Harting — Commercial

Harting, Inc. is a company that develops, manufactures, and sells the world's most durable and reliable electrical connectors and solutions for use in mechanical engineering, entertainment, factory automation, power generation, distribution, and industrial electronics telecommunication. OX Creative hired me to Produce a brand film for Harting's global advertising presence. One part of my job that I enjoy is that with every unique project, I get to step into a field of industry that I know nothing about and learn what makes them unique. For example, before meeting with the Harting team, I never would have put much thought into the connectors used in data centers around the world; however, now I have a different perspective and level of appreciation for these small but essential devices that allow the world to function on a day-to-day basis. 

I was brought in early enough in Harting's creative development process that I could lend my thoughts from the get-go. I partnered with Director Chris Vanderwall and my Production Coordinator Katie Kranz to develop a storyline that showcased the best of Harting but still had a lighthearted feel. The creative centered around a hero who, much like the movie Oceans 11, had a global stealth team who had infiltrated data centers and brought them all online using the various Harting connectors. It was a concept we had a blast putting together, and what a joy it is to have a company back your fun and wild ideas.

We had two locations, a downtown Chicago highrise and, with the help of the Harting team, an empty data center that was on the market — we had an entire world to create and make our vision come to life. Christopher Rejano was our DP on this one, and due to the extensive movement in the piece, we brought on the talented Blaine Baker as our Steadicam operator. One of our tasks was to make the data center feel like it was operational, even though the server racks were utterly empty. With the help of Production Designer Nate Wiese, we could simulate this by his team adding pieces of foam core with small embedded blinking led lights.

Another key element that added to the "coolness factor" was that we hired Stunt Coordinator Michael Fierro and a team of three Stunt Performers to act in our film. These highly talented people moved with ease and elegance throughout each scene, which took our production value through the roof. 

This project was a blast to Produce, and in the end, the client received a film that they were excited about and far exceeded their expectations.