{"id":11074,"date":"2014-02-01T00:40:32","date_gmt":"2014-02-01T00:40:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.zennioptical.com\/?p=11074"},"modified":"2023-07-17T05:56:45","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T13:56:45","slug":"eric-wong-jesse-eisenhardt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ca.zennioptical.com\/blog\/eric-wong-jesse-eisenhardt\/","title":{"rendered":"Zenni Video Contest &#8211; Grand Prize Winner!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zennioptical.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Eisenhardt-Photo.jpg\" aria-label=\"Visit blog wp content uploads 2014 01 Eisenhardt Photo.jpg page\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: left; margin: 0px;\" title=\"Eisenhardt Photo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zennioptical.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Eisenhardt-Photo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zennioptical.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/headshot3.jpg\" aria-label=\"Visit blog wp content uploads 2014 02 headshot3.jpg page\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: left; margin: 0px;\" title=\"headshot3\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zennioptical.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/headshot3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\"><\/a><br>\nThe $20,000 Grand Prize winner is the filmmaking team of Jesse Eisenhardt and Eric Wong, both of San Francisco, Calif., whose video of a baby stealing and abusing his father\u2019s glasses impressed the judges with its implied message that Zenni Optical glasses are inexpensive enough that you can afford to lose a pair. Also, you can\u2019t go wrong with a cute baby. Extra points for the drool.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe baby is my son, Alex, who is 1 year old,\u201d said Eisenhardt. \u201cHe constantly wants to grab my sunglasses off my face, and it terrifies me every time that he is going to break them.\u00a0\u00a0So we figured, let\u2019s make a spot that plays off that fear.\u201d Wong, who played the father in the video, said, \u201cWhen you give a kid a pair of glasses and\u00a0let him play around, things get hilarious real fast.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eisenhardt said he\u2019s going to use his share of the winnings to buy a new camera, \u201cand a pair of Zenni glasses for my wife.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wong said that with his portion of the $20,000 grand prize, he plans \u201cto buy every single pair of glasses Zenni makes!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>(With Zenni\u2019s amazingly affordable prices, he\u2019ll probably have some money left over.)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJesse and Eric really nailed what we were looking for,\u201d said Zenni Optical Marketing Manager David Varnai. \u201cWe were completely won over by the edgy humor that conveyed how you can afford to lose a pair of Zennis to a kitchen appliance, since Zenni\u2019s eyewear is so inexpensive. And we all loved that mischievous baby.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Check out the video below and let us know what you think in the comments!<\/p>\n<p><iframe width=\"430\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dMMcF-FhpfI?rel=0\" class=\"optanon-category-C0004\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h4>Getting to know our winners:<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>Did you write, direct, and perform in the video?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Eric:<\/strong>\u00a0It was a total team effort.\u00a0 Jesse and I wrote and produced it together.\u00a0 Then I directed, acted and edited it while Jesse filmed and colored it.\u00a0 Doing everything ourselves, we were definitely lean and mean.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>Who were the actors in the video?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Jesse:\u00a0<\/strong>Besides Eric, the baby in the video is my son, Alex.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>How long did the shoot take?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Jesse:\u00a0<\/strong>Eric and I shot this all in a few hours one day. \u00a0Originally we had two concepts, but once we started getting the hilarious footage of the baby, we completely scrapped the other idea.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>Did any funny or weird or troublesome things happen on the shoot?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Eric:\u00a0<\/strong>This was easily the most I\u2019ve laughed when shooting a video<strong>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>When you give a kid a pair of glasses and\u00a0let him play around, things get hilarious real fast. He was also doing cute and funny things we couldn\u2019t have predicted too.\u00a0\u00a0We couldn\u2019t stop laughing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jesse:\u00a0<\/strong>We anticipated the possibility that Alex would freeze up on camera, but he actually had no issues at all. \u00a0Since we had no crew, he probably felt more comfortable to do his thing without being intimidated. \u00a0It all went very smoothly!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>What were the special challenges you faced in making this video?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Jesse:\u00a0<\/strong>The biggest challenges we faced were trying to anticipate what Alex was going to do with the glasses next, and to keep from laughing off-screen during the take! \u00a0It also became very difficult to cut the video down to 28 seconds since we had so many hysterical moments to choose from. \u00a0Eric did a great job telling the story and keeping it simple and humorous with his edit.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Eric:<\/strong>\u00a0 Jesse might have \u2018forgotten\u2019 all the challenges working with\u00a0his son\u00a0(oh the love of a father), but it wasn\u2019t easy to get\u00a0the kid\u00a0to sit still.\u00a0 For opening shot on the couch, he just didn\u2019t want to be up there.\u00a0 He kept getting down, we\u2019d put him back up, and then he\u2019d get down again.\u00a0 It was a delicate balance to get him to do things that he wasn\u2019t necessarily interested in doing at the moment while keeping him happy.\u00a0 We\u2019re glad that most things worked out and made for some great moments.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>Have you won in other contests before?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Jesse:\u00a0<\/strong>We have never won a contest like this before.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>How many\u00a0Zenni\u00a0Pair you own?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Eric:<\/strong>\u00a0I have 4 pairs<strong>.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0I found out about the contest one day when I was browsing<strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Jesse:\u00a0<\/strong>I don\u2019t wear glasses. Yet.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>How long have you been shopping with\u00a0Zenni\u00a0online?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Eric:\u00a0<\/strong>I discovered Zenni in August of 2013<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>and was so refreshed to see glasses that didn\u2019t cost hundreds of dollars, so I bought 4 pairs :).