The room
Turning an advisor’s living room into a set
In a client testimonial video, the room starts talking before anyone sits down. The brief asked for modern, open and clean, and we’d planned a big interview setup to match. Then one of Sunlife’s senior leaders made a great call. "This business runs on comfort and closeness," he said, so the interviews should feel like it. Which is how advisor Warren Blatt’s home in midtown Toronto became our set for the day.
A real home is lovely to film in and a little tricky to light, so we scouted it, made a plan, and moved in for a day:
The art came down first, so nothing on the walls would need rights clearance later.
Warren’s AV contractor took the TV off the wall, and we painted out the bracket in post.
A little haze went in, so the light had something to catch on.
A giant film light went outside the main window, shining in through a big sheet of diffusion.
A set decorator swapped in neutral furniture with a few pops of Sunlife yellow. On brand and tasteful.
That light outside was the biggest call of the day. Daylight can be the best light you’ve got, but over a 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. shoot it wanders across the room and dims every time a cloud rolls by, which makes three interviews hard to match. So we made our own sun, blasting in through the window to override whatever the real sky was doing, and every advisor got the same warm light from load-in to wrap. For a brand with sun in its name, a bright, sunlit room felt right at home.
With all that gear in the room, it still felt like someone’s living room. Just one with a lot more lights in it.
Behind the scenes
It takes a surprising amount of gear to make a living room feel this relaxed.
