Mutti

Caio…

Thank you so much for thinking of me. I love these boards. Part of the reason being—I see myself in them. Like so many of us, I try. I shoot for the stars, but usually, I’m lucky to touch the ceiling (where, if you look closely, you can still see a few splatters of sauce from that last meal.) 

That’s the story so many of us share in the kitchen. We begin with visions of creating Instagram-worthy dishes that will awe the people we’re cooking for. And God bless us, as wonderfully flawed and messy as we are, we do our best. But being human, the results rarely if ever live up to expectations. 

Those are the stories—the real stories—we are setting out to tell. In the process, we’ll definitely capture delicious looks at the Mutti product and the food. But I want to make sure we tie those moments intimately and seamlessly into the world’s we’re visiting. We’ll feature them beautifully. We’ll strive to create a distinctive look that is immediately identifiable and own-able. And we will do this while telling wonderfully warm and engaging human stories that embrace all our endearing imperfections 

That sense of honesty and realness, will combine with an own-able look that connects people to these experiences—and to the Mutti brand. That’s my goal. Here’s my recipe for bringing it to the table.

Spectacular Cooking…

Kitchens are a magical place; a setting that gives birth to all sorts of thrilling creations that are cooked up and served for the people we love. I want to bring that sense of amazement to life with images and actions that surprise the eye, excite the palate, and tempt our viewers’ taste buds. 

This will be achieved by using the camera to fill the screen with a mouthwatering mix of moments that deliver the sizzle, the aromas, the bubble, the heat, the steam, and the flavors of all these delicious dishes.

As a way of upping appetite appeal to an irresistible high, we’ll use a mix of macro photography, lensing, and speed changes to deliver visual tastes that fully engage the senses. Ingredients will cascade down into pans in elegant slow motion. We’ll thrill viewers with stunning perspectives and angles that immerse us in cooking actions that take you so incredibly close that you’ll feel like you are hovering right above the pan or peering over the edge of a skillet to experience a cooking experience in ways that you never have before. 

Since the music is key to the narrative, we’ll choreograph this delicious dance in ways that enable you to use these sequences to build an editorial tempo of metronomic moments that are energetic, fun, and full of all those touches of perfect cooking imperfection. That’s what this campaign demands and deserves. We want to entertain our audience with a spectacular blend of actions that will enliven the storytelling—and get people excited about cooking!

Fire & Flames…

Every recipe starts the same way. A hand reaches toward the stove, turns a knob… And there’s fire! So, let’s celebrate the unsung hero that makes all these cooking moments possible by romancing those flames with shots that capture the actions in some unexpected ways. 

Those might include getting the camera down low and close to see the burst of a blue and orange flame erupt from a burner. After that burner cranked up high, we could arc around the bottom of a skillet to see flames crawling up its curved side. 

Adding in some action, we might see a skillet flipping some ingredients to have a spray of oil sizzle and burst like fireworks after being superheated by the fire. We might even add in a moment of imperfection by getting the camera beneath a pot to see water from a pot that’s boiled over splash down next to the burner to erupt in bubbles and steam. 

Connecting the fire directly to the food, we could see the effect of flames roasting a sweet bell pepper—its skin toasting up with irregular dark char marks as its juices crawl down the ruby red surface… 

In the end—even though we’ve all been taught to never play with fire—that’s exactly what I want to do. Play with the different ways we can film these flames, and have some fun creating as many surprisingly beautiful moments as possible.

Our Cooks…

The approach we take to casting is absolutely essential to the storytelling. The connections we feel between our ensemble of actors, the level of honesty and naturalness they bring to their performances, and those little personal touches we observe—are key. Those artistic elements are also a big part of what excites me about this project, and I want to make sure that each of these films is enriched with moments of people connecting with each other, the product, and the food.

Achieving this begins with searching for actors who have real and relatable looks, and the talent to bring a part of themselves to their performances. Once we find those people, it’s even more important to create a working environment where they are comfortable.

