Spotify
Every moment sets up the next.
Telling a story without words.
There isn't a word of dialogue in this Spotify commercial.
I was given the footage and a visual idea of how the spot should unfold. The action itself was pretty straightforward: a girl dressed as a mall Easter Bunny gets on a bus, moves past the other passengers, takes a seat, notices a group of girls laughing at her, then puts on her headphones and listens to Spotify.
But knowing what happens isn't the same as knowing how to tell it.
Keeping the story moving.
The action happens in a continuous, linear timeframe. One of the challenges was maintaining that continuity while still finding the best moments.
A look from the bus driver. The reactions of the other passengers. The girls laughing. Her reaction.
Each moment has to feel like it naturally follows the one before it. At the same time, each has to move the story forward.
Every moment sets up the next.
And they're all leading somewhere.
Letting the world sound real.
For most of the commercial, there is no music.
We hear the world around her—the bus, the street, the traffic, the other passengers. Those sounds keep us grounded in her experience and make the situation feel real.
Then she puts on her headphones.
And the music begins.
It's the moment we move from the world around her into her world. And it's the first time Spotify really becomes part of the story.