The Home Depot “Dream Baths” Productions

Trade School Custom Productions for The Home Depot | June & November 2025

Going from inspiration to reality

The Home Depot had several aspects of their app and website they wanted us to feature, so the challenge in each shoot was paying off those features in only six seconds.

For the first shoot we did in June 2025, the main features they wanted were to highlight the “Bathroom Inspiration” page on their website and “Shop the Collection” for their decorative bath hardware. We brought our talent “into” the app and had the room change around her.

For the November shoot, we reversed it by keeping our talent “out” of the app and making it look like the interactions with their phone were affecting the entire “screen” in front of them. The November shoot also gave us an excuse to work with MoTR / Millions of Tiny Robots to have some fun with the transitions.

Filmed at Studio Orange in High Point, NC

Capabilities featured: Shop the Room; Bath Collections, Delivery

At the start of 2025, we were tasked with building a toolkit for the Bath Category (essentially, a new brand guide and design system just for Bath-related campaigns).
The goal was to defend and grow THD’s market position by acquiring new customers and driving project selling with existing customers.
Ultimately, establishing THD as the go-to source for bathroom remodeling.
We developed a cohesive brand platform and campaign concept to guide future creative content development: “Dream Baths Built Here”
This shoot put those plans into action by creating custom videos focused on priority Bath categories to be used in Bath marketing package campaigns throughout Q3 & Q4 of 2025
The Home Depot had also started using more UI overlays and animations in their “What Are You Working On?” campaign videos, so we were encouraged to add similar elements into ours. This made the ads feel more social-first and immersive… literally.
One major issue we ran into was the size of the Studio Orange sets. They were perfect for still photos without any talent, but not large enough for video. The ceilings were very short, so we had to cast talent under 5’6″ or the chandeliers would hit their heads. We ultimately had to swap out every ceiling light fixture to keep our talent from looking like a giant.
The still image of the "Classic Elegance" bathroom shot by Studio Orange
Our original idea to have our talent walk “through” each of the rooms had to be scrapped at the Tech Scout because the equipment we needed to pull off the walking effect could not fit into the spaces. All four bathrooms had also been built right next to each other, so the tracks needed for the dolly shots we wanted to do wouldn’t fit between each of the rooms.
The "Vintage Deluxe" set, which had the most vanities available to swap in/out
The "Modern Embrace" set, which was the smallest room
The "Cozy Cottage" set
The "Classic Elegance" set, which was the largest room and gave us the most flexibility
There were also mirrors EVERYWHERE. Our tracking shots would only work if we could green-screen the reflection walls, mask out all the camera equipment, and do a LOT of post-production work… which this shoot did not have in its budget. A small blemish that can be Photoshopped in a still image is a huge feat to fix in video.
Also because of budget and timing restrictions, we had one day to capture everything.
Collectively, we learned a lot on this shoot.

The Team

Trade School

Scott Hunt, Creative Director
Brandon Malcolm, Associate Creative Director – Copy
LaNorris Blutcher, Art Director
Emma Ward, Art Director
Matt Silliman, Head of Production / Producer
Dan Pederson, Director
Ryan Rodinis, Editor
 

Crew

Philip Wages, Director of Photography
Liz Stovall, Line Producer, Fenton Pictures
 

Talent

Amanda Glass, On-screen Talent
Stephanie Hong, Voiceover Talent

Build ownability and credibility of The Home Depot as the destination for on-trend bathroom products.

The content should clearly highlight the range of inspiration available from The Home Depot, empowering shoppers to express their own unique style.

Position The Home Depot as Millennials’ go-to source for everything they want and need for their bathroom – from inspiration to execution.

To fulfill the FY25 Q3Q4 CML Winning in Bath campaign, the videos created focused on THD’s Shop by Room capability and Bath Collections to clearly communicate that Home Depot has the assortment and style needed to achieve your dream bath.

Key Themes

Bath Inspiration: Tell the story of choosing a room on homedepot.com that reflects your unique style.

Collections: Demonstrate how easy it is to have curated, beautiful, and matching hardware throughout your bath with the help of THD’s collections.

