DDB had a great idea for a series of State Farm commercials that would live on Instagram’s Stories. Playing with the insurance agency’s tag line, “Here to help life go right,” the idea was to show a series of relatable mishaps that State Farm helps cover, changing one word in the tagline to fit: “Here to help life go right,” became “Here to help laundry go right,” (showing a room full of suds and a malfunctioning washer) and so forth.

But insurance ads are expensive, and social budgets aren’t normally big enough to execute grand moments, so when DDB tapped The Barkers to make the series, they also asked the team for help find affordable ways to carry the project through.

“We love it when an idea is clear and packaged so neatly,” says Chris. “We’re directors, designers, photographers, and while we think creatively, we can also think in logistics. So we were happy to come in early to help them adjust some of their ideas to fit the budget, finding a solution that both the agency and the clients loved.”

Bringing the “go right” moments to life in the spots was “almost too much fun,” says Chris: “We loved playing with the 9:16 vertical croppings and hiding things off screen so the next story would reveal something new with each frame.”

Putting it all together, The Barkers relied on a mix of practical effects and graphic art (GFX) added in post-production, with a lot of help from Sarofsky. “There’s always an element of creative alchemy you have to use in order to balance cost and visual effectiveness,” Chris explains. “We wanted it to be real. Some things are more cost effective to do practically, and other times it’s a GFX job all the way. That’s why we love working with Sarofsky on post when the opportunity presents itself.”