Photography for GATORADE South America

The work i had done for Gatorade South America Finally released :)

link: http://gpromexico.com/unbroken/

Brand: Gatorade México​ - South America 

Agency: Mistech

Photography: Pushkaraj S Shirke 

Art: Hector Rodriguez​

It was awesome to finally work on one of the 5 big sports brands I have always wanted to work on. And that too without any undertable transactions and paybacks unlike Indian agencies. Absolutely awesome feeling it was.

Here's Looking forward to many more awesome campaigns and great works ahead :) 

-Pushkaraj S Shirke

Khud Ko Kar Buland - Birla Sun Life

After ages I saw an Indian long format commercial that i did not skip midway. Brilliantly directed, this ad is an awesomely emotional piece that packs in great performances on a beautiful story.
Plugged in with great cinematography and music that soothes you through the tale. Great Stuff!

This is what good advertising is made of.
My regards to the director of this piece - Abhinav Deo, Loved it!

- Pushkaraj S Shirke

If the Victoria's Secret Ad was made by an Indian Brand, how hilarious would it be?

Victoria Secret's new ad is awesomeballs sexy. BUT i was just wondering what if this ad was to be made in India or why such awesome ads aren't made in India. Being and adman and a director who has worked on a variety of clients and also on a lingerie brand film, here's what came to my mind.

If this victoria's secret ad was by an indian lingerie brand, client feedback on the film would be like:

1. LOGO KO AUR TIME DO.

2. voiceover daalkey range aur features explain karo

3. jahan product shot hai wahan subtitle daal ke product explain karo

4. end with 'isiliye peheno XYZ'.

5. 30 seonds ka bano, paisa nahin hai air time ke liye.

6. opening shot kam karo, silhouettes hatao. jyaada prodict dikhao.

7. we need to target traditional women also. can we show some dupattas? or a woman in a salwar?

8. we need bigger breasts. these breasts are too small for a lingerie ad no?

9. we dont have money for locations, so lets shoot indoors. location CG kar dengey.

10. and again, can we have more time for the logo?


and i guess that answers my question. but hey, the VS awesome ad anyways. check it out:


- Pushkaraj S Shirke

Air BNB commercial - Set Design in Film

- Pushkaraj S Shirke

HP VINES: Bend It, Be Cool

#bendtherules
Client: HP
Agency: Edelmann
Project: Vines
Title: Bend it Be cool

In keeping with HP's international thread of student/consumer made trick-editing based vines that demonstrate the HP 360 laptops unique bendability, we made these fun vines with just a bunch of young students and a very cool HP 360 laptop.


ROSE


BANNANA


CORN



- Pushkaraj S Shirke

Your Fitness Club: #LIVEFIT - Gym Advertising Campaign.

Pushkaraj S Shirke : Your Fitness Club: #LIVEFIT - Gym Advertising Camp...:

Brand: Your Fitness Club

Advert title(s): #LIVEFIT

Advertising Agency: Pushkaraj S Shirke, Mumbai, India

Agency website: http://www.pushkarajsshirke.com

Creative Director, Copywriter and Photographer: Pushkaraj S Shirke

Art Director: Pushkaraj S Shirke

Pushkaraj S Shirke

Design: Surabhi Cholkar

Published: October 2014

Rationale: 
Everyone who comes to Your Fitness Club is not an athlete or a professional bodybuilder - most of them are people like you and me, simple people with common lives, who want something more out of life - which makes it their reason to come to the gym and put in that effort to #LIVEFIT so that they can pursue their passion and live the life they want.

A One Take Music Video for RedBus: Featuring Shreyas Talpade

The best way to know if something is amazing, is to see it and wish you could have made it. And funnily, that's hopw my new ad film made me feel when i saw it - only to be over joyed by the fact that 'HEY! I made this!'. And if ever there was an example of great team work on a film, this film would be it. 

So this is for my team:

Fabulous job on shoot day everyone. 

Thanks Shreyas, for proving me right that choosing real 'actors' over 'stars' is the first key to a great performance film! you were chosen for this film and you delivered a performance i could have only wished for! a one take perfection within 7 rolling takes is an incredible feat and you achieved it! 

Pupa brothers- Ajay and Vipin, sexy show! The entire art and props crew rocked the shit out of the shoot - the coordination an energy of the entire crew was freakkin amazing - Bohot Mazza aaaya bhaaai!  We finally ended up shooting what we had first visualised we wanted to do - and that was amazing. 

