FILMING NEW FUJITSU TELEVISION COMMERCIAL - "THE COACH"

FILMING NEW FUJITSU TELEVISION COMMERCIAL

"THE COACH"

What an honor to work on a new Fujitsu Air Conditioning commercial that features Hawaii's most legendary Coach, Dave Shoji.  Dave is one of the most respected and loved people in all of Hawaii and for him to be part of this production was amazing.  The spot was filmed in the very hot Klum Gym where Dave Coached our Wahine Volleyball program to National prominence before the Stan Sheriff Center was constructed.  It was hot in there.  Really hot.  We had a Club Volleyball team made up with local High School players suit up in Fujitsu uniforms and they actually played volleyball in the boiling gym.  The sweat was real and perfect to show how hot it is in Hawaii.  The girls played and two cameras from KITV Channel 4 filmed the action.  Troy Gomes from KITV was the creative mind behind the photography and script that was written to pay homage to Hawaii's greatest Coach ever.  Dave amassed one of the best coaching records in NCAA sports with a 1202-204-1 record.

1200 wins in any sport is amazing but to do this on an Island in the middle of the Pacific is spectacular.  He won Four National Championships and was named Coach of the Year 5 times.  Plus; 25 Conference Players of the Year, 107 Conference All Americans, 86 All American Selections, 8 National Players of the Year, 5 Olympians plus named one of the All Time Greatest Coaches by USA Volleyball and Named Coach of the NCAA 25th Anniversary Team.  All the records and accolades are nothing compared to his compassionate and tough coaching and guidance that he gave hundreds of student athletes.  Dave's passion for the game, perseverance, winning attitude, work ethic and high moral standards are forever engraved in the girls he coached.  He is one of the most loved people in the history of the State of Hawaii and we have been blessed to have him live and coach here.  Dave's next set is a lot of golf, time with family, travel and success beating cancer.  Mahalo Dave for being part of this commercial and for all you have done for the University of Hawaii.  I Love my Fujitsu is our motto but I Love Dave Shoji is in our hearts.  

Mahalo to Dave, KITV and Team Fujitsu.  This commercial will air in July, 2017.

FILMING IN KLUM GYM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AND AT MY HOME IN HONOLULU

TEAM FUJITSU WAS MADE UP OF LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS

DAVE SHOJI AND TEAM FUJITSU

AND OF COURSE I HAD TO GET IN THE PHOTO

THE MOST COMFORTABLE MAN IN THE WORLD - FILMING NEW FUJITSU COMMERCIAL

THE MOST COMFORTABLE MAN IN THE WORLD

FILMING NEW FUJITSU TELEVISION COMMERCIAL

Readers of this blog may have noticed that I have a small roll in creating commercials for Fujitsu Air Conditioning in Hawaii.  While my Daughter has starred in all but one of the commercials for over ten years, this time we changed it up and made me the star of this spot.  While I am no actor and do not like to see myself on the screen, this spot came to me and I just had to do it for fun.  Life is short and I wanted to be part of something that I thought would be entertaining and very funny.  The premise for this commercial came from a popular beer commercial where a distinguished man (who is way better looking than me) looks into the camera and says "I don't always drink beer".  The rest of that ad is advertising history.  While we will not make history with our spot, we do hope to make people laugh while making people remember our brand.  I came up with the basic idea for this ad and then handed it over to Greg Davis at KHON.  Greg has done many Fujitsu commercials for us and he always knows how to deliver a great final product.  Greg and myself had the daunting task of trying to find two gorgeous woman for the two most important scenes of the commercial.  I turned to Dawn Larson of Larson Talent in Honolulu and she arranged to have around nine girls come down to KHON to audition for the spot.  It was pure hell sitting in a room at the television station and interviewing all the girls who all showed up looking spectacular.  After the interviews it was my job to choose the two girls for the spot.  I gave Greg my three finalists and between the two of us we came up with Nicole and Rianne.  While both are beautiful, it was their personalities that really made an impact and got them the gigs over the other candidates.  With Nicole and Rianne booked, I had to make a decision on whether I should cast myself as The Coolest Man in the World.  I know that I cannot act, look fat on camera and hate seeing myself on t.v.  I really thought of bringing in a real actor or local personality to complete the cast.  Something inside me said just do it and have as much fun as you can while not taking yourself seriously.  I dropped 15 pounds in two months and let my beard grow for seven days before the shoot.  We gathered up the costumes at the Diamond Head Theatre Costume Department where they rent costumes for any occasion.  The staff at Diamond Head Theatre were great.  We told them that we needed Indiana Jones, Aviator and Mountain Climber costumes and they had just about everything with the exception of a cold weather parka for the mountain climbing scene.  Brigette Abott from KHON put out an email to all KHON employees looking for a cold weather jacket.  Fellow KHON employee Cathy Muneno who is married to Native Hawaiian Navigator Nainoa Thompson helped out by bringing Nainoa's jackets.  I am a big fan of Nainoa and was excited and honored to be able to wear a jacket of his that probably sailed on the Hokule'a.  We shot three scenes in the studio with a green screen.  The green screen will allow the Director and Editor to add digital images behind the live scene in post production.  We have volcano erupting, mountain climbing and aviator scenes plus the final scene where the only dialog in the spot is spoken.  After a few hours of filming with the green screen at the studios we made our way to Waikiki to film the final shot at Chuck's Cellar.  Chuck's was kind enough to allow us to shoot in a booth while the restaurant was closed.  All of the drinks on the table are non alcoholic as the restaurant cannot pour any alcohol before they open at 5:30 pm.  They were props only so that was fine.  It took dozens of takes to get the two lines down.  I flubbed them up so many times.  My terrible acting skills made it difficult to deliver the lines as intended.  John Veneri coached me and at one time I had wished he was doing the scene instead of me.  We forged on and finished the spot with me delivering the final line "Stay cool my friends".  Don't want to give away too much.  You will have to wait a few weeks to see the final commercial.  My sincere thanks to the crew at KHON who were talented, professional and fun!  Thanks to Nicole and Rianne who made my day very enjoyable.  I am very blessed to have had the opportunity to do this.
Stay tuned for the spot.  Hope it brings everyone a good laugh.
View all of our Fujitsu television commercials at www.ilovemyfujitsu.com

