Mac & V

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Branding Photography Red Giant Oil

Machaela Clark

Behind the commercial photography lens.

Red Giant Oil is as much a staple of Council Bluffs history, it’s one of North America’s largest blenders of locomotive engine oil, the company has a powerful legacy spanning well over a century.  

When MX Group, an integrated B2B creative agency, began planning a marketing and advertising campaign for Red Giant Oil, they hired us — a Council Bluffs-based commercial photography studio — to shoot the campaign and oversee the creative process locally and in New Castle, Wyoming.

Before getting started, we had a call with MX Group’s creative team in Chicago.

Why is a pre-production call essential?

  • We have to gather an understanding and feel of the campaign.

  • We need to know how the photos will be utilized.

  • We need to know what the client is trying to accomplish with the photos and in this case the rebrand.

From the start, the project was to be high-level and all-encompassing, with many moving parts, not to mention significant goals and expectations for the end result. We carefully chose the best equipment for the project, along with a great team of creatives to accomplish the shoot to MX Group’s specs.

We discovered our love of walkie-talkies — Why do we love them?

  1. They are efficient means of communication.

  2. Cell phones don’t always work - walkie-talkies do.

  3. We look legit using them.

Photography Team

The team included some talented creatives from the Omaha Council Bluffs area, with who we love working alongside

Why is lighting crucial in this type of commercial shoot?

  • Working with large spaces and outdoors can be a challenge, but when you understand lighting and how to overpower lights like the sun, it makes lighting, train yards, and giant trucks a lot easier.

  • The style guide called for hard dramatic lighting to portray the “Giants of the industry;” the giant heroes.

Drama and effect, the right lighting needed to be specific and calculated. The team also needed to shoot at dawn to capture the beauty and impact of the morning light in the wee hours. At the same time, the entire shoot required careful planning to ensure scheduling worked around Red Giant Oil truck arrivals, train availability and crew availability in two states. 

“Machaela and Vivian were very accommodating to my shooting needs, My client, who has several locations across the U.S., required a photo shoot of their facilities. Mac and V took our feedback and direction and coordinated, scouted and shot multiple facilities on our behalf.  We trust in their ability and would work with them again.”

- Miro Zugovic, MX Group’s director of front end and video development.

Bottom line: the collaboration was a success.

It also is an example of why we love to work with other creatives to pull off a killer campaign that clients and their customers will talk about for years to come.  The crews at Red Giant Oil were fantastic throughout. MX Group were great partners to work with, as they are thoughtful experts in their field who kept the communication flowing. It was a great experience for all, including our team.