We were east of Los Angeles, in the middle of nowhere, shooting a Frosted Mini-Wheats commercial. The star was an animated mini-Wheat character who had a dual personality, Sweets and Wheats. Sweets corresponded to the frosted side of the mini-Wheat cereal and Wheats corresponded to the unfrosted side of the cereal. Wheats is shown in the image.
Sweets and Wheats ride with a group of live action bikers whose leader is Bubba. Sweets and Wheats continually beg Bubba to tell them which side of the cereal he likes best, the frosted side, or the unfrosted side. Bubba loves them both and can’t choose between them.
The live action cast was interesting. The bikers were played, for the most part, by real bikers. These were young, large, rough looking men on Harleys. They wore chains, leather, and a costume that identified them as the Highway Reamers.
Bubba, the leader was played by Brad Lesley, a six foot six, 230 pound man. Brad, a former major league pitcher, had the nickname ‘The Animal’. Brad had a very intense appearance and I would not like to have stood at the plate and looked up to see him on the pitcher’s mound.
My job was to insert digital effects into the scenes in post-production; consequently I was generally near the camera, the director, Brad, and a number of the bikers.
In one scene Bubba’s line was: “You’re confusing me man, like I can’t choose!” The director wasn’t happy with Brad’s delivery of the line and took multiple takes. The director persisted take after take. We burned through hundreds of feet of film and swapped out for a new film magazine at one point still trying to capture the right take.
Brad repeated the you’re confusing me man line over and over and over with different nuances. After a while, the animal, in Brad the animal, looked like it was beginning to awaken. There I was, next to a 230 pound professional athlete who was becoming frustrated. I wished I had a bat for protection in case the animal got loose.
Brad was a professional. He took a moment, focus, and delivered the line to the director’s liking.
As we worked through the day I chatted with Brad and some of the bikers. We ate lunch together. They were exceptionally warm and courteous to me.
The thing I most remember from that film shoot over a decade ago is Brad’s voice saying: “You’re confusing me man, like I can’t choose!” The repetition burned those words into my memory.
Let’s return to Dr. John Medina’s book Brain Rules. In the chapter on his fifth brain rule he states: “Repeat to remember.” John sites a statistic that people usually forget 90 percent of what they learn in a class within 30 days, and in fact the majority of the forgetting occurs within the first few hours after the class.
Brad’s repetition of the confusing me man phrase was hammered permanently into my memory.
We Christians, understandably, live in the context of our culture. Culture is a living, changing thing. It is very easy to allow our minds to be aligned to the standards set by the environment we live in.
We take our queue from the Apostle Paul in Romans 12:2. We are transformed by the renewal of our minds. We return to Scripture over and over again to keep it fresh in our memories.
Scripture is an incredible giver. It doesn’t get dull. I can return to a passage of Scripture that I read 10 years ago and find a deeper meaning compared to my prior understanding of that passage. I’m farther along on my Christian journey. Sometimes the fact that I am in a different place in life causes a passage to take on new meaning and relevance.
I visit passages of Scripture repeatedly. It stays fresh in my mind.
P.S. Brad, you are remembered.