Cira Restaurant Commercial - ID# 325
South Elgin
Commercial
Entry Description
Commercial for CIRA restaurant in Chicago, IL, a modern Mediterranean restaurant celebrating fresh, coastal ingredients from Boka Restaurant Group and Chef Chris Pandel. Music licensed through Universal Production Music. Alternate link if YouTube doesn't work: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EqmXWca2P4onk4N7pFZvNWTJeHF7_VkP/view?usp=sharing
Copyright Info
Recent Teacher Comments
Judge 1
Positives:
Improvements:
Judge 2
Positives: Your food shots are great. I wanted to eat everything in the food shots. If the food doesn't look tasty, the WHOLE commercial doesn't work. But those fries and burger looked great! I hate salad and even the salad looked vibrant and fun. The two non-food shots that I think are best are the opening wide shot of the whole restaurant, and the guy preparing food. I think these shots are best for convincing me to come to this restaurant.
Improvements: The sound / song seems like it cuts off abruptly at the end. This is subtle but still something I noticed. I would suggest either a more gradual fade in the music, or time the song so that it ends at the same time the commercial ends. I did like the music choice / editing other than that. I'm a little thrown off by the darker shots and the subway. Your commercial has great food shots but some of the restaurant shots seem like dark corners (at 0:07 and 0:09). The dark shots feel more like prison than a fun restaurant (I'm exaggerating for the purpose of making my point). If I wanted to show a dismal prison cafeteria where the food is terrible and life is terrible, I would shoot it as dark and gray as possible. Also, the subway is a COOL shot but I don't know if it is adding or subtracting from me wanting to eat at this restaurant. When I think of subways, I think of big crowds and urban life and wanting to wash my hands. Restaurant and food commercials are usually bright and colorful. Vibrant colors are more appetizing than greys and darkness. When you walk into a frozen yogurt place, the whole thing is like a shiny rainbow of colors everywhere. Most food / beverage / restaurant commercials are color explosions. Colors get our appetite excited because they make the food seem fresh. 95% of fast food chains have vibrant red as one of their colors because it evokes thoughts of fresh meat. Bright green is the healthy / eco-friendly color in food. Any vegan place or environmentally conscious place will have bright green in their logo and on their walls because it makes us think of fresh, clean, vegetables and helping the environment. Suggestion: If you are really trying to sell the great food and drinks, I would have the commercial be 90% color explosions (bright green salad, awesome fries and burger, fire blazing in the kitchen pan, bright drinks, very brightly lit rooms, bright logos, etc) HOWEVER, it doesn't mean that dark is wrong. It's just conflicting if you are trying to show me that the restaurant is really fresh and the food is great. There could be a situation where you show a restaurant with dark colors. Maybe there is a restaurant that is more subdued, and you are marketing it towards and older quiet crowd that just wants to sip wine and not have anyone bother them. A cool, downtown jazz club probably could be darker and have more a mysteriousness to it. I just think that with the music you chose and this specific restaurant, I would go with 90% vibrant colors for the entire commercial next time. All of this to say: I think you were thinking like a film person, not a marketing person. All of your shots were cool and interesting, but you have to remember that cool and interesting has a time a place. Your shots (the dark shots and the subway shot) would be PERFECT in a cool film set in urban Chicago.
Judge 3
Positives: You have a good variety of shots that showcase the vibe of the restaurant. Your mechanics were good the music fit the vibe of the image and the shots were interesting.
Improvements: I would have liked to know what was special about the restaurant, having watched this it seems like a nice place. If I knew nothing about the restaurant I wouldn't know what it was special. I think you could have worked ambient noise into the mix. We could hear people enjoying themselves, glasses clicking, the train going past to get a better sense of the place.
Judge 4
Positives:
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Judge 5
Positives: What's great about this spot overall is that it hits the bar of actually being a little video package that Cira would buy to throw up on their yelp for potential customers. More specifically: - The edit pacing had a really nice flow - quick while still getting a good sense of the experience offered - the shot of the passing train was a little underexposed but still really cool. - The variety of shots and camera work was really nice, great variety of food beauty, drinks clinking, wide pans, the bartender shot, and more. Good job.
Improvements: - I would've liked to see a little more variety in shots - maybe a nice exterior to give a better sense of location, more shots of dishes, a bartender drink pour, etc. - Because this is without dialogue, which is totally ok, I would push for a better line than "Treat yourself to..." at the close. One possible solve would be to open on "Treat yourself to..." and inject little pops of "Mediterranean Fusion", "Crafted cocktails"...and more. I would also try to refine the type face and treatment of the text.