Utilize the strategic approach from the toolkit: Dream Baths Built Here.

Position The Home Depot as Millennials’ go-to source for everything they want and need for their bathroom – from inspiration to execution.

Showcase key digital and service capabilities in fast-paced, visually appealing spots.

Showcase the assortment of priority bath category products: Vanities and Deco Plumbing (Faucets, Bath Accessories and Showerheads).

Reinforce the ease and convenience of the customer journey from their inspiration to delivery.

Production Deliverables

1x Video Version for Bathroom Inspiration (:15) nicknamed “Inspiration to Delivery”

Showcase the shopping journey starting online using the “Shop the Room” tool to the finished bathroom scene.

Look to incorporate other online capabilities besides the Shop by Room tool like bath collections, free delivery, etc.

1x Video Version for Bath Collections (:06) nicknamed “Finish Your Vision”

Use a cut-down of the :15 video to highlight Bath Collections and demonstrate how you can match everything in your bathroom from one key piece of bath hardware.

1x Video Version for On-Trend Vanities (:06) nicknamed “Vanity Style”

Demonstrate how easy it is to use the Augmented Reality feature in The Home Depot’s app to view a product in your space before you buy it.

Show how much impact a new vanity can have on a bathroom.

Considerations

  • Videos utilized creative direction outlined in the Winning in Bath Toolkit.
  • Videos worked within the Winning in Bath templates from the toolkit.
  • Videos were shot using the already built-out bathroom sets at Studio Orange.
  • On-trend product assortment was the key storytelling driver, highlighting several products in each video along with Delivery as a secondary capability message.
  • Stills were captured by Studio Orange.

The finished version of the “Inspiration to Delivery” :15 spot

This :06 video, nicknamed “Finish Your Vision,” is a cut-down of the longer :15 spot featuring a single Bath Collection as the hero

Shown in all four aspect ratios – 9×16, 16×9, 1×1 and 4×5

This one :06 spot, “Vanity Style,” took the longest to film for two reasons:

1. We had to swap out each vanity practically after locking off the camera

2. Amanda’s hand had to be filmed against a green screen so it could be moved around to fit the aspect ratio / framing for each of the four final sizes – and she had to hold the phone completely profile to camera so we couldn’t see any of the screen

You’ll also notice that the 9:16 has the first UI pop-out going behind Amanda’s head, too, so it stayed within the safe zones for Reels and TikTok.

Filmed at Studio Orange in High Point, NC

Capabilities featured: Shop by Collection, Shop by Room

Our June 2025 shoot went extremely well, and we were asked to “amp things up” as the next round of Bath Inspiration photos from Studio Orange would hit The Home Depot’s website.
We presented two different approaches to our clients: the first one being a redo of the same UI elements and feel as we had shot in June, which transported the talent “into” the Bath Inspiration UI. The second one reimagined the approach by keeping the talent “out” of the sets.  
The clients went with the second approach, and we enlisted the CG artists at Millions of Tiny Robots / MoTR to pull off the ideas we had.
This shoot created custom videos focused on priority Bath categories to be used in Bath marketing package campaigns throughout Q1 & Q2 of 2026: tubs, showers, toilets, vanities, tile, and faucets/hardware.
Studio Orange also did us a huge favor by building not only larger sets, but building them farther apart so we could get the video equipment into the spaces between the sets.
This time around, we had two days to shoot all four spots.

Between June and November, we also gave the end cards more pizazz with a custom animation treatment done by Sr. Motion Designer Kris Boban from my team.

The updated end card where the tiles "build" the background
The original "pop" end card from June 2025

The Team

Trade School

Scott Hunt, Creative Director
Brandon Malcolm, Associate Creative Director – Copy
LaNorris Blutcher, Art Director
Emma Ward, Art Director
Josh Coleman, Executive Producer
Dan Pederson, Director
Pooja Pasari, Sr. Producer
Ryan Rodinis, Editor
 

Crew

Philip Wages, Director of Photography
Liz Stovall, Line Producer, Fenton Pictures
Jack Ehrbar, Owner & Managing Director, MoTR
 

Talent

Taylor Farrar, On-screen Female Talent
Steven Crane, On-screen Male Talent
Stephanie Hong, Female Voiceover Talent
Adam Gold, Male Voiceover Talent

Build ownability and credibility of The Home Depot as the destination for on-trend bathroom products.

