For many, Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds is the height of fright when it comes to our feathered friends. But there are other forms of flying terror—and a spec spot written, directed and edited by Neeley Lawson brings the fear factor directly to us via carrier pigeon.
The piece opens on a guy at his computer, his online mailbox being inundated with unwanted e-mails. As the spam count mounts at a rapid pace, he grows increasingly exasperated. Finally, a message appears on his computer monitor screen: "Mailbox Overloaded."
The frustrated man is pulling out his hair when he notices a pigeon that has flown into the room and is strutting around his computer desk. The spot then cuts to the man standing in his backyard. He attaches a note to a pigeon’s leg and hoists the bird skyward. As the pigeon flies away, another one returns to him with a note.
The system seems to be working beautifully. The man unfurls a pigeon-delivered message, which contains his bank statement. Another is a message from mom. The man rejoices, dancing to the strains of the song "Fly Me to the Moon," which is heard in the background.
But the celebration turns out to be a bit premature as a pigeon glides in with yet another message. The man unrolls this correspondence, which reads, "Make your penis larger today! Mass mailing."
Not even aviary mail can escape spam. We then see a flock of birds descend upon the man—each pigeon no doubt carrying a piece of junk e-mail—as he retreats in fear.
"Is your Internet for the birds?" asks a voiceover rhetorically. "Switch to Earthlink today." The spot then segues to a couple of young people enjoying their experience on the computer, as the voiceover mentions Earth-link’s features, including spam blocking.
We then cut back to the miserable man, who’s now seated on his backyard porch stoop, surrounded by birds. "Call Earthlink today," the voiceover advises. The commercial ends with the Earthlink logo.
Titled "Pigeon E-mail," this spec piece is one of two ads that Lawson recently conceptualized and helmed to showcase his directorial prowess. Based in Los Angeles where he is a freelance editor, Lawson reasoned that in order to break into directing, he needed to come up with some worthwhile spec fare. He then assembled a crew of freelance artisans, calling in favors to produce the work within the confines of a tight budget.
The Earthlink spec ad was produced by D.J. Tedesco. Christopher Bryson was the assistant director, with Dave Perkal serving as DP, and Rod Francisco as production designer.
Colorist was Ken Van Deest of R!OT Santa Monica, with support from the company’s director of commercial services, Doug S. Sherin. Sound designer/audio mixer was freelancer Mike Frederick.
Visual effects supervisor was Mark Kolpack of The Post Group, Hollywood. Lead Inferno artist was freelancer Dave Sarbell. The Post Group’s Kevin Kuwada also served as an Inferno artist. And Elisa Sauleda of Hollywood-based shop Hunter Sauleda was an additional Inferno artist.
Erin Toner handled the casting. Mark Jackson and Kerri Anderson were animal wrangler and assistant animal wrangler, respectively.