Rubais, thanks for going beyond just the fab light and camera work and driving the production towards getting exactly what we had wanted the film to be in the first place - and needless to say, fab work with the light choreography and thanks for bringing in Kapil onto the team for the crazy hard camera work. 

Snow, fab work with the costumes that stood out so well yet blended In so perfectly. 

Chirantan, without the foot tapping music to set the pace for all of us from day 1, wouldn't have been possible - so thanks a ton. 

Producer bhai log - Raviraj, Darshan, Sodhiji and Kireet, thank you for pulling all the strings needed to make this vision come to life like it did yesterday - I know it's difficult to adjust with the monies, but as you can see from yesterday's shoot, it was all worth it.  

Shrey, thanks for ensuring I don't lose my voice on set and being my hands and voice beyond the monitor. 

All in all, thank you all for this fucking fantabulous film and if ever  there was an example of great teamwork in one film, this one was it. Loved it totally! Hope to make way more greatness on film with this awesome team we have in the days to come! 

And last but not the least, thank you Aman and Prakash and the RedBus team, yes, the clients - for having put faith in the imagination of a writer-director who isn't backed by an agency, looks and talks like a teenager, roams around in a torn denims and tees, and sounds hyper excited like he's on drugs all the time. Thank you for believing this was possible when he narrated it and from that point on, it was our greatest pleasure to have made it come true! 

Watch the One take Ad film for redBus.in executed by Climb Media from script to screen:

Rap sung and performed by SHREYAS TALPADE. 
Written and Directed by Pushkaraj S Shirke.


Client: Redbus.in – Prakash Sangam / Pallavi Chopra
Creative Director: Pushkaraj S Shirke

Production House: Climb Media
Producer: Kireet Khurana
Script & Direction: Pushkaraj S Shirke
Exec. Producer: Darshan Gokani
D.O.P: Rubais
Steadicam: Kapil Verma
Art Director: Ajay/Vipin (Pupa Set)
Music: Chirantan Bhatt
Associate Exec. Producer: Renuka Khekade
Line Producer: Gurmeet Sodhi (Shoot Essentials)
Costume Designer: Snower Sania
First Assistant Director: Shrey Oberoi
Second Assistant Director: Hamza Rahim
Make Up: Satish Kadam
Pre-Production & Design: Prashant Shikare / Raviraj Kumbhar
CG: Arvind Shirke

A one-take film is one of the greatest challenges in the craft of film-making - and the new redbus adfilm was one such amazing feat! 
Check out the 'making-of' of the film and what it took to choreograph a theatrical style music video with one artist, 4 co-stars and a 30 man art crew.

Cheers! 

-Pushkaraj S Shirke

An open letter to Gillette: Stop being a sexist bitch.

Hello marketing people at Gillette,
fuck everything lets get to the point - I like my stubble and I will keep it. So fuck you Gillette.
And btw, how are all your sponsored  'shaving movements' any less sexist than starting a movement to encourage women to get breast implants?
If there were 2 magazines with the same model, one with smaller boobs and the other with larger boobs, I'm sure men will pick more of the magazine with bigger boobs. but that doesn't mean you encourage implants.

A media campaign called 'women oppose everything stubble' done by desperate Gillette.
Getting Bollywood babes to say stuff they clearly don't believe in isn't going to work. 

There is a thin but very clear line between being sexist and being cool about something - whoever runs this shit at Gillette, clearly doesn't understand that. I understand your desperation to try and sellll your needlessly over bladed razors to do the job of a single blade razor to fools and that too in an era of electric shavers, but hey, you're reeking of desperation - and that aint attractive in either sex or advertising. Advertising is the art of persuasion, seduction, inception - not overkill and mind rape. So chill, and reconsider your marketing shit, Gillette.
Seriously.

See this stupidly sexist 'social experiment' sponsored by Gillette: 


PS: Luckily, my kind of women prefer my stubble and beard - So I don't give a shit. But one things for sure, I'm never buying Gillette for having made this sexist attempt over and over again.
- Pushkaraj S Shirke

BMW i8 - How Awesome Car Commercials Should Be

On one hand you have the crappy commercials recently created by JAGUAR India - utterly distasteful, lowering an amazing brand to the level of a bollywood celebrity, shot distastefully, with crappy music and un-awe-inspiring direction. And then, on the other hand, you have sheer magnificience - an idea broght to life in visuals, sound and emotion evoking incredibulosity by BMW.

