Animal Inc., a Pittsburgh based production house, recently collaborated with American Eagle Outfitters to produce a ‘dogumentary’, announcing AEO’s new line for dogs, ‘American Beagle.’ Showcasing a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the clothing line, the documentary-style short acted as the linchpin of a cohesive campaign that included a website and photo shoot.
American Eagle Outfitters approached Animal’s Michael Killen to direct the piece because of Killen’s strong reputation for working with animal actors, as well as his ability to pull believable performances from real people.
“I’ve worked with dozens of animals. Everything from lizards to camels to lions. But dogs are my favorite actors. Their personalities allow for limitless story lines,” said Killen.
Animal’s writing team of Samm Hodges, Phinehas Hodges, and Ross Kimball, worked closely with American Eagle’s Internal Creative team to co-develop a shooting script for ‘American Beagle,’ featuring AEO Stylists as on camera principals and to bring their concept to life.
Once the script was locked, Animal had only two weeks for production and post. Here, Animal’s extensive documentary experience came in handy. Killen and his team spent five days shooting, feeding footage back to the editors at Animal. Faced with less then four business days to complete the cut, "We had three different editorial teams attacking the project from different angles," Killen said. "That allowed us to explore the best possible options within the short timeframe."
The video quickly spread across the Internet, driving traffic to the American Beagle homepage, where customers could sign up for a waitlist and receive a discount off their American Eagle purchases, with $1.00 per order benefitting the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
"This project really showcases the depth of our team’s talents," said Animal Executive Producer Kathy Dziubek. "We get very excited any time we have the chance to create original content, and this was a great opportunity for us to flex our storytelling muscles from beginning to end."
