Fogo De Chao

Overview…

This campaign is built on the unique and interesting juxtaposition of the primal—and the elegant. It’s about something as basic as meat and fire—but experienced in a way that is elevated and sophisticated. It’s about dining that begins with a personalized connection with the food, and an artisanal passion for the way it’s selected, prepared, cooked, and served. 

What’s even more interesting is that this concept doesn’t end with the way we film the food. We’re also extending this primal and elegant appeal to the narrative itself. Like a classic tale told around a campfire, we are employing the thematic hook of: And then… We capture our viewer’s interest, and keep them viscerally and visually engaged by taking them on a culinary rollercoaster ride filled with unexpected twists and turns that offer us a heightened version of what it’s like to dine at Fogo De Chao.

We’re not allowing our audience to sit back and watch this passively. We’re going to pull them into an immersive piece of film that engages all their senses. Your mouth will water with delicious anticipation. You will hear the symphony of organic sounds of the kitchen, smell the aromas wafting through the dining room, and feel the excitement and comfort of a meal like no other. That’s our goal. Here are some initial thoughts on how I would bring it all to life…

Look & Feel

This campaign deserves to be treated with a visual style that takes this story and this brand to a higher cinematic plateau. It will be filled with moments of bold photography, energy, attitude, and sexy swagger—an adventurous thrill ride of sights, sounds, textures, and flavors. 

Deep rich colours, intentionally designed frames, and dynamic angels and perspectives will keep our viewers’ eyes riveted. We’ll modulate the editorial tempo with speed changes and transitions that bring the narrative an energetic rhythm. 

The colour palette be designed to echo the look recently rolled out by brand, crafting gorgeously crisp imagery favouring warm browns, golds and rich blacks—all enhanced by beautiful lighting and lensing. 

The textures of metal and the velvety shadows will allow the bright red and orange flames, the rich red meat, the smoke, and the steam to pop on screen. This will be enhanced by warm wood surfaces and the inviting surroundings of the restaurant. 

These films also lend themselves to playing a bit with scale. We can counterbalance wide shots that give us great looks at the restaurant and glimpses of people enjoying themselves at tables with incredible macro views of the food. 

The flow of moving constantly from expanded views to moments that magnify the delicious details will enable us to take that journey from the kitchen to the table and back again in visually exciting ways. We’ll constantly be in motion, teasing and tempting the eye with images, actions, and transitions that will thrill our audience, excite their appetites, and ultimately leave them wanting more! 

The Food

I love to shoot food with a combination of modern and alternative lenses, and I think that type of photographic approach really lends itself well to the type of film we want to create. For example, the use of either Optex or T-Rex lenses will allow us to get incredibly close to the food and make it feel larger than life. 

We’ll magnify the tenderness, the juiciness, and the delectability of the meats. We’ll capture the heat and sizzle of the cooking process, and feel the expert hands of the Gauchos cutting and serving the meat.

I’d also suggest shooting with Macro and/or Extreme Macro lenses—just so that we can capture some brief textural shots which can help create quick, almost subliminal moments of food close up. 

This might include getting in super close to see the grain of perfectly grilled medium rare meat with a drip of juice sliding slowly down it’s surface, a macro moment spent watching fat sizzle and crisp, a crystal of salt landing and settling on a cut of meat, a morsel of meat being speared with a fork or lifted up toward the lens for a bite… 

All of those moments and more can help bring this camping a visual language that elevates the look and feel of food that will make people’s mouths water with desire.

The Transitions

My objective is to design transitions that accomplish a number of things at once. First and foremost, I want them to allow us to establish an editorial tempo that carries viewers along on a rhythmic thrill ride. They will be seamless and transparent, but I also want them to be surprising and unexpected. 

This will be achieved by opening up our visual boundaries to include a wide range of different techniques. We’ll use match cuts, tilts, and pans—but we’re certainly not going to be limited to them. In some instances we might use an object, texture, color, sound, musical beat, camera movement, or a person’s physical response, to trigger a fluid transition.

The overall idea is to blend the conventional with the unconventional. Once hooked, we will never allow our viewers’ interest to wane. We’ll keep them visually and viscerally engaged with moments that will tease the appetite and make it impossible to take their eyes off the screen. As a result, we’ll be able to take the viewer on a seamless journey that conveys the Foco De Chao experience in a very real, sensory, visceral, and—incredibly delicious way. 

Casting

I look forward to the opportunity of bringing together a diverse and interesting mix of people that can recreate the feel of the Fogo De Chao dining experience. They will have looks that are attractive, but at the same time, approachable and real. 

They’re people you’d recognize. People you’d love to share a meal with. They are fun, open, and warm. People who create an ambiance filled with energy, who all share a love for great food, and a willingness to be a little adventuresome.

In terms of their performances, I want to keep things as natural and genuine as possible. There mustn’t ever be the slightest hint of “acting.” It’s about indulging, enjoying, tasting, sharing, laughing, and having a great time. 

That feeling of community is essential to the mood we want to create, and because of that, I’ll search for actors who can bring a sense of personality and charm to the story. I want them to be themselves, and to connect with others in ways that will make the audience want to join the fun, taste the food, and be part of the delicious action. 

