Ah, the power of imagination. But there are times when what we envision doesn’t quite jibe with reality. This French TV/cinema spot from agency BETC Euro RSCG, Paris, presents a comical case in point.
We open on a man and a woman standing in a cafeteria line. The guy tells his colleague about this great movie he saw, The Emperor’s Journey.
Immediately the woman starts to envision the film. The spot takes us into her mind in which she pictures a Napoleon-like figure trekking across rough terrain.
“It’s amazing,” continues the man. “It’s set in the Antarctica.”
This causes a quick rethink on the part of the woman, who now pictures Napoleon walking through a snowy icescape.
“There are hundreds of emperors and they’re all marching across these ice fields for days and days,” says the man of the movie storyline.
Again, the woman has to mentally regroup. She sees hundreds of Napoleons moving in procession through icy environs.
“Some slide on their bellies–to go faster,” relates the guy.
We then see these Napoleons doing belly flops and sliding on the ice.
“At one point, one of them gets eaten by a seal.”
The Napoleons are seen scurrying for their lives as a giant seal emerges from a nearby lake in pursuit. The seal swallows one of the emperors alive.
Suddenly we’re back in the cafeteria where the woman has an understandably bewildered expression on her face. But she cannot help but continue to envision the movie being described to her.
The man picks up where the storyline left off. “There are some really moving moments too,” he says. “Like when they pass their eggs to each other.”
The woman sees in her mind Napoleons sharing chicken eggs–some passing individual eggs, others cartons of eggs.
Finally the woman’s imagination cannot keep up with the next new script wrinkle. The man relates that earlier the emperors “were all mating for hours.”
The emperors look at each other, seemingly reluctant to act out the latest plot twist.
Before we’re subject to witnessing Napoleonic mating, it becomes clear that the emperors are penguins. And the movie The Emperor’s Journey also goes by the title The March of the Penguins, the acclaimed documentary that has charmed audiences worldwide.
A parting supered message reads, “Movies are made to be seen,” followed by a tag with the Canal+ logo, which is billed as France’s cinema TV channel.
Titled “March of the Emperors,” this Canal+ promo spot was directed by the Glue Society via @radical.media, Paris. Exec producers/producers for @radical were Alexis Bensa and Guy Pechard. Adam Kimmel was the DP.
The BETC Euro RSCG creative team consisted of copywriters Pierre Riess and Luc Rouzier, art directors Romain Guillon and Eric Astorgue and producers David Green and Simon Chater Robinson.
Yann Malcor edited via @radical.media. Colorist was freelancer Dider Lefouest, with post done at Paris houses Medialab and My Lounge. Jane Jameaux was post producer for Medialab and My Lounge. Audio post mixer was Sebastien Cannas of Capitaine Plouf, Paris.
Visual effects were done by No Brain, a Paris-based collective of graphic designers.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More