A simple idea and a not-so-simple execution. Fallon, Minneapolis’ "Cliff Diver" for United Airlines shows beautiful photography from director/DP Peter Nydrle of West Hollywood-based production company Nydrle, while the extensive post, performed by Santa Monica-based The Syndicate, remains invisible.
One of five spots in a campaign for United’s end of summer fare sale, "Cliff Diver," begins with a beautiful scene of a placid lake nestled against a rocky backdrop. It is a beautiful sunny day and birds are chirping. Suddenly, we hear the sound of mechanical whirring and clicks, and an airport jet-way stretches into the scene. But instead of connecting to an airport terminal, the tunnel simply hovers over the pool of water. Two people dressed in bathing suits run through the jet-way and dive directly out and into the lake. The tagline: "Get away with a friend, and get great fares." The spot concludes with several sample roundtrip airfares.
The other four spots in the campaign are similarly themed, with the jet-way entering other desirable locations such as Paris, a natural history museum and a mountain perfect for the bikers that ride directly out of the jet-way. The idea was to show "beautiful locations that people would want to visit," explained Fallon creative director Stuart D’Rozario. "The jet-way comes in as a symbol that the company can take you to these destinations. The key is the juxtaposition between the pristine location with the mechanical jet-way, and the sounds as it enters the environment. Nydrle got the spots conceptually and understood the simplicity as a creative idea."
COMPOSITING TRICKS
"The idea is very simple, but very strong," Nydrle said of "Cliff Diver." "If you look at how the spot’s laid out—first, there’s four or five seconds of beautiful scenery. Then you hear the audio [of the jet-way approaching], and then you see the jet-way, but you are still not sure how they relate. Then you hear the sound design of feet, and the yell when the guy jumps, then the girl jumps."
Nydrle explained that the ad was produced with a very short turnaround time—he sat in on a Sunday conference call, and the job was awarded two days later on a Tuesday. Eight days later, they were shooting. "That was a great challenge," he recalled, "doing it well, fast and [within the budget]."
The :30 was photographed in 35mm film on location in the Los Angeles area. The environment was shot in the Malibu Mountains, and the jet-way was filmed at LAX.
Nydrle explained that scaffolding, about 20-feet high, was built for the actors to stand on and dive from. The director used all natural light for both locations. Since the two scenes had to be composited together in post, he shot both at the same time of day, from the same angle, in order to match the light.
Kenny Solomon, executive producer at The Syndicate, which handled the visual effects and postproduction, explained that the team thought about creating a CG jet-way, but considering the required quick turnaround and Nydrle’s beautiful photography skills, they decided to shoot live action instead.
"Gavin [Mulkovich, digital effects supervisor/lead Flame artist] did a phenomenal job with the digital matte painting," Solomon added, noting that it was a multi-layered composite. Flame artists Christine Goldby and Jay Robinson added plants, replaced the sky, color balanced and performed other tasks to give the environment a more tropical feel.
The Flame artists also used Discreet’s Flame to remove the platform from the live-action shot of the divers and composite the jet-way into the shot. They also recreated some of the water, where the rig had been. The task involved a lot of rotoscoping and tracking.
Additionally, colorist Beau Leon did roughly 15 color passes for the different elements of the background. He worked on a Thomson Spirit Datacine and used a da Vinci 2k for color correction.
Jonathan Del Gatto of Santa Monica-based Terminal edited. Bryan Bowen of Soundelux Design Music Group, Hollywood, was the sound designer; Peter Rincon of Santa Monica-based POP Sound mixed the spot.
