TBD Coffee Co
In March of 2020, the night before the world shut down from the COVID-19 pandemic, I met Ashley Vasquez at a mutual friend’s birthday party. The connection was instant. Five months later; we were crazy about each other and crazy enough to start a coffee company together.
Ashley Vasquez and Zachary Dripps posing for a photo on set with photographer Maty Young of Young One Studio
Ashley had a background in social media management and my background was in cinematography, photography, and animation. We created TBD Coffee Co. I drew the characters on each coffee bag label, took product photos of each coffee bag, and filmed videos showcasing the bags. Ashley took those and created a TBD Coffee Co Instagram page, ran social ads, and ran PR campaigns with various news outlets.
We started with our Per My Last Email Dark Roast and then kept creating from there. Fast forward to the present and the company is much larger with 12 signature coffee labels. We bought a new home together at the start of 2022.
Zachary Dripps filming social ads with the Laowa probe lens
We regularly film ads for TBD Coffee Co for use on social media. Here is an ad that we shot for Hulu. It ran for 3 months. The ad was shot on the Nikon Z6 with Pentax 67 lenses and a Kipon Baveyes medium format focal reducer flying on the Ronin RS2 gimbal.
Hulu Ad Featuring Nicolle Alfaro
We used my voice in the Hulu video’s narration. We recorded at the talented musician Alex Burke’s recording studio. He mixed and mastered the audio for the commercial.
Ashley Vasquez helped write the script for the narration and Alex Burke also helped with notes.
Zachary Dripps recording the voiceover in Alex Burke’s recording studio
In an interview with Canvas Rebel about TBD Coffee Co, I was asked to share a story that illustrates an important or relevant lesson you learned in school. I answered that I’m a director of photography and producer now, but I started off in film school.
I had a film professor who told us that when crafting a story, it’s best if we take from our own personal lives as inspiration.
If we imitate other films then we’re creating a duplicate of something that already exists.
His favorite film he had seen a student make was about a garbage man that was filmed by a student who worked part time as a garbage man. I try to bring that same sense of authenticity to the company Ashley and I have created together, TBD. The labels we create and how we’ve built our brand are authentic to who we are and what we’re going through in our lives.
For a recent piece media interview, I filmed Ashley while livestreaming the interviewee. I output from a Zoom H4N into the computer so the interviewer could hear Ashley’s audio exactly as it was being recorded even while working remotely. I utilized cove lighting similar to Roger Deakin’s style commonly seen in his films.
Ashley Vasquez being interviewed
LoFi Marlee
I animated a long-form (1.5 hour) LoFi beats video of Marlee the Dachshund sleeping. As time goes on, birds land on the trees outside swaying in the breeze. Neighbors walk past in their windows. Day shifts to night as Marlee continues to relax listening to her calming music. The LEDs slowly rotate through colors. As the lights in the room change, the reflections in Marlee’s eyes and around the room change as well. The camera zooms slowly in and out to show the entire room and then a closeup of Marlee.
Zachary Dripps taking product photos of a new coffee bag
The TBD Coffee Co Instagram page’s reels are a large assortment of social content both organic and paid that I created. Some are animated and others are live action.