creative director / storyteller / writer
ALIENWARE - DEFY BOUNDARIES
The world of gaming continues to evolve, so it’s only natural that the leading brand in the space do the same.
This work sets a bold new tone for Alienware, both visually and with its universally relevant message. The world of gaming is infinite, a place where you can go anywhere, be anyone, and do anything. It’s place where limits don’t exist, and everyone is invited to Defy Boundaries.
Celebrate the feelings of joy and freedom we experience when gaming -- where you can be anyone and do anything without limits.
Peek behind the curtain of our new Alienware "Defy Boundaries" commercial. This live shoot in Austin was a welcome change (even with alllll the COVID protocols,) after a year of remote film production in quarantine. I talk a little bit about our vision for the spot, and how gaming makes people feel so free that any identity feels possible. Meet the amazing director and the super talented actors (including three female leads).
ADDY-AWARD WINNING CAMPAIGN
Bronze - Art Direction
Bronze - Logo Design
Bronze - Animation, Special FX, MoGraph
Bronze - CG Static Imagery
CAMPAIGN CREDITS
Megan Murray, Head of Production
Seth Perisho, Executive CD
Cristina Reyna-Neel, Associate CD
Mackenzie Rachal, Account Manager
Lily Kowalski, Art Director
Sydney Stewart, Art Director
Savannah Clements, Copywriter
Hannah Radcliff, Editor
Motion Picture Company, CG Partner
The simple idea here was that Alienware machines are designed so perfectly for gaming that they make you feel like you're one with your machine. The plan was to merge a couple of real-live gamer with a superhero-like Alienware suit via VFX in two separate videos. But when live-shoots became a no-go during the pandemic, we had to pivot to bring this idea to life in a post-COVID world, and take on something we’d never done before in CGI – humans.
SEE HOW we brought this to life online in the campaign landing page we created.
At 2:10, I talk about our vision for this campaign, and how it we brought it to life.
Our assignment was to create a campaign for India that highlighted the new Dell G7 gaming laptop, which comes with a special G Shift key that you press for a performance boost.
So the team came up with the idea to show bunch of friends gaming together, hitting that key and getting that instant power boost in the from of electricity VFX to get across that idea of power in a visually interesting way.
We shot the spot on location in February 2020, right before COVID-19 became our new reality. A few weeks later, as we we’re nearly finished with the original edit, it became apparent that social distancing was our new reality. We had to pivot big time to find a way to avoid showing people gaming together. And yet here we sat with hours of footage showing people hanging out and gaming in close quarters. We had stop and ask ourselves, “What story can we tell with this footage?” And how can we also be sensitive to the circumstances right now? Most importantly to our client: How do we still convey the important community aspect of gaming?
And our amazing editor, Hannah Radcliff, put on her cape and helped us solve for creative ways to extend shots, linger on the gameplay and work with our visual effects partner to use the power lines we’d shot to show the electricity moving from one gamer’s house to the other – all with the goal being that we still had to show people gaming together – but apart. And that’s what we did.
The Dell Canvas was a completely new product category for Dell in 2017, promising a fully digital workflow for illustrators, artists and other digital content creators. For creative professionals, a dual-handed workspace like Canvas can be the conduit from idea to execution. With this in mind, we showcased Canvas for its innovative totems and pen, plus its ability to pair with a vertical display.
This 90-second product showcase video follows one artist as he uses Canvas to takes his superhero idea from a sketch to a feature film.
This 30-second product intro video shows us exactly how Canvas empowers dual-handed creation.
Gamers know Alienware, but we introduced them to Dell's own powerful gaming systems with this campaign. This work connected the gaming audience to new Dell-branded PCs in cinema, retail and social media.
As of Summer 2017, the Dell Gaming spot had the most views of any Dell video ever on YouTube, with 18 million views.
This 30-second spot released ahead of "Logan" in cinemas in March 2017.
It’s hard to put a label on Rakia Reynolds. As a mother, entrepreneur, mentor, celebrity spokesperson, social advocate and owner of a successful PR firm, the phrase “does it all” doesn’t quite do her justice. She organizes her hectic life on her XPS 13, and we just tried to keep up long enough to document how she does it for this Dell Small Business stories campaign.
Alienware is an industry pioneer, with a 20-year history of innovative, powerful machines made for the gaming audience. Alienware had become known for glowing, menacing type on patterned black backgrounds, but the audience had grown up. With the median age increasing into the 30s and female gamers among 50% of the target market in North America, it was time to grow the brand, too.
These insights led to the We're Game campaign. Aimed squarely at a more sophisticated audience, it is the first campaign in the company's history to talk about why they create powerful, gaming machines instead of just talking about what they sell.
As the No. 1 monitor brand worldwide for three consecutive years, Dell takes serious pride in these displays. With these videos, banners and landing pages, we targeted prosumers seeking a modern design aesthetic and incredibly gorgeous resolution from their displays.
Dell Venue tablets boasted Intel® RealSense™ camera technology and the new Dell Gallery.
As the homepage producer for ABCNEWS.com, I collaborated on the launch of three site redesigns in two years that required deployment of new interactive features to enhance user-participation opportunities. I also managed front-page content and periodically wrote feature stories, like these.
Marry tennis and beach volleyball and you get a favorite among sports lovers and non-athletes alike. Read "Serve's up for beach tennis."
Atonement for the masses? More people are turning to the web, not the clergy, to clear their conscience. Read "Keyboard Confessional."
