DOP Bryn McCashincreates illusion of forest fire for powerful Coors Banquet campaign
When Bryn McCashin was ten years of age, he discovered that his parents’ small point and shoot camera could take videos. He began taking videos with his friends on the weekend and trying to do fun little special effects in the camera, or in an editorial program. He would play things in reverse or use match cuts to make his friend disappear. It became his weekend hobby, and many sleepovers were spent filming and sitting in front of iMovie. Soon after that, his parents got him a Mini DV Camcorder for his birthday. This introduced a whole new set of tools, and from there, he was obsessed. Now, as a celebrated cinematographer known for his work on award-winning films like OMI and Limbic to name a few, that obsession still remains.
“For me it wasn’t about cinema and watching movies, it was about the camera, and how I could use it to create. I still would not call myself a cinephile; I do what I do because I love to create something from nothing,” he said.
In the Summer of 2022, audiences all across America were able to see McCashin’s stunning work once again in a powerful commercial campaign for Coors Banquet. As wildfire season continues to worsen across the western United States, the number of wildland firefighters dwindles. To show support for those risking their lives daily, Coors Banquet launched the ‘Protect Our Protectors‘ campaign with the Wildland Firefighter Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to assisting injured firefighters and their families. McCashin was proud to be a part of a project that sent such a powerful and needed message, helping give some relief to firefighters across the states.
“We really tried to build a progression in the commercial. We wanted the audience to feel the fire approaching, and at the end, feel the relief of the firefighters when they successfully fend it off. I think progression really tells a story, and that has an impact on the viewer. Along with that, we had real wildland firefighters, and the monologue was performed by one of them. I think that brought an element of authenticity to the project and really tells a personal story that maybe would have been lost had it been an actor,” said McCashin.
The commercial was shot in one day, in a pristine forest in British Columbia. It was important to the brand that no real fire was used, and so it was up to McCashin to create this effect of a large forest fire using only lighting and camera techniques. This challenge excited McCashin, as it’s that ten-year-old kid part of him that gets a thrill from creating something from nothing, and he got to work.
McCashin spent a considerable amount of time scouting forests for the location. He knew they needed certain elements to make it a useful location. Namely scope, and access to dense forest while also being logistically feasible. The location they picked had both these elements. From that point it just became about planning the progression of the fire, and the way the firefighters would interact with the location. McCashin wanted it to feel like the fire was approaching them throughout the course of the commercial, and so he split the location into zones, and gave each zone a different level of intensity. Then it came down to planning the lighting and special effects, and then shooting.
“Bryn’s vast understanding of his craft is even more keenly applied with his ‘filmmaker focused’ mentality – always gravitating towards what serves the story and its characters first, rather than aesthetics themselves. When Bryn brings it all together, he makes for an infectious energy, one that inspires those who work with him across all disciplines of production. My work is made better by what he brings to my jobs, and my life is made better by his character and friendship,” said Dylan Maranda, Director of the “Towards the Fire” Coors Banquet Commercial.
The result of McCashin’s use of lighting to create the illusion of a forest fire is visually stunning and extremely impactful. The visuals he created really sold the entire spot. The look and feeling that McCashin was able to produce is one of the main components of the project, and led to a lot of recognition in the advertising world, with articles in Ad Age, Ad Week, Forbes and many more. The project was distributed on broadcast TV across the USA. It’s gotten a lot of airtime, and as of today, it still lives on the Coors.com website as the front page of their campaign “Protect our Protectors”, six months after the initial release. If you haven’t already, be sure to check it out to see how McCashin created the appearance of a forest fire with limited tools and an extraordinary amount of talent.
