Who has the easy answers to life’s big questions? The E-Z Answer Squirrel, according to a humorous viral video for the United Church of Canada created by Toronto-based Smith Roberts and directed by Aleysa Young of Untitled, Toronto.
The 72-second viral finds average people posing queries such as, “Is the soul eternal?” and “Does God hate me because I’m gay?”
The E-Z Answer Squirrel, a real, gray squirrel, then answers each question by pulling on acorns marked “Yes” and “No.”
At the end of the spot, those who are interested in engaging in a deeper discussion of life’s big questions are directed to Wondercafe.ca, a website sponsored by the United Church.
The goal here is to introduce those in the 30 to 45-year-old range who may have lost faith in organized religion to the United Church, according to Smith Roberts’ creative director/art director Malcolm Roberts, who conceptualized the viral with creative director/copywriter Brian Smith.
“We weren’t talking to atheists obviously, but just people who don’t see the church as relevant to them anymore, people who feel that the church is judgmental and too dogmatic,” Roberts explained.
Those fed up with organized religion don’t constitute an easy target to reach, of course. After studying advertising for other religions, the agency found that a lot of the messages were repetitive. “How many times can you tell people you care for the homeless and the sick and the needy?” Roberts related.
Seeking to break through the clutter as well as disarm those with preconceived negative notions about organized religion, Smith Roberts chose to create a light, humorous viral. “It was a way past the barriers and a way to show these people the church is not really what they thought it was,” Roberts said.
Additionally, the agency whipped up Wondercafe.ca, the site on which the viral debuted. Containing videos and forums, Wondercafe.ca serves as a place for people who are curious about the United Church to explore it without having to actually set foot in a church.
Young was immediately sold on the non-preachy viral and threw herself into the project, going as far as to concoct a rather complex backstory for the E-Z Answer Squirrel. According to Young, a man had actually hit the squirrel while backing out of his driveway. Consumed with guilt, the man took the squirrel in and nursed it back to health. In the process, he realized this squirrel had a gift for answering questions with “Yes” and “No” nuts and built a stage in his garage for the animal to indulge his passion. The man was so dedicated to the squirrel that he began to neglect his wife, causing her to say, “You love that squirrel more than you love me!”
Why develop such an involved narrative? “It just helped me tell the story,” Young said laughing. “It helped me put it all into context and explain myself and where I was coming from to the agency.”
The creative team at Smith Roberts appreciated Young’s backstory as well as her ability to cast solid performers. Prior to becoming a director, Young had worked as a casting director. “That benefited us a lot because we were very limited in budget, so we didn’t have a large talent pool to draw from, and she managed to bring in people I think really gave us the feel that we wanted,” Roberts praised.
Real feel
“They were more real people,” Young said, noting, “It was important for them to come across as real, so it almost worked to our benefit to have had non-professional actors who didn’t overthink everything.”
While the human actors do their jobs well, the real star of the spot is the squirrel. Trained squirrels aren’t so easy to come by. Beyond about 10 weeks of age, they aren’t gentle, so Untitled found an animal trainer, Jim Lovisek, who came upon a two-week old orphan squirrel and reared him to eight weeks.
Lovisek’s tender loving care and training turned the squirrel dubbed E-Z into quite a fine thespian. “He did what we needed him to do in remarkably less time and less takes than we ever thought it would be,” Roberts said. The video was shot in just one 12-hour day. Young and her crew, which included DP Simon Mestel, shot on 35mm film at locations in and around a downtown Toronto community center.
Rigged acorns
E-Z’s scenes were filmed in just two hours in a room at the community center, where a stage was built for him. Nutella and peanut butter spread on the backs of dangling acorns motivated the squirrel to reach for the “Yes” and “No” nuts.
Ross Birchall of Bijou, Toronto, cut the viral, and Bonspiel Music, Toronto, produced the groovy blaxploitation-style track that accompanies it. “We had written it into the script that the music had some feeling of Shaft, blaxpoitation feel. We had no idea why,” Roberts laughed, “but it felt right.”
The viral struck a chord with the Canadian media. It was the subject of stories on the country’s major television outlets, including the CBC network. And the viral will soon return to TV–albeit it in shorter form. According to Roberts, it is being cut down into a 30-second PSA through which E-Z will be soon be imparting his wisdom over the Canadian airwaves.
The United Church of Canada piece is the latest endeavor that has caused Young’s stock to rise as a director. Back in October, she was one of a handful of directors singled out as up-and-coming helmers in the fall edition of SHOOT’s Directors Series. Young broke into the spot directorial ranks a little more than a year ago.
Review: Director Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked”
It's the ultimate celebrity redemption tour, two decades in the making. In the annals of pop culture, few characters have undergone an image makeover quite like the Wicked Witch of the West.
Oh, she may have been vengeful and scary in "The Wizard of Oz." But something changed — like, REALLY changed — on the way from the yellow brick road to the Great White Way. Since 2003, crowds have packed nightly into "Wicked" at Broadway's Gershwin Theatre to cheer as the green-skinned, misunderstood Elphaba rises up on her broomstick to belt "Defying Gravity," that enduring girl-power anthem.
How many people have seen "Wicked"? Rudimentary math suggests more than 15 million on Broadway alone. And now we have "Wicked" the movie, director Jon M. Chu's lavish, faithful, impeccably crafted (and nearly three-hour) ode to this origin story of Elphaba and her (eventual) bestie — Glinda, the very good and very blonde. Welcome to Hollywood, ladies.
Before we get to what this movie does well (Those big numbers! Those costumes!), just a couple thornier issues to ponder. Will this "Wicked," powered by a soulful Cynthia Erivo (owner of one of the best singing voices on the planet) and a sprightly, comedic, hair-tossing Ariana Grande, turn even musical theater haters into lovers?
Tricky question. Some people just don't buy into the musical thing, and they should be allowed to live freely amongst us. But if people breaking into song delights rather than flummoxes you, if elaborate dance numbers in village squares and fantastical nightclubs and emerald-hued cities make perfect sense to you, and especially if you already love "Wicked," well then, you will likely love this film. If it feels like they made the best "Wicked" movie money could buy — well, it's... Read More