"Chase" opens on a man who hops into the passenger’s side of a red-and-white Mini Cooper and orders its bewildered diver to "follow that car!" In a moment, they’re off, hugging the bumper of a yellow coupe as the two cars wind through busy city streets. The heart-pounding pursuit ends at the beach, where the driver of the yellow car parks and the passenger in the Mini … well, does nothing. After an awkward moment, he spots a black sedan and shouts, "Now follow that car!" The driver of the Mini grins, and they take off again.
The clever yet simple story line for this :45—airing in European markets—appealed immediately to director Harald Zwart of Motion Blur, Santa Monica, but it came with one seemingly insurmountable proviso: The daredevil driving all had to be accomplished without breaking the law. "It was one of those hopeless dilemmas," recalled Zwart. "You get a script calling for a wild car chase through [Los Angeles] and you think, ‘Great!’ Then you get the second message that says it all has to be legal."
Zwart responded to the "hopeless dilemma" by planning—with mathematical precision—an illusion of speed. The director prepared detailed drawings of each scene with the camera angles delineated and compositions calculated to indicate maximum action from a car that would actually not be moving all that fast. "It’s a very tricky balance to make it exciting while keeping it legal," Zwart explained. "Part of the solution was to make the spot very cinematic, to build intensity into each shot."
While perfecting the action, Zwart also needed to ensure that the humor came through. For him, the performance of the actors was as important as the maneuvers of the car. "It is easy to be seduced by the action, but you can’t let it overshadow the performance," Zwart observed. "The spot hinges on a subtle joke, and you have to let it play out."
For his part in cutting the spot, editor Einar, who at the time was with Harley’s House, Santa Monica (he has since joined the newly formed Union Editorial, Santa Monica), drew inspiration from one of the greatest car chases of movie history. "We had The French Connection in mind," he recalled. "I wanted to give viewers that same kind of visceral feeling—as if they were riding in the car. Fortunately, Harald had it covered really well. Whenever I needed a shot, it was there, and that helped me to imply high speed even when the car was moving relatively slowly."
Zwart and Einar almost succeeded in implying action a little too well—Italian and French broadcasters hesitated to air the spot. "At first they thought it indicated recklessness," said Zwart. "But eventually they were satisfied. The car skids, but there are no illegalities, no endangerment."
"Chase" was conceived by a creative team at Jung Von Matt/Alster, Hamburg, Germany, consisting of CEO Oliver Voss, creative driectors Goetz Ulmer and Till Hohmann, art director Philipp Borchardt, copywriter Wolfgang Schneider and producer Mark Rota.
The spot was produced by Motion Blur in association with Silbersee Film Produktion, Hamburg. For Motion Blur, Veslemoey Ruud Zward was executive producer, with Fern Martin producing and John McColpin serving as production supervisor. DP was Karl Nielson.
Silbersee artisans included executive producer/producer Michael Tettenborn and postproduction supervisor Guido Wolff.
Online editor was Merih Oezataylan of Das Werk, Hamburg. Colorist was Phillip Kluge of VCC, Hamburg. Audio engineer/ mixer/sound designer was Ralf Tiekoetter of Studio Funk, Hamburg. Music composer/arranger was Hans Bos of Soundscape, Amsterdam.
John Sloan, David Campbell were the lead actors in this spot. The SAG/AFTRA Commercials Contract Standing Committee has granted a waiver to allow commercials to be available for viewing on SHOOTonline.com. The spots cannot be copied, downloaded or e-mailed.
