A pair of movie-making identical twin brothers from Langley are in the running for a potential $1 million prize and some world-wide exposure.
Nelson Talbot, along with his twin Graham, were announced as one of 24 finalists — and one of only three from Canada — who were selected as semifinalists of the Crash The Super Bowl contest.
This is the first year entries from outside the United States were allowed.
“It would be amazing (to win),” admitted 24-year-old Nelson.
“The money would be awesome, but the exposure would be the best part of it because there are so many eyes on it.”
The contest required people to submit 30-second homemade Doritos advertisements.
The Talbots’ entry is titled Mermaid and in the video, two friends are sitting in a boat, fishing.
The one friend decides to sprinkle some Doritos in the water, and that attracts a mermaid.
As the man and the women stare into one another’s eyes, the video cuts to the mermaid mounted over his fireplace.
“We just threw some ideas out there until one of them struck a chord with both of us,” Nelson said.
“We both felt it had something going for it, something appealing to us.”
They shot the commercial in late November and it took about two days — one for shooting and one for editing.
The 24 semifinalists were announced earlier this month, and the five finalists should be announced in early January.
The final five will be subject to fan voting and the top two — one chosen through fan voting and the other by Doritos — will air during the Super Bowl in February.
The creators of both winning ads will receive the opportunity to work on the set of Marvel’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron and the commercial with the highest number of votes will win a $1 million grand prize.
The runner-up receives $50,000 and the three other finalists each win $25,000.
Each of the five Crash the Super Bowl finalists will be invited to the Super Bowl in East Rutherford, N.J. and watch the game from a private luxury suite.
“I think getting into the top five would definitely get your name out there and do a lot for your career,” Nelson said.
“It it good for publicity and good to get known.”
The pair have long been fascinated with films and movie-making.
They both studied film and drama at Langley Fine Arts School, and after graduating in 2007, attended the film program at Simon Fraser University.
They graduated from the university in 2011. They were drawn to the industry because of its storytelling nature.
“It has always been our passion,” said Nelson.
The brothers run their own company, Fortitude Productions, and have produced commercials, music videos, short films and feature films.
