The female voice asks a simple question: “What words describe a great evening of dining?” Answer: “Fresh, relaxing, delicious.” As she speaks, we see vegetables prepared, a sizzling piece of salmon cooking, and happy diners chatting the evening away at a Stonewood Grill and Tavern. More shots of the food and the patrons follow in an easy rhythm set to a jazzy score. “In a word,” says the woman at the end of the spot, “fabulous.”

In directing this latest commercial for Stonewood, film industry veteran Charlie Bregg had one objective: “to get across the feeling that this is real food enjoyed by real people having a good time.”

Achieving this goal wasn’t as simple as it looks. It took hours of preparation, surgical execution, and still more hours to wrap it all up into a finished product. But according to the creative team hired by Stonewood, they wouldn’t do it any other way.

The Preparation
When Stonewood wanted a new commercial for broadcast by February 2007, the restaurant called Henry McDaniel, president and creative director of inner/g, a branding company that specializes in restaurants. McDaniel came up with the ad’s concept and pulled together a crew of 18 people, led by Bregg.

Bregg and McDaniel spent December casting actors, talking food shots and lighting, and determining the final tone and feel the spot should have. For Bregg, the talent they hired had to represent more than the age and ethnic demographics of Stonewood patrons. “They had to be casually upscale without the stuffiness,” he says. They had to be real.

As they assembled the talent and rest of the crew, McDaniel and Bregg spent the rest of the month planning every shot they’d take at a Stonewood in Port Orange, Fla. They worked closely with Stonewood’s Chef Mike to carefully select the food they wanted to show and the best way to present it. “The food needed to look nice, but Hank wanted to make sure it also looked real,” says Bregg.

Lights, Camera, Action
The first day of shooting in January took from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. The crew wrapped up just as opening time approached. Ironically, though the food prepared by Chef Mike’s staff surrounded them at all times, everyone stuck to the catered food table—eating the props is a no-no in restaurant commercials. The next day, they shot all of the commercial’s food close-ups in the restaurantquality kitchen at McDaniel’s home. “In Hank’s home, we could work in a more controlled environment,” says Bregg. “And we made sure not to burn any of the food.”

Post Production
The shoot, lensed with a film quality digital camera, left Bregg and McDaniel with large video files that had to be edited down to a commercial of only 30 seconds. Over the course of a week, they and an editor whittled down these images to key shots before blending them with title screens and other graphics developed by a Tampa company, Spectrum Productions. Once they completed the sound design and mixed the audio, they had a finished product that Stonewood approved with only a few minor tweaks. The end result aired right on schedule at the beginning of February, its simple message rising above the clutter of other commercials.

“We didn’t want to have some kind of an announcer giving the usual ‘At Stonewood Grill’ spiel,” says Bregg. “We just wanted to have nice music, few words, some stylish graphics, and show people enjoying themselves.”