Commercial · 2023
Zynga — Wizard of Oz Slots
- Role
- Gaffer · Props
- Client
- Zynga
- Production
- Airtraffic
Approach
Oz should glow: a bright, fully lit set with spotlights layered on top, so every frame feels like it's center stage in a storybook.
A run of short-form mobile ads for Zynga's Wizard of Oz–themed slot game, made to play in phone and YouTube ad slots. As gaffer, I ran the lighting: building out C-stands, shaping the spotlights, and getting the cameras set up and ready so the cinematographer could walk in and shoot.
We filmed over three to four days, turning around three to five spots a day across a mix of scenes and scenarios. That pace meant lighting had to move fast: strike, reset and relight for a new piece of Oz, sometimes within the hour. We still wrapped on schedule.
To sell the world of Oz, we kept the whole set bright and layered spotlights on top: theatrical highlights that made it feel like a storybook. And my favorite props job was the smallest: a phone that had to look like it had been in a flying monkey's mouth. A real actor, a lot of goo, and one convincingly slobbered-on phone.
The spots
