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STEPH BAER | WRITTEN ASSESSMENT

CREATIVE DIRECTOR ROLE | BLAVITY INC

PORTFOLIO

Please share, for two of your most prized creative projects, the story board and creative direction materials that led to each of the final projects.

PROJECT 001 - AREA 51 DOLLS KILL

FINAL PROJECT

PITCH DECK

PITCH DECK FOR MARKETING & INFLUENCER PARTNERSHIPS

MOOD + INITIAL VIBES

SOUND

CUSTOM SCORE FOR CAMPAIGN

INITIAL SOUND PASSES

I'M LISTENING 01

00:00 / 01:07

LIFE 01

00:00 / 01:45

X DANGER 01

00:00 / 01:22

SUSPENCE - ELECTRIC 01

00:00 / 00:58

VISUAL TONE

INITIAL VISUAL VIBE VIDEO

DECKS + MATERIALS

BELOW IS A COLLECTIVE SAMPLE OF MATERIALS CREATED FOR PRE AND POST PRODUCTION - MORE MATERIALS / BEST PRACTICES AND STYLE GUIDES WERE CREATED FOR POST PRODUCTION, I CAN NOT INCLUDE THEM HERE BECAUSE THOSE MATERIALS ARE NDA RESTRICTED.

INTERNAL SHOOT DECK

ART DIRECTION

SET DESIGN

FASHION / MUA

SET DECK

GENERAL STRUCTURE

SHOT LIST

PRODUCTION - DETAIL

SHOT LIST

SOCIAL FEEDS COPY DECK

DOLLS KILL CLOTHING LIST - HAND PICKED

IG STORY - VIDEO TEMPLATE

ALIZA FEED PLAN UNEDITED

BINXIE FEED PLAN UNEDITED

PASSION AND CURIOSITY

Please link to social handles or blogs that you frequently derive creative inspiration from.

IG HANDLES THAT INSPIRE ME

STRATEGY AND VISION

Please link to a project your most proud of in your portfolio and answer the following questions.

PROJECT LINK

What was the strategy behind this sample in your portfolio?

For this Dolls Kill area 51 campaign there were two main objectives :

1. To debut Dolls Kill Halloween Collection, as their first campaign starring 3D digital influencer / models.

2. Lay the groundwork / origin story for the CGI “alien” influencers. This was going to be their first introduction of their “alien abilities” and their differentiating factors from a normal Gen Z / Millennial social Influencer.

What problem were you trying to solve and for what audience?

For Dolls Kill their clothing is marketed mostly to women, even though much of their product is unisex. Even though the two main characters were CGI women, they needed an inclusive, gender fluid, edgy campaign that could reach both male and female Gen Z & Millenial customers as well as introduce new customers to the brand. They wanted to expand past their punk rock roots and step into a tech-forward space in fashion.

For the CGI influencers, this was the first debut of their personal / origin story. It was of peak importance to add depth, experience and abilities to their characters on their social feeds. This campaign needed to jumpstart the process of differentiating them from a “typical human influencer,” allowing their social feeds to lean deeper into the fantasy and limitless ability of being CGI. This was intended to expand and create a more cult following from their growing Millenial and Gen Z audience.

What sparked the idea and how did the final execution match the original idea? If you pivoted, why?

When considering the needs of both Dolls Kill and the CGI Alien Influencer origin stories, I was heavily considering two general notions.

1. Where is somewhere aliens can go that the average human can’t ?

2. Where conceptually is a place, that halloween costumes can blend into the story that's not Halloween Town?

After sifting through hours of time travel and inter-dimensional travel concepts, I decided that both as concepts were not grounded enough in the average person's reality. Considering this campaign was selling halloween costumes.

Then I had a thought . . . No average person can get into Area 51 or even knows where it is, yet the existence of Area 51 is fully accepted. Plus, there are tons of conspiracies surrounding its existence making Area 51 a place that is firmly grounded in our reality yet full of mystical and other worldly implications.

The final execution matched the original idea very closely because the original idea was merely a launch point. As we needed to debut a specific outfit, alien ability for the characters or influencer partner storyline we fluidly pivoted and adjusted the story to accommodate any need.

The basic back bone was :

Aliens hear something from inside Area 51 that no human can.
They gather a team of their human bffs and plan to break into Area 51.
When inside they discover technology from their home planet (aka what was calling them)
They take the technology and need to get out safely with their crew.

All of this, but make it fashion!

The final execution pivoted daily in the development process to accommodate marketing objectives.

TEAM MANAGEMENT

Please outline a team that you have managed, their roles, whether you were responsible for managing their careers, i.e. performance reviews, etc.

I have managed extensive brand, production and creative teams of :

- Art Directors

- Photo Retouchers

- Graphic Designers

- Copywriters

- Production Coordinators

- Production Managers

- Production Designers

- Brand Managers

- Social Managers

- Video Editors

- 3D Artists

- Animators

-Videographers

-Photographers

-Lighting design

Typically I would have my immediate creative team of anywhere from 5 to 25 "direct reports", but our immediate team would ALWAYS be working side by side with marketing, sales, brand or tech teams to achieve individualized goals and needs. I was fully responsible for managing their careers and setting systems of growth aka hiring, firing, feedback & placing people on paths that would allow them to grow and excel.

Here are some structures I have used in the past and found a lot of success with :

1. Weekly standing meeting with each member of my immediate team

2. Weekly meeting with all other departments adjacent departments

3. 2x daily stand ups for immediate team to identify any blocks and allocate help when needed, to keep the creative process from stagnating or falling behind

4. 1x Quarterly 1 day retreat for creative teams to free up head space and inspire process and collaboration.

5. 1x Quarterly Strategy Meeting

In terms of performance reviews, the last structure I followed was quarterly performance reviews and I found it to be extremely effective, and a great way to set expectations for both sides :

1 Quarter would be a more formal performance review

1 Quarter would be a compensation review

1 Quarter is typically a peer review

1 Quarter is mid year review

PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT

Please describe how you have managed production for your projects and what tools you use to do so.

In addition to the meeting structures and team interaction I outlined in the question above, I lean heavily on project management tools like Monday.com. I make a new board for each project as well as a monthly board for the brand that accommodates any recurring creative tasks when updating and refreshing a brand etc. On each task I like to include 6 components and discuss directly with the person who will be executing on timelines before adding it to the list. Aka we decide together what reasonable timelines are, considering things like priority etc.

Task itself including links to any materials needed etc
Date for co-worker to check in (before the due date) if timelines have been disrupted. This is their opportunity to speak up if something has occurred that would keep them from completing the task on time.
Due Date
Priority of task
Sign off of team members involved in the completion once it's finished.
If the task requires approval, then including approval and dates approval is needed by is also very helpful.

I also use Slack for daily communication on whatever is needed.

For running in person photo or video shoots, I find group text is the easiest way to communicate crew wide and discretely discuss changes that have to be made in real time if necessary. When you are running to different locations and don't have walkie talkies, group text is 100% the next best thing, and even better for making discrete changes if needed while sparing peoples feelings.