Tide | Tide to Go Pen

The Challenge:

The team at Native Labs came to me with a strong script celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Tide Pen. The product moments were well crafted, and together we aimed to deepen the story and character connections to make the spot feel more fluid and emotionally engaging.

The Solve & My Approach:

One of my favorite parts about directing is translating things from script to screen. For this project, I focused on strengthening the transitions and match cuts between scenes to create a natural rhythm that would bring the characters to life. Given the precision required for each scene and the complexity of the transitions, previz was essential to keeping everything on track.

Story & Character Development

In the initial script, there is a scene that transitions from a man who’s spilled coffee on his shirt to a mom who notices a stain on her daughter’s school uniform. The script read as follows…

“Without missing a beat, he grabs his Tide to Go Pen from the key bowl by the door and swiftly applies it to the stain.

A child in a school uniform wearing a backpack is about to leave for school when Mom notices a stain on her shirt. She grabs a Tide to Go stick out of her daughter’s backpack and applies to the stain.”

I suggested reinforcing this moment with a match-cut that connects the two scenes visually, emphasizing the Tide Pen’s versatility and ease of use.

Later, the transition from the daughter to a young woman in her car was also an opportunity to keep the story flowing naturally. The script read:

“She grabs a Tide to Go stick out of her daughter’s backpack and applies to the stain.

A young woman is sitting in her car touching up her makeup. Suddenly, she drops the makeup onto her white dress, leaving a noticeable mark.”

To support this, I introduced a whip pan and some motivated action from the young woman to help the camera movement feel purposeful and smooth.

The original script concluded with the young woman satisfied and driving away, but I felt the emotional core could be strengthened by highlighting the connection between the mom and daughter, given Tide’s strong ties to families. I worked on an alternate ending that tied the story together with another match-cut that felt heartfelt and resonant.

Previz

With four characters, finnicky probe lenses, child actors, and some fairly technical transitions, I knew that a previz would be essential to making sure we’d be as efficient as possible. Enjoy this amazing iPhone previz my DP Ryan Thomas and I shot (featuring me and our production designer Jessie Chaffin).

And finally, the full spot.