art direction & PRODUCTION DESIGN
GIANT Food Stores - one of my very favorite clients. There’s a level of world-building — especially in the 360° steadicam spots — that my team and I rarely get to enjoy in thirty second commercials. Often we’re focused on family, on creating realistic lifestyle clutter, on capturing the little moments…and sometimes it’s more about humor, where the props and setpieces become critical.
No matter what the aim, these great projects always require diligent planning and strong attention to detail. To ensure that the produce always shines, the smiles are always unforced, and the dinner table is as inviting as humanly possible. 2021 - 2023
CLIENT: GIANT FOOD STORES
AGENCY: BROWNSTEIN
Chrono24, the world’s largest online watch market, retained Ruckus to concept and execute a new campaign to catapult their brand efforts domestically. They reinvented Father Time - casting the incredibly talented Mark Webber - as a dapper, mysterious, and ageless adventurer inspiring us all to Be Timeless.
With Ruckus’ guidelines and preliminary storyboards, I designed an intricate, timeless vault to anchor Father Time’s adventures. A central point of collection for all of his memories. The main set itself was fairly grand, covering approximately 1800ft² - and every element within it was practical and custom-fabricated.
The ancillary sets of the 80s rock club and the Roaring Twenties-inspired speakeasy - while more localized - still required period propping, custom graphics, and deft timing to set up and break down within an ambitious shoot window. March-April, 2022
CLIENT: CHRONO24
AGENCY: RUCKUS
DIRECTOR: ADAM EVANS
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: NIK DIENER
ART DEPARTMENT: STEVE ARNOLD, JON CHAIFETZ
HERO SETPIECE FABRICATIONS: SCENERY FIRST
STUDIO: TC STUDIOS
Tight on time. Tight on money. Tight on manpower. At first glance, I wasn’t exactly sure how we’d pull it off. When Murder Nation was presented to me, the schedule was one week to prep two episodes, and then 3-4 days to shoot them…and then you started again with two new episodes. Art department of two: myself and one assistant. With each single episode requiring anywhere from 6 to 12 different sets and no foreknowledge of what was coming down the line from week-to-week, I had to develop a method to keep everything moving, no matter what.
The question is always the same: Can I execute what is being asked for the resources I have, and yield results that I’m proud of? That last bit is important. The only way I could see getting this done was a two-pronged approach to the production. Firstly, I’d have our studio build two versatile, somewhat modular sets that we could just keep reskinning, always leap-frogging between sets so camera is always rolling on something. New flooring, new paint, new paneling, new window treatments, new furniture, new props. Now that seafood restaurant is an interrogation room in about 40 minutes, just in time for lighting and camera to move over.
Secondly, I’d establish a master choreography plan for the shoot week at the beginning of each cycle, a comprehensive outline of how we’d spend each hour, how we were occupying space, what steps needed to occur in what order to flip a set, and how camera could help us by favoring some angles over others to avoid our sins. Communication was key, and every department was living or dying by the decisions of other departments. By embracing our limitations, and working within them, we were able to move through the day with efficiency, rarely a minute wasted.
Across different decades, different states, and different socio-economic classes. Police stations, hunting cabins, morgues, bathrooms, kitchens, bedrooms, churches, riverbanks, and trailers. 1970s Best Western one minute, Waffle House the next. An absolute jigsaw puzzle, a logistic beast, a deeply challenging brain-crunch. This was a project that truly exploited every skill I have up my sleeve. February-October, 2021.
CLIENT: HLN
DIRECTOR: VERONICA STICKELMAN
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: SEAN DAHLBERG
PRODUCTION: GLASS ENTERTAINMENT GROUP
ROCK STAR ART ASSISTANT: STEVEN ARNOLD
SET CONSTRUCTION: HILL THEATER STUDIO
I was honored to be brought back by Glass to act as Production Designer on this spectacular project - a limited series exploring the life of a complicated man who became a mythologized American icon.
The shoot straddled the outbreak of Covid-19, but we were very lucky to be bolstered by a small but profoundly versatile art department, and an unbelievably supportive production team who put safety, communication, and well-being ahead of everything else. Thus far, this project and the people involved in it has been the highlight of my career. January-September, 2020.
CLIENT: CNN
DIRECTOR: JON HIRSCH
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: MATT JOFFE
PRODUCTION: GLASS ENTERTAINMENT GROUP
This is a music video for contact lenses. I’m not sure what else to call it. Like any music video, I’ll forever have the song burned into the wrinkles of my brain.
