Lilliputian Burger King workers, pandas in pirate suits and “magical” chocolate candies are featured in the latest work from Bully Pictures.
Gaute Hesthagen has directed a new spot for Burger King and Pitch, Los Angeles with a clever tie-in to the current Jack Black film “Gulliver’s Travels.” A team of pint-sized Burger King employees prepare a BK Kids Meal for a boy, using a huge mechanical crane to deliver a carton of fries, spear a juice box with a straw and draw the wrapping off a hamburger. As a finishing touch, they lower a paper crown onto the boy’s head. The spot, which also features colorful, theatrical backdrops, is driven by the whimsical energy for which Hesthagen is well known.
Hesthagen directed a second spot for Burger King highlighting a product promotion with Hasbro. In it, a kid uses his hand to “finger walk” past a line of Burger King food items and Hasbro Games, before bumping into another pair of fingers belonging to a young girl.
Director Craig Tanimoto and Bully Bros. Post teamed for another new ad in its “talking panda” series for Panda Express and Siltanen & Partners Advertising. In this instance, the bears are cast as pirates in search of treasure—which they find in the form of Panda Express’s new Golden Treasure Shrimp.
Tanimoto shot real pandas in a zoo and their heads, paws and other features were composited into pirate costumes by Bully Bros. Post’s Kiki Chansamone. Chansamone noted that the pirate costumes had to be modified to conform to the shape of the bears’ bodies. (“Bears don’t have shoulders,” he notes.), but the real challenge was to make the bears’ “performances” appear believable. “In some cases, we had to look through a lot of footage to find the right expressions and perspectives,” he explains. “When one of the bears looks through a telescope, we tried to capture a wistful quality in his eye.”
The pirate ship and other background environments featured in the spot were created by renowned matte painter Rocco Gioffre (Watchmen, Star Trek, I am Legend).
Franco Marinelli has directed a spot for Werther’s Original Caramel Chocolate (Sterling-Rice Group) that suggests that the candy is so creamy “you don’t just taste it, you feel it.” The spot shows chefs preparing the treats in a fairy tale-like candy store. Families are then shown enjoying the candy in scenes that are tinged in gold and highlighted by magical sparkles.
About Bully Pictures
Bully Pictures was formed in 2004 by Executive Producer Jason Forest as a full-service TV commercial, internet viral, short film, and international production service company. The company represents directors Juergen Bollmeyer, P.R. Brown, Fredrik Callinggard, Dana Christiaansen, Gaute Hesthagen, Daniel Kaufman, Christian Lyngbye, Franco Marinelli, Jeroen Mol, Michael Shapiro and Craig Tanimoto. For more information, write info@bullypictures.com.
Credits
Spot: It’s Good to be King, Finger Walk
Client: Burger King
Ad Agency: Pitch, Los Angeles. Juliet Diamond, executive producer; JD Jurentkuff and David Zorn, creative directors; Mark Snow, copywriter; Erica Green, art director.
Production: Bully Pictures, Los Angeles. Gaute Hesthagen, director; Jason Forest, executive producer.
Spot: Golden Treasure Shrimp
Client: Panda Express
Ad Agency: Siltanen & Partners Advertising, El Segundo, CA.Rob Siltanen and Joe Hemp, executive creative directors; Scott Bremner, creative director/art director; Brian Howell, copywriter; Maricela Rogers, director of broadcast production; Kelly Saffrey, account director
Production: Bully Pictures, Los Angeles. Craig Tanimoto, director; Jason Forest, executive producer.
Post: Bully Bros. Post, Los Angeles. Kiki Chansamone, visual effects supervisor; Rocco Gioffre, matte painter.
Food Director: Henry Bjoin, Bjoin Films
Spot: Golden Sparkle
Client: Werther’s Original Caramel
Ad Agency: Sterling-Rice Group, Boulder Colorado. Steve Witt, executive creative director/partner; Chip Hisle, associate art director; Wil Wilcox, producer.
Production: Bully Pictures, Los Angeles. Franco Marinelli, director; Jason Forest, executive producer; Ted Robbins, producer.
