COMMERCIAL WORK

Ray-Ban Meta 'The Art of Downtime ft. Erykah Badu' - Ray-Ban Meta
Scheme Engine

Shortlist

Title of Piece:	Ray-Ban Meta 'The Art of Downtime ft. Erykah Badu'
Client/Brand:	Ray-Ban Meta
Production Company:	Scheme Engine
Director(s):	Charles Todd
Producer(s):	Producer: Cali Burns, Executive Producer: Jannie McInnes
Agency:	Translation
DoP:	Michael Cambio Fernandez
Instagram Tag:	@chas_todd @SchemeEngine @JannieMcInnes
Short Synopsis:	"The “Art of Downtime” introduces the Ray-Ban | Meta Smart Glasses as a new way to capture, share and listen, freeing users from their phone screens and letting us connect, thrive, and be present in the moment. Featuring the iconoclast, artist, mother, doula, and activist Erykah Badu, the campaign invites this icon of experimentation, in life and art, to explore the functions of the product to maximize her downtime. The spot is a unique BTS look of an artist using the RBM technology to expand an understanding of self and the world around her through activities, musings and curiosities that nourish the soul and that provide Erykah with the energy and inspiration needed to perform at the highest level. The campaign identifies product features in a purely authentic Badu-way, mixing artist-captured POV footage, unscripted dialogue and creative visual experimentation to represent her dimensional downtime experience. Deploying product features, we see what piques Erykah’s curiosity, with exclamation, snippets of non-linear dialogue and poetic visuals of her life that collage together a look at her life at this moment in time. The artist/director/agency collaboration set out to capture something 100% Erykah employing and enjoying the product: listening, being present, connecting, capturing. In the textures of this Baduverse, she listens to the sounds of nature, wields her tuning fork to her own voice and engages in a variety of self-care activities where her hands are preoccupied: playing piano, reading, gardening, being in meditation/ceremony with nature, styling her outfit… For example, Erykah calls her daughter as she enjoying a smoothie, climbs upside down; she listens while creating an expressionist painting, making paint strokes with hair brushes attached to her braids - all in all the spot explores Erykah's liberating approach to downtime afforded by the glasses."