This one required medical propping, rolling setpieces, custom graphic builds, a balloon drop, and confetti cannons. December, 2019.
CLIENT: BAUSCH + LOMB
AGENCY: DiD AGENCY
DIRECTOR: TED PASSON
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ZAC RUBINO
PRODUCTION: ALL AGES PRODUCTIONS
ART DEPARTMENT: JON CHAIFETZ, STEVEN ARNOLD
SET CONSTRUCTION: HILL THEATER STUDIO
I led a spectacular team for this beautiful, quick-cut spot for Jefferson University, focusing on their architecture, design, and fashion programs. Looks deceivingly fluid now, but had a remarkable number of moving parts when we were shooting it. September, 2019
CLIENT: JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY
AGENCY: 160 OVER 90
DIRECTOR: BEN NICHOLAS
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: MINKA FARTHING-KOHL
PRODUCTION: 160 OVER 90
ART DEPARTMENT: JON CHAIFETZ, CHRISTIAN REINHARDSEN, STEVEN ARNOLD
It was an incredible privilege to be hired as the propmaster for 2019’s Eagles Hype spot, following in the inimitable footsteps of my friend Tony Trov who had the gig for years and moved onto bigger and better jawns. August, 2019.
CLIENT: PHILADELPHIA EAGLES
AGENCY: 160 OVER 90
DIRECTOR: RYAN SCOTT
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: DREW SARACCO
PRODUCTION: 160 OVER 90
This series of highly stylized interviews for the pharmaceutical Xiidra required a number of different elements to be developed simultaneously: a minimalist limbo set, several different collections of color-branded furniture and accessories that were unique to the interview subject, custom built interview boxes (and the smaller interior boxes), and the many different props that acted as tangible prompts - each with a question printed on or attached to it.
I designed the set to evoke the human eye, while remaining a relatively sparse canvas against which our interview subjects and their stories could hold focus.
The Hero Interview Boxes and their contents were a fairly expansive undertaking in and of themselves. Props had to be sourced that fit the questions/criteria…but that also fit within the available space inside each interior container. Layouts within layouts. And then we had to decide how to include the question with each prop.
This was an incredibly fulfilling project the whole way through; I had tons of support from my team at All Ages and some fantastic assistants. The entire affair took approximately three months from concept to wrap. May, 2019.
CLIENT: XIIDRA
AGENCY: DIGITAS HEALTH
DIRECTOR: TED PASSON
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: ZAC RUBINO
PRODUCTION: ALL AGES PRODUCTIONS
ART DEPARTMENT: JON CHAIFETZ, STEVEN ARNOLD
SET CONSTRUCTION: DONE & DUSTED
A love-letter to the humble, neighborhood video store seemed almost too good to be true. But there we were, crammed into a small room munching popcorn and watching “They Live”. For this project, I mostly tackled odds and ends, converting the floor of a rental house into a proxy viewing room and generating insane props…but I did get to create the pulpy newsprint/grindhouse aesthetic of the overall package. One of those jobs I can’t believe they actually paid me to do. February-March, 2019.
CLIENT: SYFY
DIRECTOR: PAUL TRIGGIANI & KEVIN KELLY
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: DREW SARACCO
PRODUCTION: ALL AGES PRODUCTIONS
Putting this spot together feels like a fever dream now; myself and my team only had a few days to inject some Philadelphia color into each of four different locations…culminating in several takes of an increasingly glorious “gatorade” dump. Custom pastries, custom artwork, custom painting, reupholstering, graphics, spill gags, and a synchronized confetti blast. Easily one of the most cohesive and positive crews I’ve ever worked with made what could have been a slog an absolute home run. October, 2018.
CLIENT: ROTHMAN ORTHOPAEDICS
AGENCY: LEVLANE
DIRECTOR: RYAN SCOTT
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: DREW SARACCO
PRODUCTION: ALL AGES PRODUCTIONS
This spot for Independence Blue Cross had a surprising amount of moving parts, but I’m very happy with how it came together - both as a commercial and as a brief love-letter to Philly. It didn’t hurt that we all ended up with ice cream cones. August, 2018.