The content should clearly highlight the wide assortment available at THD, empowering shoppers to express their own unique style.

Position The Home Depot as Millennials’ go-to source for everything they want and need for their bathroom – from inspiration to execution.

To fulfill the FY26 Q1Q2 CML Winning in Bath campaign, the videos created focused on THD’s Shop by Room capability and Bath Collections to clearly communicate that Home Depot has the assortment and style needed to achieve your dream bath.

Key Themes

Shop the Room: Tell the story of picking out a room on THD.com and bringing it to life in your bathroom.

Collections: Demonstrate how easy it is to have curated, beautiful, and matching hardware throughout your bath with the help of THD’s collections. Showing how much of an impact hardware makes on a bathroom.

The strategic approach from the FY25 WIB shoot and toolkit: Dream Baths Built Here.

We aimed to position The Home Depot as Millennials’ go-to source for everything they want and need for their bathroom – from inspiration to execution.

Like the previous WIB shoot, the executions were informed by already built-out bathroom scenes at Studio Orange. 

It was important to take into account the precise dimensions of each room and the learnings from the FY25 Winning in Bath production.

Production Deliverables

2x Video Versions for Shop the Room (:06 each) nicknamed “Retro to Modern” and “Classic to Cottage”

Tell the story of picking out a room on homedepot.com and bringing it to life in your bathroom.

Delivery should be a secondary cape message we will aim to incorporate.

1x Video Version for Bath Collections (:15) nicknamed “Collection Connection”

Demonstrate how easy it is to have beautiful matching hardware in your bathroom with the help of The Home Depot’s Bath Hardware collections shopping feature.

1x Video Version for On-Trend Vanities (:15) nicknamed “Vanity Revamp”

Demonstrate how easy it is to use the Augmented Reality feature in The Home Depot’s app to view a product in your space before you buy it.

Show how much impact a new vanity can have on a bathroom.

Considerations

  • Videos utilized creative direction outlined in the Winning in Bath Toolkit.
  • Videos worked within the Winning in Bath templates from the toolkit.
  • Videos were shot using the already built-out bathroom sets at Studio Orange.
  • On-trend product assortment was the key storytelling driver, highlighting several products in each video along with Delivery as a secondary capability message.
  • Stills were captured by Studio Orange.
  • B-roll video of each bathroom without talent matching the stills shot by Studio Orange were captured for use in the Digital Video Template / DVT.

The finished version of the :15 “Shop by Collection” app capability video nicknamed “Collection Connection” with CG animation by Millions of Tiny Robots / MoTR.

The “clean” version of the “Retro to Modern” spot before the additional overlays / animated icons are added – you can see the “bounce” on larger items like the tubs, vanities, and toilets as the rooms slide across and re-settle. Notice there is no end card at this point, either.

The finished version of the “Retro to Modern” spot, including the animated “shoppable dots” in each room, the end card, and the voiceover.

All four aspect ratios of “Retro to Modern” – 9×16, 16×9, 1×1 and 4×5

Ryan had to redo the animation for every aspect ratio after the final footage was created by MoTR. Notice the hand doing the swiping (shot against a green screen) is in a different spot in each one, too.

We mocked every one of these up at the storyboard phase to show what would likely be shown in each ratio and what might be cut off. The 16:9 size is the only one that shows the entire room.

Our second :15 spot, “Vanity Revamp.” To pull this off, we locked the camera in place and the crew moved each vanity in and out of the room as well as getting a plate shot of the space with no vanity.

All four aspect ratios of “Classic to Cottage” – 9×16, 16×9, 1×1 and 4×5 

Both of the :06 spots originally featured just two of the different bathrooms: “Retro Color Pop” into “Soft Modern” and “Heirloom Revival” into “Casual Bungalow.” When we got on set and started filming, we realized we could fit an additional room in each spot and not have it feel chaotic. Each spot swaps the other’s “end room” for their “in-between room.”