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With the release of Gibson’s Back to the Future “1955” ES-345 Collector’s Edition guitar, the company aimed to highlight a combination of present-day cinematography of the iconic instrument in the spot, while also showcasing how it was used in the classic film Back to the Future. The project was managed by Gibson Media Director Todd Harapiak, directed by Doc Crotzer, with cinematography by Justin Janowitz, and color grading by Mark Todd Osborne. Janowitz, a long-time collaborator and friend of Osborne, brought him aboard and tasked him with helping merge the imagery into one cohesive spot.
For Osborne, the goal was to strike a balance between the style of the original film and the scenes they were able to use from it. “The spot needed to seamlessly blend iconic scenes from the film with newly shot material featuring a stand-in for Marty McFly, the DeLorean, and a series of beautifully photographed hero shots of the guitars,” said Osborne. “The goal was to create a unified visual language where the new material felt authentically grounded in the Back to the Future aesthetic, without calling attention to the transitions between sources.” Osborne needed to match the new footage without editing the original film material.
“The directive was to leave the original material untouched,” continued Osborne. “The film clips were provided in HDR, so my only adjustment was converting them to SDR to match the working format of the project. The key was dialing in the right amount of texture and carefully managing saturation, so the new footage integrated naturally with the original film clips.” Osborne works in DaVinci Resolve Studio.
The overall feeling was warm and nostalgic, which Osborne completed with his primary grade. “Also, Doc said that Back to the Future fans are particular about the interior of the DeLorean, so we had to make sure the elements matched as best we could,” Osborne added. “Matching the Gibson guitar was also essential,” noted Osborne. “Todd (Harapiak) was very clear that the guitar’s tone needed to remain faithful to how it appears in the movie, as well as how it appears in real life, so a big part of the workflow involved maintaining accurate, consistent color reproduction while still allowing the piece to feel cohesive.”
Through collaboration and detailed color grading, Osborne helped seamlessly bridge the original film footage with new shots to create a fun and nostalgic commercial.
