TREATMENT BY
DYLAN MARANDA
and
WILD GIFT
Friends, truly, it means a lot to have this type of working relationship with you all.
The longer I do this, the more I learn how important trust is to making good work. I thank you deeply for trusting me, and know that I reciprocate it unconditionally.
I won’t mince words — I really like this creative… The refinement, the cheeky irreverence, the commitment to aesthetics, and the effortless cool are all beginning to meld into something I can’t wait to get my hands on.
As always, I consider a treatment a starting point for discussion. If anything doesn’t feel right in here, let’s talk about it when we chat next.
All that said, let's dive in...
💫
Like a lot of things in life, a great lager takes time, patience, and care.
Only to become something enjoyed with little ritual, but made meaningful by the company and scene that surrounds it.
I think that’s the spirit of these films, and maybe the High Life in general...
Finding the extraordinary in the ordinary
Giving the beauty of the everyday a moment to drink in.
I love the idea of taking these story-rich but familiar moments and giving them the kind of attention normally reserved for something much more precious.
What excites me most about scripts like this is that the very essence of the campaign can be reflected in our filmmaking process…
What Miller High Life brings out in the best of ordinary life should be reflected in the exact way we approach the filmmaking.
To me, the soul of these spots is to elevate the everyday. To represent the “Champagne of _______” in both story and aesthetics.
To make living the High Life vibes in the scenes we see on screen as desirable to be a part of as drinking the beer itself.
Taking the everyday seriously.
Without taking ourselves too seriously.
So...
As I spoke to you on the call, what I immediately lean towards when it comes to achieving this feeling is a visual language that elevates…
the texture of the bar, the condensation and light on a bottle, the chalk on a cue, the hand reaching for a cocktail weenie, the texture of a cracking stool.
As far as story goes, I want to build this around small but memorable moments. I think it’s important we find a balance for a shot count that we can realistically achieve in one day without any compromises to aesthetics, scheduling, product propping, or story.
I might suggest 3–4 shots, for 3 scripts at 15 seconds each.
This gives us time to really hone in on what’s important to showcase the High Life, while still having a story beat that sticks with people.
I also believe that the High Life essence needs an aesthetic approach that embodies the same richness and intimacy that we are attempting to show on screen. A visual choice that commands, one that elevates all that it captures, and perhaps hasn’t been done before in a commercial…
Moving Large Format.
I will speak to what that entails in the next section, but I was glad I could give you a little sneak preview on our call together.
Without getting too nerdy on the optical specifics of this rig, the long story short is that I want to shoot through the ground glass of a 4x5 view camera, bringing the richness and dimensionality of large format photography into motion.
The camera itself will remain completely locked off, creating beautifully composed, almost painterly frames. While movement and focus pulls are restricted, I believe strongly that this actually lends itself to the creative through its refined limitation. Shooting through the ground glass also gives us the distinctive qualities of the format — shallow and dynamic planar depth of field, delicate focus falloff, rich texture, and a softness around the edges that feels tactile, like a photo you want to leap into.
We drench these scenes in the beauty of everyday life, as life keeps happening.
A hand placing a High Life on a bar, chalk dust hanging in the air after an epic call shot, two hands pumping into each other as they both go for a cocktail weenie…
All captured with a timeless, unique, and thumb-stoppingly cinematic aesthetic.
The result is something that feels less like a traditional commercial and more like a series of living photographs — taking these wonderfully ordinary moments and just adding that special something. For me, that feels exactly right for the High Life.
Check out some samples below!
🎥