Lensea Film · Treatment

Where we're starting

"Not too campy or over the top, but a little understated humor."

Your note on tone

We'd play it completely straight.

A man tied up in rope at a coffee counter is already funny. Nobody needs to tell the audience that.

So nobody on screen will. He treats it like a mild inconvenience. The barista treats it like any other Tuesday. The camera sits still and lets it happen. The more seriously everyone takes the situation, the funnier it gets, and the more the line about access to your money lands.

"Do Nothing" gets the same treatment from the other direction: people who are genuinely, completely still, held a beat longer than stock footage usually allows. Together they read as one campaign with one sense of humor: dry, warm, and a little too committed.

Spot one · High-Yield Checking

Don't tie up your money

:15On locationOne shoot day

He just wants to pay for his coffee. He's been tied up for a while, and he's made his peace with it.

The board has the premise exactly right. What we'd add is restraint: no mugging, no exaggerated struggle, no reaction shot asking for the laugh. Every beat is small and sincere, so the absurdity does the work.

The performance

Polite. Determined. Quietly losing. His hand inches toward the pocket the way you'd reach for something on a high shelf. He never looks at the camera and never looks embarrassed.

The barista

She's seen stranger. She sets the coffee down and waits, patient and unbothered. No eye-roll. Her stillness is the punchline's other half.

The frame

Locked off, eye level, square to the counter. A wide that holds, a tight insert on the hand, a clean single on her. The camera doesn't move because nobody in the room thinks this is unusual.

The timing

Deadpan needs a breath. We let the attempt play close to real time and run the first voiceover line over the struggle, so the spot keeps its air and still lands the product, super and end card inside :15.

The sound

No stings, no whooshes. Rope creak, the cup on the counter, the espresso machine, room tone. The voiceover plays it straight too.

The place

Light, bright and clean, skewing younger: big windows, pale wood, a few plants. It should feel like somewhere PenAir's members actually get coffee. No brand colors needed in the set.

From your boards

Reference frames from your concept boards.

Barista sets the coffee on the counter — **The setup**She sets the coffee down. He's already tied up.

Close-up of hands bound in rope — **The insert**Where the comedy lives: small, slow, sincere.

Tied hands holding out a debit card — **The super**"Don't tie up your money" over the card frame.

Rough beat sheet

Approximate timing. The real rhythm gets found in the edit.

0:00–0:03Wide, locked off. He stands at the counter, wrapped in rope, completely composed.
0:03–0:06She sets his coffee down. Insert: his hand begins its slow trip toward the back pocket.VO"Earning interest shouldn't mean giving up access to your money."
0:06–0:09A twist. A strain. Nothing. Cut to her single: waiting, unbothered.
0:09–0:13High-Yield Checking product graphic.VO"Earn up to 5.05% APY and keep spending with PenAir High-Yield Checking."
0:13–0:15Super and end card.VO"Don't tie up your money."

Spot two · Money Market

Do nothing

:15Stock footageNo shoot

Stock footage of "relaxing" usually means someone grinning in a hammock. We'd go the other way.

We're looking for people who are genuinely, completely still: the nap that's clearly going to run long, the couch that has won. Frames held a beat longer than a montage usually allows. It's the same deadpan as spot one, coming from the opposite side. One is someone who can't do anything; the other is someone who won't.

The search

We dig through PenAir's Getty account for stillness over smiles and send you selects before anything is licensed. If Getty comes up short, we flag alternatives and their cost first.

One look

Graded to sit next to "Don't Tie Up Your Money," light and bright, so the stock footage and the location footage read as one campaign instead of two.

The deposit

The one moment of action is real PenAir: the app screens composited onto the phone, so the deposit happens in their actual Money Market account.

From your boards

Reference frames from the concept boards. Our Getty search starts here.

Feet up in a hammock — **Hammock**Feet up, no hurry.

Feet under a quilt with a pug on the bed — **The nap**Clearly going to run long.

Mobile check deposit on a phone — **The deposit**PenAir app screens on the phone.

Overhead of someone on a pool float — **The super**"Do nothing. Earn something."

Rough beat sheet

Approximate timing, built from the selects.

0:00–0:05Hammock. Couch. A nap in progress. Held, not hurried.VO"You've earned the right to do absolutely nothing."
0:05–0:08One more beat of perfect stillness.VO"Your money? Not so much."
0:08–0:12A mobile deposit into their PenAir Money Market account.VO"Put it to work with a PenAir Money Market account."
0:12–0:15Super and end card.VO"Do nothing. Earn something."

Built to cut down

Framed for social on set.

We shoot Open Gate on the ARRI Alexa Mini LF: the camera's whole 4.5K sensor, 4448 × 3096, which is taller than a standard 16:9 picture. The broadcast master and the social versions are all pulled from that one original frame, each at full resolution, instead of blowing up a crop of a widescreen shot.

On set we frame with guides for both shapes, so his hands, the card and the barista land in every version. Product graphics and end cards are built for both from the start.

Shorter :06–:10 versions of each spot are an easy add from the same footage and graphics. They're listed as an option in the proposal.

One frame, two deliverables. The 16:9 UHD master and the 4:5 social version are both cut from the same Open Gate image.

Casting

Two straight faces.

The whole spot rests on two people who can hold still and mean it. We cast directly from people we know and through a local talent agency, and you see our picks before anyone is booked.

Him

Late twenties to thirties, an everyman you'd trust with your coffee order. Not a comedian; a straight man with great stillness and a face that can register mild inconvenience without overplaying it.

Her

The barista. Dry, unflappable, kind. She doesn't judge him; she's just waiting for him to finish. Two or three patrons in the background, minding their own business.

Our comedy work

Two we've made.

Two comedy pieces from our reel, plus a series we keep coming back to.

Big Jerk Soda

Play

Big Jerk Soda · Karate Dave's Fruit Punch

A running saga: Dave and Ryan, the Big Jerks, trying to land their next soda flavor. Made with a nimble crew for a fundraiser we do every year.

Continue the series

Chipotle

Play

Chipotle · TTTM

Don't tie upyour money.

We'd play it completely straight.

Don't tie up your money

The performance

The barista

The frame

The timing

The sound

The place

From your boards

Rough beat sheet

Do nothing

The search

One look

The deposit

From your boards

Rough beat sheet

Framed for social on set.

Two straight faces.

Two we've made.

A small crew, on purpose.

One shoot day. Both spots before the holidays.