Tennis, anyone? A dip in the ocean? How about both?
Mixing tennis with H(approximately)O makes for a riveting, high-energy contest between two players in "Better Than Oxygen/Tennis," a :30 promoting Pocari sports drinks for Tokyo ad agency Asatsu/DK.
Two young men battle it out in a no-holds-barred game of tennis, with power serves and acrobatic dives for the ball—only this court is under water. Talk about quenching a thirst.
Joel Peissig served as director and creative director on the spot, via Los Angeles production house Level 7. He collaborated with a visual effects team from Venice, Calif.-based Digital Domain to combine dry-land soundstage shots of tennis-playing actors with underwater footage of the same actors lensed in a swimming pool. The realism of the scenes is evident in such details as bubble trails on the speeding tennis ball and rays of light piercing through the water. The bubbles and rays are CGI. The soundstage work was done on a set that was only half of a tennis court, so the entire court seen in the spot is largely computer generated, as well. The seamless blending of the visual effects with the dry-land and underwater footage resulted in a piece that is photo real and completely surreal at the same time.
The spot marks Peissig’s directorial debut. (At press time, he was mulling over his production company options for representation.) After a longstanding career as an agency art director—on staff at such shops as BBDO New York; GSD&M, Austin, Texas; and Team One Advertising, El Segundo, Calif., followed by freelance work for different agencies on both coasts—Peissig decided to focus on making the transition to spot helming. Between freelance agency assignments, he started putting together a directorial reel of spec spots last year.
But Level 7 executive producer Chris Van Howten was first attracted to Peissig’s pedigree as an agency creative. Van Howten was looking to further Level 7’s profile, not only as a production company, but as a self-described "silent creative resource for agencies." Asatsu/DK was in the market for U.S. creative talent to give its work some Western sensibility that would help set it apart from other Japanese ad shops. Van Howten brought Peissig into some conceptual endeavors for Asatsu/DK, including a Mitsubishi assignment. Then the Pocari opportunity came up as Asatsu/DK was in the process of pitching for that business.
Pocari wanted to broaden the perception of its health drink to encompass the sports/athletic market in Asia, à la Gatorade in the U.S. Peissig’s underwater tennis concept proved to be the vehicle to help make that objective a reality via Asatsu/DK, which won the Pocari sports drink account. Though the agency initially sought an established director, Van Howten suggested that Peissig helm the spot. To make the agency comfortable with that proposition, Van Howten said he would surround Peissig with a strong support infrastructure, including such accomplished collaborators as the artists at Digital Domain. That convinced Asatsu to "green light" Peissig’s first foray into directing.
Peissig’s support crew included executive producer Van Howten and freelance producer Jolie Chitwood. The commercial was shot on stage at Digital Domain and on location at the Bellflower Aquatic Center in Bellflower, Calif., by cinematographer Claudio Miranda and noted underwater DP Pete Romano.
The ensemble from Asatsu/DK, Tokyo, included VP Shin-Ichiro Nakaso and producer Saburo Masuda. Exec. producer was Hisashi Nakano, who’s with the agency’s Los Angeles-based production office, Makes Inc.
Digital Domain’s effects contingent consisted of visual effects supervisor Leslie Ekker; producer Stephanie Gilgar; coordinator Cyndi Ochs; compositors Mark Larranaga, Christine Lo and Darren Poe; technical director Jonah Hall; effects animator/ supervisor Nikos Kalaitzidis; effects animator/Houdini artist Archil Gogoladze; lead data integration artist Tim Conway; data integration artists Nancy Adams, Jason Doss, David Niednagel and Chris Simmons; modeler/Maya artist Vernon Wilbert; and rotoscope artists Lou Pecora and Byron Werner.
The spot was edited by Lance Pereira of Chrome, Santa Monica. Assistant editor was Hayley Man. Deanne Mehling and Ashley Hydreck of served as executive producer and producer, respectively, for Chrome.
Colorists were Stefan Sonnenfeld and John Zaik of Company 3, Santa Monica. Audio mixer was Jeff Payne of Eleven, Santa Monica. Graphic designer was Saam Gabbay, who maintains his own Venice-based shop, Saam Gabbay.
Music composer/creative director was Paul Robb of bicoastal Face The Music. Executive producer for Face The Music was Bergit Roberts. Vocalist was Pinky Turzo.
Ear to Ear, Santa Monica, provided sound design, with contributors being sound designer Matthew Schoenfeld, creative director Brian Banks and executive producer Amy Lyngos.
