STORY’s Blair Hayes has
directed a new spot for Cavit that beautifully evokes the authenticorigins of
America’s best-selling Italian wine. Conceived by Agency 212, New York, the ad
shows a group of young Italians enjoying wine in the environs of a picturesque
country estate. The voiceover describes “what matters” when choosing a wine,
including where it comes from and how it’s grown, ending with the tagline,
“when quality matters.” There is a clever interplay between the elements that
contribute to quality winemaking, and to great moments in life.

Hayes shot the commercial on the grounds of The Cavit winery
in Trentino, Italy, a verdant landscape of mountains, lakes, vineyards and
medieval castles. Shooting primarily with a hand-held camera at magic hour,
Hayes directed his all-Italian cast to act as if they were attending a casual
dinner party amongst the vines – which they
were. “I told them to sit and enjoy themselves  and ignore the guy with the big camera,” he
recalls. “I then had merely to move around the table, looking for moments. What
a job!”

“It would be hard not to make beautiful images in that
environment,” adds Hayes who acted as both cameraman and director. “The views
were stunning and the lighting simply gorgeous.”

Hayes shot a variety of tabletop-style images of bottles
being uncorked and wine pouring into glasses. Like the scenes with the actors,
the product shots were captured outdoors and primarily with natural light. “We
shot a lot of it at 120 frames per second in order to capture the clarity of
the wine and the initial moment of the pour, when the wine curls in the glass,”
he observes. Hayes adds that, while some of the product imagery was carefully
art directed and choreographed, other shots were captured in a more spontaneous
manner. “We didn’t want anything to appear too studied or staid.”

Ultimately, says Hayes, the commercial needed to feel real
and immediate. “We wanted viewers to feel like a ‘fly on the grapevine,’” he
notes, “to wish that they could be at that party.”

STORY is represented on the East Coast by SuperPowers (646)
633-4578; in the Midwest by Dawn Ratcliffe (312) 491-9194, in the Southeast by
Miller + Associates, (954) 563-6004; in the Southwest by Gossip!, (214)
288-2813 and on the West Coast by Sherry Howell, (213) 999-9879.

For more information, visit http://www.storyco.tv/

Credits

Title:  What Matters

Client:  Cavit/Palm Bay International