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>Full-rim, half-rim or rimless?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Eric:\u00a0<\/strong>All full rim.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>How did you come up with idea for your video?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Jesse:\u00a0<\/strong>We were throwing around different concepts and we thought, how can we bring my son into this somehow? \u00a0He constantly wants to grab my sunglasses off my face and it terrifies me every time that he is going to break them.\u00a0\u00a0So we figured, let\u2019s make a spot that plays off that fear.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Eric:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s the dreaded fear that all glasses wearers have.\u00a0 And when your glasses cost hundreds of dollars, the stakes are high.\u00a0 We wanted to play with that yet show that with Zenni prices, it\u2019s not the end of the world if something catastrophic happens to your glasses!\u00a0 On top of that, kids are undeniably cute and can make for some great laughs.\u00a0 Add the spectacular death of a pair of glasses by blender, and we thought we might have something memorable.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>Do you have other hobbies apart from filmmaking?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Eric:\u00a0<\/strong>The Brazilian art of capoeira.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jesse:<\/strong> I enjoy still photography and playing guitar.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>If you had only two words to describe\u00a0Zenni\u00a0Optical what words would you use?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Eric:\u00a0<\/strong>Fun and affordable.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>Why do you wear glasses?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Eric:\u00a0<\/strong>To see, but adding some style helps too.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>How will you spend the money (Will \u00a0you spend your money on new glasses?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Eric:\u00a0<\/strong>To buy every single pair of glasses Zenni makes!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jesse:\u00a0<\/strong>To buy a new camera! \u00a0And a pair of Zenni glasses for my wife.<\/p>\n<h5>Questions about the crew:<\/h5>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>Whose child is this? What\u2019s the baby\u2019s name and age?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Jesse:\u00a0<\/strong>This is my son, Alex, who is 1 year old.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>How many takes were needed to get the baby to cooperate?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Jesse:\u00a0<\/strong>We tried to film the play sequence in one fluid take because we knew he would get bored fairly quickly. \u00a0I basically ran around the kitchen and living room following him with the camera as Eric would encourage him to do certain things (all under my wife\u2019s supervision of course). \u00a0We were all trying to contain our laughter as he would bend and maim the glasses.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Eric:<\/strong>\u00a0Aside from the couch shot which we had to do a good handful of takes, Alex was surprisingly good at following direction.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>Was this something the baby normally did with the dad\u2019s glasses?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Jesse:\u00a0<\/strong>Usually we tell my son to \u201cbe gentle\u201d if he grabs anything fragile like glasses. \u00a0So this shoot was a one-time exception to that rule. \u00a0Hopefully he won\u2019t remember this behavior as he gets older.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>Did you have to audition a lot of babies?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Eric:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>No, this was a role specially created for Alex \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>Did the baby make any special demands during the shoot? No brown M&amp;Ms maybe?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Jesse: <\/strong>Besides one brief temper tantrum, Alex was very reasonable to work with. \u00a0No special demands! \u00a0In fact, I am sure he enjoyed being allowed to wreak havoc without interference for once.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Eric:<\/strong>\u00a0He\u00a0demanded respect and he got it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>Since\u00a0Zenni\u00a0glasses are so sturdy (we saw the baby pull the temple arms without breaking the glasses), did they actually go in the blender, and if so, did they stay intact?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Eric:\u00a0<\/strong>We had a second pair of matching glasses so we would be safe for shooting when these became scratched or broken. \u00a0Despite the abuse, the glasses were still in near perfect condition! \u00a0There was only one minute scratch on the frame.\u00a0We were shocked at how well they held up, especially when Alex was bending the temple arms more than I\u2019d ever seen any glasses bend.\u00a0 I thought for sure they were going to snap, but they didn\u2019t.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m still wearing the glasses today.\u00a0 For safety, we did not actually destroy the glasses in the blender (which wasn\u2019t even plugged in).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zenni:<\/strong> <em>Now that the baby is a video star, is the baby wearing\u00a0Zenni\u00a0sunglasses? If so, which ones?<\/em><br>\n<strong>Jesse:\u00a0<\/strong>Clearly we will have to buy some Zenni sunglasses for Alex. \u00a0He earned them!<\/p>\n<p>For more info on Eric and Jesse, you can visit their sites here:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Eric \u2013 <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ericlwong.com\/\" aria-label=\"Visit www.ericlwong.com Page\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>www.ericlwong.com<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Jesse \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cinema15.net\/\" aria-label=\"Visit www.cinema15.net Page\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">www.cinema15.net<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":null,"protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[149,37,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eye-health","category-fashion","category-our-customers"],"acf":[],"contentshake_article_id":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ca.zennioptical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ca.zennioptical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ca.zennioptical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ca.zennioptical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ca.zennioptical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ca.zennioptical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11074\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ca.zennioptical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ca.zennioptical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ca.zennioptical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}