromo ship as he’s being stalked by the Alien. For our treatment, I referenced images from the original Alien movie and other sci-fi space films to put the treatment together. Smoky hallways, dark shadows, spaceship gadgets. We pretty much stuck to that aesthetic for the shoot and were quite pleased with how it turned out.

LBB> If the script is for a brand that you're not familiar with/ don’t have a big affinity with or a market you're new to, how important is it for you to do research and understand that strategic and contextual side of the ad? If it’s important to you, how do you do it?

Miguel> Research is key. If not, I’m flying blind. I’ll typically look at previous pieces that were done for the brand but I’m careful not to just redo what was done before. I’ve found it extremely helpful to see what their competitors are doing - how are they telling their story, what’s important to them, etc. I also think it’s important to poke around the client’s website. What’s their overall brand message? How do they present it? I poke around in their world for a bit to make sure I understand what they’re trying to do.

LBB> For you, what is the most important working relationship for a director to have with another person in making an ad? And why?  

Miguel> I’m married to a production designer and so that has to be my answer! All kidding aside, the cinematographer and production designer are key. Directors are visual storytellers and so it’s imperative that I work with people who understand, complement, and augment that visual story. Creatively, we all have to be in synch so that the piece works. I tend to work with the same people and so for me, this is the funnest part.

LBB> What type of work are you most passionate about - is there a particular genre or subject matter or style you are most drawn to? 

Miguel> There’s two! I love deadpan comedy. Those old 'This is Sportscenter' commercials were comedy gold and I could just rewatch them over and over again. They were shot verité style, mostly visual, little-to-no dialogue, and the comedy would arise from the absurdity of the world (usually in a single handheld wide). The campaign I did for Ally Financial falls right into this category. We did one longer, more traditional comedy 30sec piece, and shorter, 15sec pieces which leaned into the deadpan. I’m also a huge fan of science fiction, so any chance for me to work in that genre, I leap at.

LBB> What’s the craziest problem you’ve come across in the course of a production – and how did you solve it? 

Miguel> I was prepping for a short narrative which would have a scene where prisoners were transported in an older train. We found an old working one at a rail museum here in Texas and secured it a couple of months out from production. Then three days before shooting I got a call from the museum. The train was no longer available – Spielberg wanted it for a film he was doing. So we pivoted. We ended up building a fake, underground pit and altered the script accordingly. In the end, I think it worked out better for us (no thanks to Spielberg).

LBB> How do you strike the balance between being open/collaborative with the agency and brand client while also protecting the idea? 

Miguel> That’s a tricky one. I think that if you’re open with the client about why the idea works, and it’s a good idea, you’ll normally get the green light. I worked with an agency, Tilted Chair, that wanted to do a campaign for Ethos Life Insurance. We started at four 30sec spots but then realised that we could also generate a number of 15sec spots if we just added a shot or two to each spot. We came in early and helped at the script stage and that really helped align their vision for the campaign with my visual and story sensibilities. So when we went to production, we all were on the same page. Obviously there’s always going to be things that come up - a new idea, an extra shot, etc, but for the most part, it was smooth sailing. Coming in at the script stage is so much more fun because I feel like I have more creative input. 

LBB> What are your thoughts on opening up the production world to a more diverse pool of talent? Are you open to mentoring and apprenticeships on set? 

Miguel> I am a huge advocate for diversifying the set. I’m a film professor and so I actively try and steer students from under-represented communities to my sets. Most of my top line crew tend to be BIPOC and I bring my students on set for paid positions when I can.

LBB> Your work is now presented in so many different formats - to what extent do you keep each in mind while you're working (and, equally, to what degree is it possible to do so)? 

Miguel> It’s always at the back of my mind when shooting now. I try to shoot specifically for different aspect ratios when we have the time.

LBB> Which pieces of work do you feel really show off what you do best – and why?

Miguel> I really love this piece we did for Ravensburger Game that I referenced earlier. We were doing a spot for their Alien: Fate of the Nostromo game and it was a blast. As I mentioned, I’m a huge fan of sci-fi, and of course, the Alien franchise. I was able to create some cool, sci-fi sets and shoot in a really moody atmosphere and thoroughly geeked out.

I did a campaign for Ally Financial with pro golfer Mark O’Meara. The agency wanted something akin to The Office but my pitch was to do something along the lines of those “This is Sportscenter” ads I talked about earlier. I was proud of how these turned out.

I created a web series back in 2020 called Voto 2020 that showcased young, non-traditional Latinx voting rights advocates around the country. One of these was a profile of a teenager in Houston voting for the first time. It was that perfect blend of advocacy and documentary that I love to do.

Similarly, I had a chance to get a little absurd with these Ethos Life Insurance spots. I had seen a bubble-wrapped contestant on a Japanese game show and used that as a way to visualise an over-protective family.