It’s not every day you get a script calling for a cast of seven dogs and a goat. The trainers were fantastic and it was amazing to watch the animals work. Proud to claim “Bedtime Guests” as my goat directing debut.
Director – Matt Clement
Creative Director – Ron Huey
DP – Barry Dycus
Producer – Laura Rea
Editor – Matt Clement
Animation – David Way, Jr.
Production Notes:
Usually the rule of thumb in production is to stay as far away as you can from projects that involve children or animals. However, when creative director, Ron Huey handed me the script for this commercial I couldn’t help but look forward to how exactly we were going to pull this off… seven dogs, two actors and a goat. Sounds like the beginning of a good joke.
We called on Greg Tresan and his team at Atlanta Dogworks to wrangle together our four-legged cast. We started off easy with a few shots that only required one or two dogs at a time, but we knew we eventually had to get to “the scene” which required all of the dogs on the queen-size bed… lying still… at the same time.
As Greg and his crew started getting everyone in place, I asked our DP, Barry Dycus to start rolling. It was amazing to watch the animals work as they listened to every command of the trainers. Actors Thomas Elliott & Brandi Wyche were total pros as they were literally surrounded by the extras.
The highlight of the day was working with the goat. She had no trouble making friends with the crew (especially the ones with food in their hands). We setup a couple of apple boxes for her to stand on to get her head over the bed and she hit her mark like a champ.
I could not have asked for a smoother production.
Matt Clement Online 