Amber Alcocer This story excites me a lot because it is a brand that I really wanted to work with, but what I like most is having done it with incredible people and being part of this beautiful project.
Let's go back to day one, the day of the casting. I was in Colima when my booker Andrea sent me the audition message for this campaign, I had just bathed and dried my hair and that day there was a very nice light, so I took a moment to do them.
The casting was on June 23, it consisted of being yourself and telling about your hobbies, if you like photography, but the most important thing was to see your personality and how you perform on camera. In the end they asked for fun photos where you were on a trip doing some activity.
Normally you have a waiting time from the casting until the day of work since many times it is not safe for you to stay there. After the casting, you have a callback and after the callback it is the covid test, then a costume fitting and at the end it is the work day.
On June 30th they asked me to send another video, this time talking to friends and I immediately thought of my friend Ashley, so I called her and asked for her help. We went for a coffee near Juárez and it was around 5 in the afternoon, but it started to get cloudy and we had no way to record the video and I was thinking that we were going to be left without clarity and I only had until 6:30 pm to ship it the same day, so I started to worry.
We put the phone on a chair, trying to make it look like a tripod but it didn't work, that's when the waiter came up and asked us if we wanted a photo, to which we responded yes please, but instead of a photo, we needed to record our conversation. Finally we recorded a little of what we were talking about and we only had one chance to record it because it started to rain minutes later, so we went inside the cafeteria to finish our food while I sent the video we had recorded.
Thanks to Ashley and the spontaneous video we made, we were called to do a video call with the director of the project who turned out to be the talented Gia Coppola, granddaughter of film director Francis Coppola. It was July 5, we were very excited and a little nervous, we went to the kitchen side of the apartment where the light was better, and we sat at the bar to wait for our turn to call.
When Gia connected, she was always very friendly, she asked us several questions about how we met, where we are from and things like that. Ashley and I love to talk so the conversation was very natural and fun. The story of how I met Ashley is a very nice anecdote, I made one interview where she tells us more about her and her modeling career throughout her career.
Now we just had to wait. On July 9, walking around La Condesa looking for a coffee for breakfast, my booker Andrea sent me a message.
The first thing I did was talk to Ashley to shout with excitement in the street that we had agreed on such an important project and we would work together on a global campaign. Ashley was also very happy and excited, so we agreed to go get the PCR test together.
I spoke to my mother and we were all very happy since this has been one of the biggest jobs I have ever done.
Monday, July 12, was fitting day. It was 1:00 pm but I was very close to home, so I walked. At the costume fitting I met Ashley and Ana who would be part of our group of friends that we work with. We spent about 6 hours in our costume fitting and we took very fun photos together.
Wednesday, July 14, was the day of the call, the good news is that we were going to work on something so incredible, but the bad news is that it wasn't very early. We had to arrive at 2:00 am. I remember the night before I got ready to go to sleep at 7:00 pm to wake up rested but I was so excited I couldn't sleep.
I arrived at 1:45 am and we had to fill out some paperwork such as health protocols. It was very cold, and then they sent us to wardrobe and then to makeup.
Our character was to be friends, which was something very easy. The performance was called “Diner” we were several friends having dinner and sharing memories and photos. It was in a taco shop and the style of the commercial was eighties. I felt like I was in the “Stranger Things” series. We did several takes, the production was impressive, because being daytime they made it seem like it was night. It was fun but tiring because of the time we woke up, even so I am very satisfied with the results.
The entire team was always friendly and attentive, it was a pleasant experience to have been part of this incredible project and I also thank my booker Andrea for always checking on us even if it was 3 in the morning.
This was a global campaign for Instax Fujifilm cameras.