This is a detail that I really can’t stress too much. The atmosphere we create for our actors with have a direct and profound effect on the performances. Instead of having them “act” like they are cooking. I’m going to actually have them cooking—in a working kitchen in which we can observe them trying to do their best.

As those moments play out, we’ll use an observational camera to capture the sweat beading on their browns, the looks of unsureness on their faces, the licking of sauce off fingers, the mishaps, spills, smoke-filled kitchens, the exasperated smiles, the laughs… and the all-too human reactions that occur when reality happens. 

A big part of this process also involves getting to know the people we cast. In callbacks and during the time we share preparing for the shoot, I want to take the opportunity to establish a good working relationship of familiarity and trust. 

In the past, I’ve found that building this type of rapport is invaluable. It leads to a better and more enjoyable filming experience for everyone involved—and performances that are alive with honesty, empathy, warmth, and humanity. Those are the secret ingredients that I want to include in the creative sauce we’re setting out to cook, and that’s what I want to bring to the filmmaking. 

A Look That is… Molto Mutti 

And… Solo Mutti. That’s the quality that I want to bring these stories—a beautifully natural cinematic realness that is immediately identifiable, and distinctive to the brand. It should have the richness of a beautifully shot independent feature—and the unquestioned authenticity of a documentary film. 

This will be supported by a camera that feels has the fly-on-wall feel of being present in these kitchens. Rather than watching these moments from a impersonalized distance, I want viewers to feel as if they are right there, witnessing these cooking experiences unfold live in front of the lens.

Part of this can be achieved by taking a subtle handheld approach. That’s not to say that we want the scenes to appear overly “shaky.” It’s more about feeling as if there’s a little air beneath the camera—a breath of life that feels observed by the human eye. For some of these shots, we can also employ a Straight Shoot’r rig, which will enable us to track, dolly, boom, and hover through the kitchens with a graceful effortlessness that lends an added sense of realism to our film language. 

We’ll up the reality factor even further by illuminating the kitchens with soft, warm, natural light that has the directional feel of filtering in through nearby windows. This will create a beautiful setting in which all those flavor cues will come alive on screen. Those wafts of aromatic steam rising into the air, the bubbles of sauce, those amazing oozes, and delectable drips, will have people wanting to bite the screen!

The Food & Branding

When photographing the food and the products, the rule I want to follow is to make them feel at home in these environments. We want the Mutti Sauces to be integrated in ways that make them feel completely natural to the cooking. They are the one thing that these home cooks can depend on. Even though they may have doubts about their own abilities—they are certain of Mutti’s quality, flavor, and goodness. 

The same holds true for the moments in which we feature the food. We’ll get in macro close to make sure that we bring these scenes the highest level of appetite appeal possible. In doing this, we want to film using angles, perspectives, and organic camera moves that enhance the cinematic realness of the scenes. 

If a composition is slightly off center—so be it. If we’re looking at a Lasagna (which is the perfect example of a recipe that is off the charts with “bite-the-screen” temptingness) let’s embrace all those delicious irregularities—the browning, the bubbling of cheese, the delicious release of steam when its cut…

Using shallow depth of field, we’ll get in deliciously close and fill the screen with these occasional moments of mouthwatering yumminess—while allowing the backgrounds to fall off to a lovely soft focus. We’ll take advantage of these intimate close ups to capture the drips, heat, fork lifts, cheese pulls, bubbling, simmering, and those all-so-important samplings savored from a wooden spoon… 

But no matter what we see, I’ll always want to make sure that the food and branding moments live in the worlds of these kitchens. No moment will ever feel as if we are cutting away to a cold and sterile commercial world. Each and every glimpse will be interesting, functional— and rich with a sense of flavorful, tempting, realness.

TVC 30” Brand

This film will have the feel of an anthem that celebrates the imperfectness of a mix of different home cooks—men and women, some younger, some older… As diverse as they are, the one thing they all share is their unfortunate lack of self-assuredness when in the kitchen. They are people like ourselves, who go in with the best intentions—but lack the expertise needed to realize them.

