From a $700 project to an approximately $8,000 bud-get to inclusion in this year’s Saatchi & Saatchi Showcase (see story, p. 1)—that was the circuitous route taken by director Pes of Czar Films USA, New York.
It was the $8,000-budgeted stop-motion animation spec spot "Roof Sex" that earned the New York-based Pes a slot in the Showcase. "Roof Sex," which made SHOOT’s "The Best Work You May Never See" gallery (6/29/01, p. 13), opens on a picturesque shot of a city skyline, with the rooftop of an apartment building in the foreground. There’s an aggressive banging against the door leading to the roof, accompanied by vocalizations seemingly straight out of a porn movie. The door bursts open to reveal two upholstered living-room chairs in heated passion. They go at it hot and heavy under the daylight sky. In an energetic montage, this love-on-a-rooftop anthropomorphism imaginatively assumes all the positions—including one dangerously close to the building’s edge.
Cut to later that day, as a woman returns to her darkened apartment. She’s puzzled by the sight of the two chairs, their arms denuded and torn, the stuffing exposed and protruding. The woman reaches a logical but incorrect conclusion when she spies her cat. She grabs a broom, the scene goes to blackout and we hear the feline screech. A supered end tag puts this bizarre slice-of-inanimate-object-life into marketing perspective: "Old World/ furniture restoration and reupholstery."
However, "Roof Sex" wasn’t Pes’ first entry in our "Best Work" gallery. In 1998, his spec spot "Bomber" made the grade. This was when Pes actually had a first and last name—Adam Pesapane—and served as a creative assistant at McCann-Erickson, New York. Calling in favors on a shoestring budget of $700, he managed to breathe reality into two dreams: his aspiration of ultimately becoming a director, and an isolated dream conjured up while napping on the couch with the TV set still blaring. One night, Pesapane was roused from the latter dream by a TV documentary containing footage of World War II bombers that had somehow metamorphosed into his visualizing airplane bombardiers dropping hot dogs on the unsuspecting populace below. Thus the concept for a spec spot was born.
"Bomber" begins with three youngsters walking in a field, smelling flowers. Suddenly, the tranquility is interrupted by the sound and sight of planes flying overhead, the intensity of the moment accentuated by the driving chords of composer Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. We see bombardiers setting their sights as the kids seemingly run for dear life. The planes’ bomb bay doors open, releasing their apparently destructive load. The youngsters continue to flee, finally reaching a bridge, at which point the mood of the unfolding situation changes. Each kid pulls out a hot dog bun and catches one of the falling "bombs"—which are hot dogs. The kids sit down and enjoy the dogs. The spot ends with a Sunbeam Buns logo and the slogan, "World’s Softest Buns."
This progression of spec fare eventually landed Pes a place at cccp and in the Saatchi Showcase. Saatchi worldwide creative director Bob Isherwood observed that the stories behind the work of new, up-and-coming directors in the Showcase—how that work got made—are frequently quite remarkable. "That’s part of what makes being involved in putting together the Showcase over the years so gratifying," he said.
