Black Swan Brushes Commercial

A few months back, our client, Jerry’s Artarama, contacted us about writing and producing a commercial for the animal-friendly paintbrush company, Black Swan Brushes.  What came to mind almost immediately were the Swan Lake ballet and also the film, Black Swan.  Prior to working at Burning Oak Studios, I toured with the Moscow Ballet throughout the US and Canada as their photographer and video producer. I hate to admit it, but I know a little too much about ballet!

I knew I wanted to show the brand as more than just a paintbrush, but more of a sophisticated tool that performs at the highest standards.  I wanted to figure out a way to parallel the perfected movements of a ballet dancer with the strokes of a paintbrush.  After watching countless product commercials and ballet performances, the ideas started flowing. 

The idea was to build a very minimal set, similar to an artist’s studio, and have an artist paint the audience a picture while a Tchaikovsky track plays in the background. It wouldn’t be until the end of the commercial where you get the big reveal of the project.  

I wanted someone that was an artist, but not necessarily a painter. Since the artists face is not really seen nor as important as the brushes, I decided to use our designer, Adam. I found some reference photos online and I showed Adam what I wanted the final painting to look like. Adam customized the photo a bit and sketched it out on a large canvas.

Once I figured out the best way to film the painting being created, the next step was to start filming. I directed Adam to do a combination of both long and short strokes while also using a variation of different brushes. Below is a link to the final project!

https://vimeo.com/114665012

By Daniel Herzog (@HerzogDaniel)