Have a look at the BMW i-8 commercials and you will know eactly what an incredible car commercial looks like in every term.











Now that you have seen awesomeness, i also insist you see why the JAGUAR india commericals were so piss poor in my view. See for yourself.
This is the version without kareena kapoor, the bollywood 'star'. yet it looks more like an ad for a mall rather than for a luxury car. except for the final frame, which is the saving grace of this commercial:


and this is the commercial with the 'star':


Guys, please remember, if your CAR is A BRAND IN ITSELF, it is the real STAR of your commercial. Dont degrade yourself by piggybacking on a smaller 'star'.

Cheerios!
 Pushkaraj S Shirke

5 things every designer must know - via design taxi

if you are a creative professional, fuckin print this and frame it on your wall.
memorize it. and apply it on a daily basis.
truer words have not been said!

respect to design taxi for putting this out.

- Pushkaraj S Shirke

The Expert

a film that everyone in advertising can relate to. the perfect client meeting.



- Pushkaraj S Shirke

Beats by Dre - The game before the game

Every once in a while an ad comes along that makes a rather unknown song the unofficially official song for an event. The game before the game is one such ad.
the music is the soul of the ad. the film is utterly well done with no special effects, basic hand held camera work and a bunch of, what seems like, stock shots.
but it all comes together and gets your adrenaline pumping!
and shows NIKE for once of how its meant to be done.
check it out:


- Pushkaraj S Shirke

Isle of Man: Honda - brilliant poster art illustration

A perfect illustration for the most dangerous race on the planet. Love the old school type work of engravings and tattoo art and the mixture of fantasy and realism in the map illustration. This is what makes advertising beautiful. 

Honda is the undisputed leader of the most hazardous race in the world: the Tourist Trophy on the Isle of Man. The 37-mile plus track is composed of 264 bends and turns on country roads that are closed for the occasion. Concentration is crucial in order to ride through the different villages at full speed, barely missing stonewalls, sidewalks and telephone poles. Mistakes are not allowed. The black and white illustration was done completely by hand and is a blend of two particular styles: engravings and tattoos.

Advertising Agency: DDB, Paris, France
Executive Creative Director: Alexandre Hervé
Copywriters / Art Directors / Illustrators: Emilie Ramain, Stéphane Audouin
AccountSupervisors: Mathieu Roux, Olivier Massanella

Published: April 2014

- Pushkaraj S Shirke

Libertina Lingerie

Brand: Libertina
Title: Makes Me Happy
Duration: 30sec
Agency: VMC
Production House: Kaizen BST Pictures
Producer: Bilawal Singh Thakar
Director: Pushkaraj S Shirke
DOP : Anuj Samtani
First AD: Ivy Mukherjee
Line Producer : Aushu
Costumes: Abhilasha Sharma
Post Production: Pixion
Ofline Editor: Rohan
Online : Sumant
Music : Rajiv Bhalla
Sound Engineer : Annu Poojari
Sound studio : Shank

 

"Simplicity and Sensuality is an art - and art speaks to all ages."
-Pushkaraj S Shirke

I'm glad I had the opportunity to direct this lingerie ad film for Libertina. The brief was to make a film that women of all ages can relate to and would not be offended by or have to switch the channel even if the family is in the room. It had to be communicative, it had to be real and It had to be sensual, not sleazy. So this is what we created.

Even the testimonial part was captured as natural and as real as possible - including the slight uneasiness of discussing the topic thorough expressions, gestures and body language of the speaker. We removed even the mention of the words 'lingerie', 'bra', 'underwear' from the script and focussed more on the emotion of the real-life problem faced by all women, rather than spoon feeding the words to the viewer.

Karina, the model wasn't briefed on the lingerie scenes at all. Instead, we just chatted for half and hour before the shoot, played around in front of the camera, flirted on and off the screen and captured some actual moments and reenacted them on camera as they were actually. We were practically laughing after each shot (sometimes even wondering if the camera was rolling at all). This is what actually makes it look so innocent and real and so sensual at the same time.

- Pushkaraj S Shirke

Spoof Documentary Ad Film

Hilarious!!!!!!!
i definitely believe that this is a kickass viral film - the humour is in its seriousness - just watch it:

From Brooklyn to Seoul, we left no stone unturned as we searched for an answer to the age-old question -- was pizza really invented in Korea? See further evidence at http://www.gumshoepictures.com


all views expressed belong to an opinionated dickhead called Pushkaraj Shirke. If you have differing views, feel free to share them or visit www.go-fuck-yourself.com

Learning to read for a priceless reason: Bell's whiskey ad touches you deep

The new Bell's TV commercial features a father whose intrepid spirit demonstrates just what it takes to be a true Man of Character. 

