Scenes From The Set
January 22, 2004--For the Nebraska Lottery, the evening of August 18 centered around lightning, rain and . . . a torch red Ford Thunderbird. That evening, the Nebraska Lottery shot a television commercial for the new Scratch game, Sports Car Cash. Although the weather wasn't very cooperative, the crew worked far into the night to get the job done.Preparation for the commercial began weeks before the shoot. The production company chosen, The Great Plains Motion Picture Company, met with Nebraska Lottery staff and its advertising agency to determine the shoot logistics, choose a location, review audition tapes, choose props and develop special effects.The next step was the commercial shoot itself. The concept of the commercial was a man who was pumping his car with gas spots a sign above the gas pump advertising the new Sports Car Cash Scratch ticket. The advertising states, "It all starts from Scratch" and features a new torch red Ford Thunderbird. The man looks at his car and begins scratching the white paint with a quarter. To his surprise, the car begins to turn red. The man continues scratching his car until the entire car is red. The shot reveals that his car transformed into a Ford Thunderbird. However, it is all a dream sequence and the man must go inside of the convenience store to buy his Sports Car Cash Scratch ticket for his chance at winning one of three Ford Thunderbird premium convertibles offered by the Nebraska Lottery.Starting at 7 p.m. and finishing around 2 a.m., much of the night consisted of waiting. For every new camera angle the lighting, directed by gaffer Dave Bunge (who has also worked on television shows such as ABC's Extreme Makeover), had to be adjusted. Also, several times throughout the night shooting had to be postponed due to lightning. In addition, for each camera angle, the actor did several takes in order to assure the production company that they would have plenty of options in the post production construction of the commercial.The highlight of the evening was when the actual Ford Thunderbird arrived on set. Polished and gleaming, everyone was awed by its allure. The final scene of the night, the "beauty shot" of the Thunderbird, was the star of the commercial. Everyone gathered enough energy and pulled together to make it spectacular.The Sports Car Cash television commercial aired September 15 through September 29 in addition to radio spots. The $2 Scratch ticket Sports Car Cash offers three top prizes of a torch red Ford Thunderbird premium convertible valued at $56,000. The Nebraska Lottery pays state and federal taxes and also gives $1,000 to the winners for costs incurred with ownership. In addition to the three top prizes, more than 255,000 cash prizes are available and range from $2 to $1,000.
Published on 01/22/2004