EMILY SHUR PHOTOGRAPHS KENAN THOMPSON FOR AUTOTRADER

"The concept from ad agency 72andSunny New York was to shoot comedian Kenan Thompson as a character in a variety of different film or TV genres—an action blockbuster alien abduction scene, a Law & Order style detective scene, a viral TikTok dance video, and a Baywatch-style lifeguard on the beach,” says Emily.

“Each scenario, of course, featured a different car that could be found on Autotrader. The plan was for me to shoot alongside motion while they were filming scenes with Kenan, and my team also set up a seamless so we could have some dedicated time with him to capture more stylized portraits of him,” she continues.

“We quickly ran through a variety of poses and expressions with Kenan in between his scenes for TV. Because he's such a pro, it was very smooth, and we were able to cover the whole shot list in the short time we had. He made my job easy."

"The initial creative brief showed a final composite of the four cars from the different scenes side by side, which meant I had to lock off my camera and shoot each car from a consistent angle, and at the same height and distance, with the same lens. My team and I worked with the film production company to get a couple minutes on each set where I could step into their shot, place my camera where it needed to be, and get a clean shot of the car in its environment. This really needed to happen after motion was done with their shot to ensure that all parties were happy with how the car and surrounding elements looked."