A spectacular new spot titled “Chairs” (:60) created by Boston-based Modernista! and directed by Daniel Askill of bicoastal @radical.media, with visual effects produced by Method Studios, Santa Monica, Calif., depicts the off-road capabilities of the Hummer H3 through the use of interpretive dance. Set on a dry lakebed, the spot finds a quartet of dancers performing what feels like a modernized version of a rain dance. But it isn’t a downpour that ultimately falls from the heavens–it is the H3, pieces of which come flying out of the sky to connect around the dancers, forming the vehicle.
Now the decision to use a quartet of interpretive dancers to depict the off-road capabilities of a vehicle in a television commercial might seem like an odd choice, but not once you consider that Hummer intends to reach a demographic made up of hip, sophisticated urban drivers living in cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles–people who routinely take in dance and performance art.
According to Modernista! co-founder/executive creative director/copywriter Lance Jensen, it took him and partner Gary Koepke, who holds the title of co-founder/executive creative director/art director at Modernista!, just a few minutes of brainstorming to hit upon the idea of using interpretive dance to sell the H3. But they didn’t know exactly how to work the H3 into the scenario, Koepke shared.
So Modernista! executive producer Charles Wolford selected a few directors, including Askill, and asked them to present solutions. It was Askill who wowed the agency with the idea of literally building the H3 around the dancers as they levitated in chairs off the ground.
“It would have been a completely different spot if Daniel wasn’t involved with it,” Jensen said, “and that’s not always the case, not to such a degree anyways. He really brought a lot to it.”
MUSICAL CHAIRS
Askill, who wasn’t available for an interview, created the effect of the Hummer H3 imploding primarily in-camera. “To be honest, your first inclination would be to do this in CG,” Method Studios lead 2-D artist/visual effects shoot supervisor Russell Fell said, noting the enormous task of rig removal and clean up Method Studios was required to perform by following Askill’s route. “But Daniel was very convincing [in selling us on] the natural, organic, random action we’d get doing it for real.”
The “implosion” of the Hummer H3–as well as the rest of the spot–was shot on location in three days by Askill and DP Toby Irwin on a dry lakebed in Victorville, Calif., where production designer Bradley Thordarson constructed a fiberglass model of the H3 and affixed bungee cords to each piece. Those bungee cords were rigged to a four-story tall truss, and the car was then yanked apart. The stunt was shot on high-speed film, which was later played backwards to make it appear as though the cars parts were flying through the air and reassembling.
In addition to pulling off the implosion illusion, Askill also needed to get the right performance out of dancers Joel Smith, Alvester Martin, Amber Ione and Renee Schuda, and he chose to rely on choreographer Vince Patterson, who has worked with the likes of Madonna, to do that for him.
Incidentally, Patterson didn’t put together a routine for “Chairs” until after he and Askill traveled to a test track in South Bend, Indiana, where they got a chance to ride an off-road course in the Hummer H2 and Hummer H1. “Vince said that was a very helpful thing,” Jensen shared.
With the Hummer ride under his belt, Paterson choreographed a beautifully synchronized dance routine that conveyed the feeling of lightness one gets while riding in the H3–even when off-road.
Paterson delivered a dance that felt interpretive of the off-road driving experience “without it looking too obvious,” Jensen praised.
“We didn’t want people holding fake steering wheels,” Koepke added.
HUMMING ALONG
Once the shoot was completed, Angus Wall of Rock Paper Scissors, Los Angeles, edited :60, :30 and :10 versions of “Chairs.” Famed DJ Paul Oakenfold then did a post score. “That’s not just a track off a CD,” Koepke pointed out. “He actually scored that for us.”
Convincing Oakenfold to work on the project–he hadn’t scored a spot previously, Koepke said–was quite a coup.
Reflecting on the work done by Askill and the artisans at Method Studios in particular, Koepke praised all of them for being incredibly conscientious. “They worked very hard to get this done right,” Koepke remarked.
The best was expected from everyone involved in the project, Jensen added, noting, “We have a Hummer tagline, ‘Like nothing else,’ and we try to live up to that all the time.”
