Matt Semel Loves Zombies
Fresh from directing a commercial campaign for Auntie Anne’s Pretzels, Matt Semel sat down with fellow Cowboy Bear Ninja partner Michael Melamedoff to discuss the nuances of creating a comedic homage to zombies with pretzels. Read on to learn Matt’s takeaways…
Michael Melamedoff: You recently directed a campaign with Nested Productions for Auntie Anne’s Pretzels. It was an opportunity for you to really flex your comedic chops with a high concept idea. Can you tell me a little bit about the concept, and how it came together?
Matt Semel: At face value it was a pretty basic concept: people in a mall and in a neighborhood stop what they’re doing when they smell Auntie Anne’s pretzels and singlemindedly pursue the pretzels. I noticed in the scripts that it seemed a bit like a zombie film. When I asked the client, they confirmed that was an inspiration…so I wanted to try to push that as much as possible in the creative. The spots were only 15 seconds each, so some of my favorite gags didn’t make the final edit!
Melamedoff: What zombie films did you watch in preparation for the project?
Semel: I went back to the following references and frequently used them in discussion with the client: 28 DAYS LATER, the 1978 DAWN OF THE DEAD, the 2004 DAWN OF THE DEAD reboot, SHAUN OF THE DEAD, and TRAIN TO BUSAN; the last three in the list were major references for certain shots or jokes. We also briefly discussed EVIL DEAD 2 for a specific shot we were working on. So I think we used some of the more popular references. I also realized that I am a much bigger fan of the zombie and apocalypse genres than I thought!
Melamedoff: What is an important part of the creative that helps ground a high concept idea like people turning into zombies when they smell Auntie Anne’s pretzels?
Semel: Even if you don’t get the zombie references, the spots still work. Basically, I just tried to take specific shots and performance ideas from the genre to make it funny for people.
Melamedoff: How did you make the determination as to whether to lean into performance vs practical effects to create your “zombies” within the spot?
Semel: Originally we thought we were going to try to create a pretty intense zombie horde, a la something you would see in THE LAST OF US or GAME OF THRONES. But watching some of the lower budget films, specifically the 2024 DAWN OF THE DEAD, I realized that you don’t always need to have shoulder to shoulder people. I thought we’d be shooting plates of people and compositing them in Flame, but it just didn’t feel necessary. And everyone was just acting a bit like zombies, so there’s no need to rip open a head or show blood or anything like that.
Melamedoff: What was your favorite takeaway from directing this commercial? Anything you’ll be bringing with you to future projects?
Semel: I have a tendency to come up with silly ideas while shooting – which can be totally inappropriate for a non-comedy spot – but on something like this I can lean into my tendency to do that, and try to keep adding funny ideas as we’re going along. Though my favorite takeaway is that I really enjoy trying to get the crew to laugh. So while it might ruin a good take for sound, I’m going to keep leaning into my goal of getting everyone to break. When everyone is having fun, the end result is just funnier.