- Pushkaraj S Shirke

Amazing Film Visualising a 'First Kiss' by Lacoste

this is what makes me love filmcraft. this is one of the best depictions of a 'first kiss' i have ever seen.

- Pushkaraj S Shirke

Pushkaraj S Shirke: Old Logo Revived - the fire wolf

"There's something about wolves I can relate to on a very emotional level. Their pride. Their eternal intellect. Their undying attitude. Their survive it all skills. Their mysterious ways. Their balance of wilderness and domestication. Their place in mythology and folklore. So it was not surprising that i chose the legend of the fire wolf - the king of all wolves, as the insignia of the first company i ever started - at age 19. It was a story that always inspired me - the story of the wolf that stole fire from the gods and gave it to all life on earth. The story of the wold that lives even today in spirit in all wilderness, commanding all dogs, wolves and foxes alike. The wolf that is one with the universe itself - materializing in various cannine forms from time to time when balance is needed in the universe. There's an attachment to that icon in my heart even today long after i shut that company. Something about it that i cant let go of. It is still trademarked in my name. So now when I need a visual identity for my ventures again, its the same i find myself turning back to. In design, in has nothing to do with what I do today. Infact it is sketched when i was still in college. But in principle, it has everything that i stand for - the pride i take in my work, the principles i live by and the admiration i have for sheer intellect and integrity. The fact that the wolf is as comfortable in a tight bound pack as it is alone. The fact that the wolf outlives the biggest beasts in the forest. The fact that the wolf has way more spirit than any other beast in folklore. So once again, the Firewolf is reborn. My visual identity. My insigna. My logo. My seal that marks me even if my name isn't present. The legend of the fire wolf lives again."

 -Pushkaraj S Shirke www.pushkarajshirke.com

The Psychology of Advertising Communication

Knowledge, is the strongest factor when it comes to impacting behavioural change. even more powerful, than our our innate drives and hormones. 

for eg: you are alone in a closed room, standing besides an attractive naked woman who wants to have sex with you might excite your mind, releasing hormones that make you feel aroused. 

Yes? What would you do?

Now imagine this:
1. you find out she has an STD.
2. You have a spouse and you discover that she is watching you through a hidden camera. and
3. that the attractive naked woman's tribal, savage husband will kill you if you do anything.

Would you now behave in the same way as you would before knowing this tri-way of information?

why did knowing a separate set of information change the way you act upon the same situation?

She is still attractive. You are still in the room with her. she wants to have sex with you. and you are aroused!
how and why did that additional set of information change your perception of her?

In the field of advertising and mass media, this power of knowlege and controlled information takes on an even greater form : affecting not just behaviour but even entire social perceptions of what's acceptable and what's not.

For eg:
HATARI, the movie, glorified the hunting of rare animals like rhinos.
Tattoos that were one taboo now have a cult following and become common-day occurrence.
Thanks to Romanticization of the institution of marriage and paired romances in literature, films and advertising, they are the norm today.
Abortions, that were once frowned upon, now are seen as a boon. (in a few cases, they actually are).
The ads for Sunkist made ORANGE JUICE, a once almost non-existent breakfast item, the icon of american breakfasts.


So as a copywriter, thinker, creator, designer or whatever in advertising - it doesn't matter what your craft is. what matters most is your understanding of what factors affect change - and your capability to deliver them in an acceptable format to your audiences. whether its via a great print ad, an interesting film, an app, a video game or even a mall activation or a road show. 


Understanding Behavioural Dynamics: This short film from a TED TALK actually gives a great insight into 'How information AFFECTS thinking, behaviour and attitude':


- Pushkaraj Shirke

The True Origins of Pizza

This is hilarious!


the humour is in its seriousness of its documentary style - really well made and subtly spoofy.


i think this one kicks ass as a viral! 




From Brooklyn to Seoul, we left no stone unturned as we searched for an answer to the age-old question -- was pizza really invented in Korea? See further evidence at http://www.gumshoepictures.com

check it out: 



all views expressed belong to an opinionated dickhead called Pushkaraj Shirke. If you have differing views, feel free to share them or visit www.go-fuck-yourself.com