NICOLE AND RIANNE GET READY FOR THE FIRST SCENE AT KHON STUDIO IN HONOLULU

RIANNE (LEFT) AND NICOLE (RIGHT) ARE READY FOR THE GREEN SCREEN 

KHON T.V. DIRECTOR GREG DAVIS SETS UP THE FIRST SCENE USING A GREEN
SCREEN THAT WILL ALLOW IMAGES TO BE PROJECTED BEHIND THE ACTORS

JOHN VENERI FROM KHON DIRECTS THE ACTORS WHILE GREG DAVIS BEGINS FILMING

THEIR COULD BE AN EXPLOSION BEHIND THEM

LOTS OF FUN AND LAUGHS ON THE SET OF THIS COMMERCIAL

AND ACTION!  THE FIRST SCENE IS FILMED

GREG DAVIS AND JOHN VENERI TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET THE GUY IN MIDDLE (ME)
TO ACT SO THEY CAN FINISH THE SCENE

ANNIE THE MAKEUP AND WARDROBE PERSON FOR KHON ADJUSTS THE WHIP

THE FIRST SCENE IS A WRAP!

THE CREW FROM KHON AND ACTORS WRAP SCENE ONE

BRIGETTE ABBOT FROM KHON HAS BEEN DOING FUJITSU COMMERCIALS  FOR 15 YEARS

SCENE TWO INCLUDED A WARDROBE CHANGE AND SOME MOUNTAIN CLIMBING

CLIMBING UP A MOUNTAIN

MADE IT TO THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN

NICOLE GETTING A SOPHISTICATED NEW LOOK COURTESY OF ANNIE

THE FINAL SCENE IS ONLY ONE THAT HAD DIALOG FOR THE ACTORS

I HAD SHORTS ON FOR THIS SHOT AND RIANNE WORE SLIPPERS

GREG DAVIS FILMS THE FINAL SCENE AT CHUCK'S CELLAR IN WAIKIKI

HE IS - THE MOST COMFORTABLE MAN IN THE WORLD

NOT A BAD TIME SPENDING THE DAY WITH THESE TWO BEAUTIES

ITS A WRAP!  CAST AND CREW FINISH THE COMMERCIAL

RIANNE AND NICOLE LOOKING BEAUTIFUL FOR THE FINAL SCENE

STAY COOL MY FRIENDS

COMING TO T.V. STATIONS IN HAWAII IN JULY

HE IS THE COOLEST MAN IN THE WORLD COMMERCIAL FOR FUJITSU AIR CONDITIONING

CLICK TO VIEW BEHIND THE SCENES PHOTOS AND VIDEOS

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FINAL COMMERCIAL

FILMING NEW FUJITSU COMMERCIAL - HONOLULU, HAWAII

 ON LOCATION

FILMING NEW FUJITSU COMMERCIAL

Finished filming new Fujitsu Air Conditioning commercial in Honolulu.  Filmed on location in Waialae Iki and at our home.  See if you can figure out the script and outcome from pictures of the shoot.  They are not in sequence but close.  Stay tuned for the final cut by KITV Channel 4 in Honolulu.  Spot conceived by me and brought to life by Eun Ho of KITV.   Eun Ho wrote, directed and edited the commercial.  She basically did everything including acting as camerawoman.  Great shoot with nice crew in Honolulu.  Visit www.ilovemyfujitsu.com to see all of our Fujitsu commercials.  Sincere thanks to Eun Ho and the crew at KITV for working on this spot.

CLICK TO VIEW THE COMMERCIAL