Advertisement of any product is about an emotional connection. How do we see ourselves? What are our desires? How do we manifest the future that we dream of? Understanding the intended receiver is equally as important as communicating the information in a manner that is conducive to the attainment of their aspirations. When Luis Luk (CEO and founder of LAVA Music) was a guitar student at Hollywood’s famed Musician’s Institute in the mid 2010’s, he found himself in a creative incubator that possessed artists from the world of film as well as music. Years later, after achieving massive success with Lava Music, he turned to these film professionals to create a cinematic ad for his futuristic Lava Me 3 smart guitar. Beidi Wang is known for award-winning productions such as Cyber Baby (Bronze Award-Winner at the Independent Shorts Award, Best Experimental Short at FEEDBACK Female Film Festival), “A Peek of Sludge” (Winner of Best Asian Pacific Music Video at the Munich Music Video Awards), and for pushing the creative envelope; which attracted Luis Luk to her and implore her to produce and direct a commercial for Lava Me 3 that was as exciting as his innovative guitar. The intersect of technology and emotion is difficult to attain, even harder to represent in a curt three-and-a-half-minute production. True to her reputation, Beidi delivered a final product which relates how the most modern technology can cultivate your heartfelt personal expressiveness.
It’s easy to understand why Luis Luk was drawn to Beidi Wang when she makes statements like, “I am mostly interested in making modernist films that discover underrepresented East Asian content and challenge the current storytelling parameters across new media. I believe in innovative and organic ways of storytelling that will rejuvenate the film industry to a new era.” Lava Me 3 is the latest instrument from a company that wants to push artistry forward by using the most advanced technology to empower artists of the present and the future. Lava Me 3 is a carbo-fiber acoustic smart guitar with touchscreen and apps. The production of this instrument is a collaboration between US, China, and Mexico which has found international success. A honeycomb soundboard and built-in multi-touch display integrated with the HILAVA system incorporates powerful apps, creating a synthesis of old and new never before seen in acoustic guitars. For an instrument that breaks the mold and appeals to a global clientele, Luis Luk required a storyteller with an international perspective and a contemporary voice; someone who could impart an experience rather than an advertisement. Ms. Wang cast real musicians, college students, and social influencers rather than actors. Diversity is represented across age, gender, and race in scenes that include skate parks, classrooms, and hilltop vistas. The message is clear, Lava Me 3’s internal apps and WIFI connectivity allows anyone to access heightened creativity anywhere and anytime that works for them. Exciting drone footage of guitarists playing amidst whirling skateboarders in a SoCal skatepark at night or atop a pathway on a hill as the sun cascades into the horizon instills the idea that creativity is open and boundless. The enormity of possibilities is subtly implied by Beidi’s choice of cameras and perspectives. When considering these scenes, it’s obvious how leaders in their own creative mediums like Luis Luk and Beidi Wang can find a union of ideas and a language that is universal.
Artists are the leaders of dreams that can motivate the world to come together. Luis Luk and Beidi Wang are two artists who come from China but have also found success in the United States; they personify the notion that people should not be limited by borders and ideas. One scene in the Lave Me 3 advertisement happens between a girl in China practicing guitar in a classroom and a young man in LA playing the same guitar on the top of the hill. This communicates to the audience that both literally (via its WIFI) and figuratively, this guitar can connect people regardless of time or geography.
Writer: Taye Theodore