One of the most ambitious projects I’ve ever been a part of, art directing the POPE docudrama miniseries for CNN was an extraordinary experience from top to bottom. I co-led a stellar team of rough-and-ready art mavericks along with my close colleague Jon Chaifetz - acquiring, designing and decorating props, graphics, furniture, setpieces, smoke/fire gags, religious ephemera and weaponry across nearly 2,000 years of period re-enactments. We made every dollar work very hard for us, and exceptional framing and movement from our camera department helped to hide any sins. July-September, 2017.
Martin Luther nails his 95 theses to the church door.
CLIENT: CNN ORIGINAL SERIES
DIRECTOR: RANDY COUNSMAN
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: DANE LAWING
PRODUCTION: NANCY GLASS PRODUCTIONS
Here is a series of spots I did for Short Order Production House and their client, the Delaware Department of Education. Each spot was wonderfully written, shot, and edited, managing to tell a compelling story in a very brief amount of time. They’re all terrific and I'm extremely proud to have been involved. January, 2017.
CLIENT: DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
DIRECTOR: MIKE PFEIFER
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: JASON PREZANT
PRODUCTION: SHORT ORDER PRODUCTION HOUSE
Regardless of political affiliation, it was a privilege to be hired as the local art director for Hillary's last tv spot before the 2016 election. An interesting turnaround - I had overnight to turn a stark, drab hotel room in Philadelphia into something warmer and more residential for her one long take into the camera. November, 2016.
I and my colleague Jon Chaifetz designed this clean and modern "limbo" set for an Inspira Health Network commercial. Even though the final spot only features a brief glimpse of this set, I'm quite happy with the balance we struck in the space. To me, it feels busy but open, monochromatic but not flat, lived-in but still a bit surreal. November, 2016.
CLIENT: INSPIRA HEALTH NETWORK
DIRECTOR: BERNIE ROUX
PRODUCTION: ALKEMY-X
STUDIO: HILL THEATRE STUDIO
These two spots were a blast. The location was a totally empty basement, so I had a blank slate to work with before turning it into two different cluttered, lived in spaces. Flood pool, fight scenes, monster costumes, and extensive sfx...this spot was stupidly satisfying to be a part of. September, 2016.
CLIENT: HOMESERVE USA
DIRECTOR: MICHAEL BIGELOW
AGENCY: DIMASSIMO GOLDSTEIN
PRODUCTION: GLG MEDIA
SFX: STUART LEVY
This was a collaboration with Steve Pannepacker - one of Philadelphia's most celebrated and reknown propmasters. We were hired by Karma Agency to prop and style a photo shoot in Fairfax, VA for Trex Decking & Railing that would showcase fifteen of their different looks. Each decking/railing combo had it's own identity, and with limited time and space, each prop selection had to be a deft one. January, 2016.
Leading a team of five others, I art directed a series of branded content spots for IKEA and HGTV starring designer Caitlin McCarthy. While Caitlin created the master design for each of five featured showrooms, myself and my team had to see it through - a massive undertaking that required days of acquisition, sorting, building and organizing. We shot five spots over one night in IKEA's showrooms, and the key to keeping things swimming was to have each member of my team leap-frogging from set to set, playing to their skill sets. I tend to be very process-driven on larger shoots, and this was one of those jobs that made ridiculously efficient use of time and money by starting with a strong plan. November, 2015.
CLIENT: IKEA/HGTV
DIRECTOR: JULIE ROBERTS
PRODUCTION: ALKEMY-X
Some shots from a print/video in-store merchandising refresh for TD Bank. August, 2015.
CLIENT: TD BANK
PHOTOGRAPHER: CHRIS SEMBROT
PRODUCTION: CHRIS SEMBROT PHOTOGRAPHY
AGENCY: TIERNEY
Fairly straightforward on the surface, this was a refresh for the interview environment for Kate Plus 8's third season. However, it needed to be built in the loft space of her garage and have enough flexibility to serve as the interview space for her, or all the considerably older (and taller) children simultaneously. I had three days from concept, through installation, to the shoot. Below is a style reference I submitted for the network to approve. April, 2015.
CLIENT: TRAILBLAZER
PRODUCTION: KATE PLUS 8
I got to let my inner child out finding (and building) things for these two boys to goof around with. Props included custom found-item go-karts, reptiles, tent forts, a garage floor paper maze, and some deconstructed skateboards. May, 2013.
CLIENT: BLUECROSS BLUESHIELD OF NORTH CAROLINA
DIRECTOR: TERESA WINGERT
PRODUCTION: FIONA
Assorted glimpses at art direction and set dressing.
