The Perfect Pour BTS
Pouring Over Process
Patrón and Publicis handed Guillermo del Toro one shot and one rule: no compromises. He brought the skeletons.
Patrón Tequila is known for their hand-crafted artistry and patience. They understand that quality cannot be rushed and that time breeds perfection. All philosophies that filmmaker Guillermo del Toro imbues into every one of his films. What better way to highlight high quality handmade spirits than with the epitome of high quality handmade filmmaking helming a 30-second ad?
Guillermo approached this commercial like he does many of his films, finding the philosophy behind the spot. Guided by an award-winning Mexican-led crew, GDT gathered a group of cinematographers, artists, sound designers and motion capture actors including Guillermo Navarro, Karla Castañeda, Guy Davis, Dennis Berardi, Nathan Robitaille, and Terry Notary to craft this 30-second commercial within a commercial featuring Guillermo’s skeleton crew.
Led by Producer Javier Soto, Sawtooth’s task was to capture the essence of the 30-second spot and show what brought it to life in a behind-the-scenes branded mini-doc. We wanted to document the meticulous, layered process of building broadcast perfection from the ground up, and shaping that behind-the-scenes footage into something matching the campaign's mastery: one pour, one shot.
Layers on Layers
The conceptual architecture of the Patrón ad was fascinating. No siimple product splashes here. Del Toro built a commercial within a commercial, even featuring a cameo of himself. It’s a layered visual world culminating in thirty seconds of heavy compositing, 3D renders, skeleton artwork, and storyboard-driven motion capture VFX.
That complexity was our story to tell.
The BTS coverage had to walk the audience through the process cinematically, unpacking how an intricate idea gets realized inside a tight production window. Every shot selection and soundbite serves the story while keeping the Patrón brand looking its absolute best. At a time when the ad world is sweating over AI-generated content, this campaign drew a line in the sand: this was humans doing what humans do best - and having some fun at the same time.
Workflow Hacks: NotebookLM
At Sawtooth, we’re not unfamiliar with having to comb through terabytes of interviews. Finding quality soundbites that move a story is in our blood, but that doesn’t mean we don’t look for efficiencies along the way.
Enter Google's NotebookLM.
"Identify soundbites from Guillermo del Toro that would work well as a short closing statement on the overall video that highlight the concepts of artistry and purity."
By loading all interview transcripts into a secure project, specific moments surfaced almost instantly. Searching for bites where GDT discussed the visual texture of the spot or looking for times discussing his and Patrón's shared Jalisco heritage took seconds, letting the editorial team spend time actually cutting rather than hunting. That searchability lends itself to fast revisions, which makes for a happy agency.
The Deliverables
Once the skeletons stopped chattering, the campaign produced three distinct pieces:
- One Shot BTS: The long-form piece giving the behind-the-scenes story room to breathe.
- The BTS Cutdown: A distilled version of the key moments for broader campaign use.
- One Shot Sizzle: Fodder for the Publicis Groupe to show off Patrón's artfully crafted campaign with touch more energy.
Simply Perfect
The final delivery wasn't just editorial work. It was a translation service that took the visual language of a master filmmaker and made it accessible, compelling, and unmistakably on-brand for one of the world's premiere tequilas.
