San Francisco-based content production studio Avocados and Coconuts has completed a campaign for Yuma, Arizona-based health care system Onvida Health.

“For Onvida Health, I wanted the films to feel like little fragments of real life. Still carefully made, of course, but not overly polished. Something looser and more intimate. The kind of moments you feel like you’ve almost walked in on by accident,” says Avocados and Coconuts’s Jessie Zinn, who directed the campaign.

Casting played a central role in achieving this naturalistic feel, with the production working with real people from the local community whenever possible. In the primary care spot called A Spark Through Generations, the grandmother and granddaughter are actual family members, bringing a natural tenderness to the frame that didn’t need to be manufactured on-set.

Coming into the Yuma community as an outside production partner required a sensitive and collaborative approach. “I felt very lucky that Onvida Health is so deeply rooted in Yuma and that the community welcomed us the way they did. Honestly, it was one of the most joyful production experiences I’ve ever had. People were so generous to us. Every day felt a little bit like a gift,” Zinn says.

The shoot was logistically ambitious, spanning three different films over three days in the intense Arizona heat while still keeping the performances alive, spontaneous and grounded. Production glitches along the way included creative negotiation around a wet-down for a nighttime biker scene and the impromptu casting of a 100-year-old tortoise that wandered into the primary care spot.

From a visual standpoint, the team primarily shot on the ARRI Alexa LF and used a Bolex camera for contrast. The combination balanced a clean digital image with a grainier, more handheld look, with the Bolex footage helping create a more immediate, documentary-style feel in certain moments.

In post, Zinn worked closely with Avocados and Coconuts editor Hanna Moradi, exchanging timelines to refine rhythm, performance and tone, beginning with a rough assembly and then allowing the edit to evolve to uncover the emotional core of the pieces.

The team completed the project using Adobe Premiere, Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve and Adobe After Effects.