The starting process for using live action in a commercial is almost identical to how we start a CGI commercial. We have to come up with the overall message of the spot, the storyboards and script. However, from there it gets more complicated as it is like producing two separate commercials (one CGI and one live action) that had to work together with a perfectly smooth transition.
We outlined the four Wizards we wanted to use on the “featured”
team. Our goal was to use the Ice and Myth Wizards from our last CGI
commercials plus two additional ones. In casting the actors it made for
a fun duel process. We needed to find a male and female actor that
embodied the Wizards from the previous CGI commercials. We then had to
find two actors (one male and one female) that would be the foundation
to model the two additional CGI Wizards, one Death and one Fire. It is a
fascinating process looking at video castings of so many young actors
and really trying to pick out just the right ones. I lost track of how
many hours we spent looking for “perfect fits” to be the first ever live
action Wizards 
and here are the people that was on the Commercial
and here are the people that was on the Commercial
Getting the clothing right was another fun effort. I really wanted to
make sure the actors were wearing cool clothes that you would see in the
halls of any high school. However, they also had to have a close
resemblance to the Wizard101 outfits that the CGI characters would wear
in the arena. We knew the color combinations but it was really hard to
know how it would work until the actor actually has the outfit on. The
day before the commercial shoot we all got together and walked through
all the details. This was also when we had each of the actors try on
all of the various outfits to figure out exactly the right ones to wear.
Another thing we had to really focus on to get right was the actual
location to shoot the commercial. I wanted a locker room feel but one
that could just as easily be in our world or in the Spiral. This was a
harder thing to find than you might think. We ended up shooting the
commercial at a really cool stadium in the Dallas area that had great
concrete floors and columns. We had the lockers custom built based on
how we thought they might look in a real Wizard101 stadium. We also had
the stone benches custom built (side note, they’re now a permanent
addition to the KingsIsle offices). A lot of the employees wanted fun
items in the commercial so I brought a box of items in to act as “props”
on the shelves of the spot. I won’t list all of the items but some of
them included Marleyben (the marketing team mascot), a bottle of Falmea
hot sauce a fan had sent in, and my old school original clapping monkey
from the 1950’s.
The day of the commercial shoot was a whirlwind. There was a huge crew
there setting up lights and cameras, dressing the actors and getting
their hair and make-up done and a whole flurry of other activity. Once
everything was in place we started shooting footage. There was a cool
“mist” machine that helped set the ambiance. An interesting aspect was
how many shots we had to take to get the short footage actually used in
the commercial. This is because there is no second chance to get
another shot if we find in production we don’t have what we want. I’ll
also call out at this point that I got to have my first appearance in a
national commercial. Yep, I played one of the door guards for the
Wizards entering the arena. I can hear what you are thinking – “Wow,
that was one amazing piece of acting that you did…” 
Truth be told, I was extremely nervous about using live actors and
shooting lives scenes for a KingsIsle commercial. There were a lot of
additional risks to adding live action for us. Would we pick the right
actors? Would the set look appropriate and have a feel that crosses
both our world as well as the world we’ve created in the spiral.
Perhaps most importantly, would the live action come across with the
believability we feel is so important? Overall I think we were able to
navigate through all of these risks and create a commercial I was really
proud of but I would love to hear your thoughts. Did you like the
commercial? Should we consider using live action again in the future? and i hope you like this wizard101 post i hope to see all you guys again be safe and see you soon 
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