Taking full advantage of the music, we’ll allow the upbeat tempo to set the pace for this cinematic dance. There’s no need to linger. We simply want to design a series of kitchen moments that offer us quick, fun reads, in which we see a series of perfectly imperfect cooking actions and mishaps. 

The camera takes our eyes super close to capture a knife chopping fresh herbs Trita (Chop). We might surprise the eye with the organic action of the flat side of a blade come rapidly down to smash a head of garlic, (Schiaccia (Crush). 

In other moments we see pots boil over, sauces splatter against clothing Si Macchia (Stain), blenders erupt Prova Ancora (Try Again), test bites fall off forks or drip down chins, faces scrunch up while watching a bake go slightly awry Prega (Pray)… It’s a chorus of little kitchen calamities designed to deliver a series of familiar and empathetic smiles…

Regardless of all the imperfect turns we take along the way, we ultimately arrive at a happy ending E Infine Impiatta (And then plate), which leads us to the moment of seeing that first taste taken by a loved one that it is being cooked for. While our “chef” looks on with anxious anticipation, that bite goes into a mouth… and after a moment of savoring the taste of that Mutti Sauce, a long sigh of satisfaction is offered in return. Mmmmmmm…. 

Polpa Datterini 

This story feels perfect for immersing our viewers in the happy chaos of a family kitchen by using the camera in the most active and participatory way possible. Opening with some energy, we can get the camera down low to chase after the kids as they run in to the kitchen with their dog scampering in with them. Maybe the youngest is yelling at the oldest for something he’s just done as we hear: Strilla (Scream), Insegue (Follow). 

Anna (who can be a Nannie or the kids’ big sister) is busy trying to make them dinner. She’s just taken a Mutti Pulp pack from the cupboard. Perhaps, as they run past her, she lifts her arms up in the air to avoid colliding with the kids—holding the Mutti product up so that we get a nice look at it in the natural light.

Within seconds, the two kids are wrestling with each other to grab something off the counter—which is probably the reason they both came running in Tira (Pull), Toglie (Take Off) Scatta umbel bisticcio (Starts a squabble). One of them decided they wanted to play with a remote control car. Once the other realized this, he decided he wanted to play with the car too—and the race was on! 

Obviously this is just back story, but I think it’s the type of detail that we want to figure out beforehand—just so that our little actors can have something real to deal with in the scene. Instead of asking them to “act.” I prefer finding ways for them to have fun by making a game of something—and then having the camera ready to capture the moments in ways that will bring a wonderfully enjoyable sense of realness to the scene.

Meanwhile, the dog is barking and jumping up and down. Anna, in an attempt to regain order, grabs the toy out of the hand of the one who got to it first, and asks that child to help out by adding some salt to the pot of water. (Climb, Add)…). Now, the healthy competition shifts to which of the kids is going to be the biggest help, so the youngest of the two quickly grabs the Mutti Jar so he can be the one to twist off the cap (Taste…). 

Keeping the camera moving, we see the younger one stick his dirty finger into the jar of sauce to sneak a see and delicious taste. Anna turns in time to catch him, shakes her head in exasperation—or maybe smacks the little one gently and playfully on the head with a wooden spoon, before shewing the kids and the dog out so that she can finish dinner. Perhaps, as they all run out, the dog or one of the kids can bump into something in the kitchen or on the table and cause some sort of spill (What a mess!)

Taking a breath, she smiles, tastes the sauce herself, and realizes that, in the midst of all the mayhem, at least she can depend on the Mutti sauce being just what she needs to make a great dinner—with ease.

Summing things up…

This campaign brings all the things I love about filmmaking together into one wonderfully enjoyable campaign. We’re telling stories about people, food, and the connections we make with each other and the products we use in our kitchens. 

Having the opportunity to pursue stories that are so rich with perfectly imperfect realness is as rare as it is exciting. 

I love what you’ve done with the campaign. I would be thrilled to enter into a collaborative effort to bring it all to life, and I look forward to speaking with all of you further

So, let’s keep the conversation going!

Molte Grazie!