Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain was the first feature film from the SNL “Please Don’t Destroy” crew (whose comedic timing is very similar to Andy Samberg and “The Lonely Island”). The story explores three friends (Ben, John, and Martin) who feel discontented with their trajectory of life. Soon, they go on a hunt to find a gold treasure that is believed to be buried at a nearby mountain. Working with a mixed bag of studio heads, agencies, and executives, the campaign was not officially labeled as a “Peacock Original” but rather a “Peacock Exclusive”.
My focus was primarily on Art Directing the Key Art in partnership with LA (original art) and Art Machine (versioning). I also Art Directed motion graphics used in the trailer, cutdowns, and OOH with help of Transit (original cut) and Inside Job (versioning). We also worked with Project X for social placements. Both The Please Don’t Destry guys and Judd Apatow (Producer on the film) signed off on final creative and provided feedback, which cycled through the many channels for approval/revisions at Peacock.
Skills Involved
Key Art Art Direction, Motion Art Direction, Branding, Activation Design, Versioning
Agencies / Studios
LA, Transit, Inside Job, Project X, Art Machine, Apatow Productions, Please Don’t Destroy
When
August – November 2023
Hero Trailer
The film featured a fair amount of National Lampoonery that Ben, John, and Martin wanted to lean into. Please Don’t Destroy (on SNL) didn’t necessarily already have an established look/brand outside of their stand-up comedy tour posters. With Judd Apatow as a Producer, the motion GFX referenced the styling of some of his more famous films such as The 40 Year-Old Virgin, Superbad, Knocked Up, and many others. There was a desire for unforgiving big-bold “Helvetica-like” typography that accentuated the craziness. Cameos/stars like Conan O’Brien, Gaten Matarazzo, and Bowen Yang were important to include in the trailer and other cut-downs.
Key Art
Given the wild comedic nature of the film, the Please Don’t Destroy guys wanted as many easter eggs and little details in the art as possible. In tandem with the illustrative style of the groups’ stand-up comedy tour posters, we initially pulled reference from Monty Python’s The Secret Life Of Brian where the text “TREASURE OF FOGGY MOUNTAIN” would be the literal mountain the characters are climbing. We also referenced National Lampoon’s Vacation where we see an exaggerated illustration of Chevy Chase over a canyon of chaos. However there was concern the Please Don’t Destroy guys were not recognizable enough to be completely hand-drawn.
After many discussions with Creative Directors and studio heads we ended up going with two different directions. One that was more photorealistic and “safe” (this only lived on platform), and one that much more illustrative and detailed. We did have access to a talent photoshoot on a seamless gray background, but the options were limited. Ideally we, Peacock Title Marketing, would want to sketch some concepts and do a shoot of our own that matches the direction from all creative/strategic/studio executives.
I personally favored a sketch-comp where talent (with slightly exaggerated heads) were climbing a mountain, reaching upward for the treasure at the top, but in addition to not having talent poses that matched their likeness (couldn’t do a face swap), the idea got shot down somewhere along the way. Considering what we had to use, LA did a nice job building the comp with assets pulled from unit photography/seamless, and then hiring an illustrator that replicated/traced over the original. This illustrator also worked on the art for Mel Brook’s recently released min-series,
History of the World: Part II
HERO ART
SECONDARY ART
Title
Please Don’t Destroy – :30 TV Spot
Tools
After Effects – building Style Guides and Toolkits
Summary
In the film the guys do the “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” dance and it’s replayed several times throughout. Amongst other moments of wackiness (a hairless bear, wing-suits, etc.), Gaten Matarazzo (from Stranger Things) makes a notable cameo, playing himself. We also draw a connection to Apatow Productions by mentioning “From the Producers of Step Brothers“.
Title
Please Don’t Destroy – Times Square DOOH
Tools
After Effects, Premiere
Summary
Inside Job helped version this out. The trailer contains several see-and-say moments that we used to our advantage, especially considering this OOH Times Square placement has no audio. The GFX from this bespoke cutdown light up the space (yellow typography on black) and draw viewers attention.
Premiere + After Party
The Premiere was held at the SVA Theatre in NYC with the after party hosted at BOOM atop The Standard hotel. I worked with the Peacock Activation team to help design screener slides, the step & repeat red carpet backdrop, digital posters in the lobby, water bottles, wooden coasters, popcorn boxes, tickets, napkins, and more.
At The Standard the activation team did a great job bringing to life some of the props from the film – such as gold bars and the “treasure” itself. Unfortunately due to the 2023 Writers/Actors strike, Ben, John, and Martin weren’t able to attend the premiere.