Sound Design

Music and sound bring out the special flavors of film in the same way that salt and pepper accent a great cut of meat. The right piece of music can set the pace, establish the mood, and heighten the emotions. Likewise, an evocative sound design can help enhance moments while pulling viewers deeper into the experience. 

Layering textural sound upon textural sound can bring scenes leaping off the screen while making them more immediate, real, and tactile. As an added benefit they can also help facilitate fluid transitions by acting as an audio bridge that takes us from one moment to the next. 

The hiss and the sizzle of flames licking meat, the sound of a knife sliding through a steak, wine pouring into a goblet, glasses clinking together in a toast, sauce bubbling in a skillet, voices rising with pleasure—each and every one will act like an ingredient in a visual recipe that is tempting, immersive, and appetizing. 

And then…

I’d like to create a sequence of actions that feels as if we’re part of a choreographed dance of cutting, preparing, seasoning, grilling, slicing, serving, and eating great food.  

Playing a bit with scale, we’ll open on a wide shot of the dining area. People are gathered at tables enjoying food and drink, and interacting with Gauchos.

Depending on the location, we might see the windows that open to the kitchen in part of frame. 

From the wide shots of the opening moments, we’ll shift to bold macros that take us into the prep of the meat. Flames leap up from a grill. A stainless skewer pierces red meat as it slides down along the metal. Crystals of rock salt fall and land on meat. 

VO: At Fogo de Chao, it all starts with fire. And then… rock salt. 

Integrating some organic branding into the scene, the camera might glide across the logo laser cut into a metal surface, stitched onto a Gaucho’s coat, formed in a bed of hot coals, or seared into meat. However it does appear, we’ll make sure that it feels completely natural to the situation—and in no way gratuitous.

Building appetite appeal, a skewer is inserted into the grill. Red hot embers erupt from a bed of coals as they are stirred. Flames leap up and kiss the chops rotating ever-so-slowly on their stainless spits. We get super macro close on fat crisping and juices oozing down a cut of beef

Opening up the frame a bit, we follow a Gaucho as he carries a cutting board of Picanha into the dining room. There’s some swagger and attitude in the way he moves. Steam floats away, leaving a trail of tasty aromatic deliciousness in his wake.

Heads turn, mouths curl up into smiles, eyes widen in anticipation…

VO: And then, out of the kitchen comes something that moves your mouth to tears of joy.

From a dynamic angle, we look down over the shoulder of a Gaucho presenting the meat before transitioning to a tight shot of his knife slicing through to reveal its mouthwatering medium rare interior. 

In a sequence of shots we rapidly shift from meat, to plate, to fork, to mouth. A bite it taken. The taste is savored. Eye lids close—reacting to the sensual taste of the meat…

A woman turns and her eyes spot the Market Table. The camera rapidly zooms in, and a second later we find her at the table lifting delicacies onto a plate. Dragon fruit and papaya are lifted with tongs.

She pours and sips wine.

VO: And then, your journey continues with an odyssey to South American in your glass, and on your plate…

Once we’ve completed this “course,” we’ll transition back into the kitchen to capture more moments of food being prepared, and then travel through the process of seeing it served at another table in the dining room.

Perhaps we reprise this woman to see a Gaucho serving her a slice of meat table-side—or land on another diner at a nearby table (with the woman from the Market Table in the background).

Dry aged Ribeye—crisp, juicy, and tender is sliced away. A knife slices a piece from this succulent strip. A fork lifts it for a taste…

In a rhythmic sequence of macro shots, we capture the reaction. Hairs rise on the back of a neck, an eye dilates…

VO: And then, your taste buds come of age on a 21day aged ribeye.

Following this bite, we cut to the plate resting in front of this woman. It’s filled with an amazing variety of different food—succulent lamb chops, wagyu, Queijo Assado, and a mix of different sides.

VO: And then… just as you think it can’t get any better—something on a salt block rocks your world. 

In a close up moment, we see the woman take a bite. Others at the table do the same. The conversation they were having comes to a momentary halt—because they are all too taken by the incredible flavors they’re in the midst of enjoying.

To punctuate these moments, we’ll also be capturing a great library of added footage that allows us to take all the different colors and flavors of the restaurant. 

We’ll see people tasting food, wine being poured, people interacting with each other—laughing, talking, and reveling at the amazing flavors, service, and quality of the food.

We’ll revisit the market table to collect a great mix of shots that feature seasonal salads, fresh vegetables, imported meats and cheeses, artisan breads, and fresh fruit. It’s a cornucopia of color, flavor, and texture… To add a hint of energy and humanity to the moment, we can capture a close up of a hand reaching into to lift salad from a bowl or scooping up some shredded cheese…

But regardless of what we see, hear, and taste, we bring this feast to an end by cutting to the logo and end card.

Super: Welcome to What’s Next.

Thanks!

I appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts, and I’d love to help you bring this all to life in a way that captures the personality, flavors, and excitement offered in the kitchen and dining room of a Fogo de Chao. 

I look forward to speaking soon.