Jon Siegel of PM Advertising won his first Emmy Award in the category Director-Short Form for the commercial WinStar Farm: Dedicated to the Dream (click here to view) at the 51st Annual Ohio Valley Regional Emmy Awards at the Keeneland Entertainment Center in Lexington, Kentucky July 25. It was PM Advertising's second Emmy win, following that of editor Justin Fowler (also nominated for PM in the 2015 Editor-Short Form category for the same video) who won in 2009 for a Spendthrift Farm video. It was Siegel's second individual nomination, after being among the nominees for a piece on the history of Spendthrift Farm several years prior.
Siegel, who was also nominated with Fowler and Jason Epperson of Eppic Films in the 2015 Commercial category for the WinStar video, was understandably pleased with the outcome of Saturday evening.
“I knew that the quality was there,” remarked Siegel Wednesday. “But it was definitely a surprise to win the nomination. To win for director is tough to do. You can go and get the shots… the piece was beautiful, but I was surprised when they called my name that night to go up there and accept it. It was surreal, you know?”
Added a grateful Siegel, “It is rewarding to have clients like WinStar that trust you to go out there and do this stuff, to help them build a brand and this vision that they have. I want to thank Kenny Troutt and Elliott Walden for entrusting us to create this video. A big thank you to my wife and kids for always being my biggest fans.”
PM came up with the 'Dedicated to the Dream' idea, when WinStar expressed their need to “really showcase how much work goes into the Thoroughbred industry' there at WinStar,” according to Siegel.
“Their tag line has always been “Dream Big, Breed WinStar,” continued Siegel. “We came up with 'Dedicated to the Dream' to highlight that dedication. This video comes from a lifetime of horsemanship. Our goal was to capture the sights and sounds of everyday life on the farm–to highlight the hard work and dedication it takes to run a leading Thoroughbred farm. When you watch the video, it takes you through an entire day. You'll see some sunrise shots, you'll see things in there like the feed–something that would really appeal to horsemen, everything.”
The commercial took just two days to shoot, but Siegel's team was kept busy from before sunrise, to well after sunset.
“We would be at the farm at 5 a.m. and then we would leave around 9:30 p.m,” commented Siegel. “Some of the crew stayed at the farm and they would shoot all the way until it was dark and then be back at it again at 5 a.m. to be ready for all the time-lapse photography. You've got to get those things set while it's still dark out. Anything you do with the training barn, you've got to be out there pretty early.”
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