Norry Niven, the multiple Emmy award winner with Thousand Foot Squid, directed this action packed Kia commercial for Super Bowl LIV. It aired on Fox Deportes in Spanish and was the inaugural production for the recently formed Dallas-based production company.
Norry Niven shared, “It was a dream opportunity with and incredible team. I had worked with the amazing Jon Jaimes on Vision Works through Moroch for years and when he asked if I’d be interested in shooting KIA with INSPIRE I jumped at the chance. The creative was smart but the timeline was tight and we wound up working through the holidays (Diana Bland producer for Thousand Foot Squid) to prep the LA shoot which was blessed with great weather.
The story takes a stunt person from set to set, from film to film while he really gets none of the glory but does all the hard work which is analogous to the KIA brand, an award winning, hard working car company that gets all the awards but none of the spotlight.
I wanted to blend the reality of the filmmaking process with multiple layers of imagery, giving the viewer a mix of omniscience, of seeing the behind the scenes and to being in the film that’s being made, thus the slates, etc. LA based director of photography Mike Simpson took on the multiple day shoot with me, both of us knowing that we’d go at the spot with a cinema heavy feel, shooting anamorphic lenses and lighting as though these moments were all from big budget feature films…which we hoped came across.
Marc Stone at Lucky Post killed the edit which started as we were filming, not sure he slept at all trying to make the ship date ahead of the Super Bowl.”
Overall, this is the sort of work I feel strongly about helping to create – film that feels like cinema art and also tells a strong story, storytelling being the core to all successful film making, whether it’s on the big screen or the big game.
Jon Jaimes added, “It’s a shame Hispanics are still underrepresented in Hollywood. However, there’s quite a few great unknowns giving it everything, outside the spotlight, as stunt people.”
Watch spot..
Links
#SuperBowl in Spanish in the United States. #SuperBowlLIV “Stunt People don’t do it for fame, they do it because they can. Introducing the all new Seltos, another Kia as capable as you.” Agency: @inspire_agency Director: @norryniven DP: @mikesimpsondop Colortist: @rickygausis Post: @lucky_post
music/sound design by Damian Minckas with Papamusic! Special thanks to our friends at @inspire_agency! Jon Jaimes, Cullin Lassiter, and Kellianne Hodges plus the rest of the amazing team. Check it out on the #SuperBowl on #FoxDeportes, the first network to air the Super Bowl in Spanish!
