Cal State Long Beach film students produced three out of the top four Ford Focus commercials in a Southern California Ford Dealers commercial production challenge.
The commercials were posted on YouTube and were voted on by YouTube users and local Ford dealers. CSULB competed against three other universities and on July 14 came out on top with their creative designs.
The three YouTube winning entries will air on television. The students participating got a late start in the competition because CSULB was not initially going to be a part of the challenge.
“What’s interesting is that letting CSULB compete against Cal Tech, Chapman University and Cal State Northridge was an afterthought for Ford’s ad agency,” said Paul Browning, assistant director of media relations, via e-mail. “Then, when they did, our students won the initial Ford Focus commercial production challenge in May, and nearly swept the other campuses when the agency expanded the competition to YouTube for a vote.”
CSULB first entered a commercial called “Yes, Ford Focus,” written, produced and directed by Luke Richmond, a senior film and video production major. The commercial won a $2,500 prize awarded by the agency on May 29.
According to the CSULB Film Department, the agency was so impressed by all of the entries in the contest that it decided to allow each participating school to post videos on YouTube and allow viewers and Ford dealers to decide which commercials were the best. “Yes, Ford Focus” was not one of the commercials chosen by YouTube viewers. “We didn’t really participate,” Richmond said.
“We didn’t campaign [to win].” Ford donated one Focus to the CSULB Film Department for each production group to use for their commercials. After the commercials were filmed, the department sold the vehicle and will use the profits for scholarships for film students.
According to Kyle Mengelkamp, a film studies major with the production option and the producer of winning commercial “Get Into Focus,” the team involved had only a week and a half to complete the project because they had to complete a separate project first. “Everyone worked as a team and we got the job done,” Mengelkamp said.
Mengelkamp said the students involved will be able to use this accomplishment as part of their reels, or portfolios, to open doors to job opportunities after graduation. Michael Kushman, the producer of winner “Pieces,” said that with this project, the goal is perfection.
“There was a lot more pressure to get everything done and getting things done perfectly,” Kushman said. Kushsman commended the film department for its assistance with the competition. “The film department was really facilitative. They really helped us get everything we needed,” Kushman said.
Kushman has been interested in film since his freshman year of high school. He is currently a junior film studies major with the production option. Gino Terribilini, senior film studies major, said that creating a winning commercial was “probably the most challenging thing” he’s ever done.
Terribilini is the producer of “Your Life in Focus.” Terribilini said that the experience the students got out of it was beneficial because they took the competition seriously and got a chance to see what the commercial industry is like.
“We didn’t just want to half-ass it,” Terribilini said. “We wanted it to be high-quality, something of substance and I think we executed that pretty well.”