Man, machine and nature come together in glorious fashion in a new commercial for Toyota Prius titled “Harmony.” Created by Saatchi & Saatchi, Los Angeles, and directed by Mr. Hide, who is represented by bicoastal/international The Sweet Shop, the colorful, cheerful spot finds a Prius negotiating a lively landscape in which people make up the mountains, the grass, the rivers, the sun and the clouds.
This artful imagery is meant to show potential car purchasers that the third generation Prius hybrid has incorporated improvements like more space and horsepower that will make drivers happy as well as lower emissions, which will benefit the environment. “We thought it was really interesting that this was the first vehicle that had harmony between the driver and nature, so that’s where the core idea came from,” Saatchi executive creative director Mike McKay explained.
Saatchi’s creative team decided to visually articulate that core idea by creating a natural world literally made up of human beings.
After viewing Mr. Hide’s reel of whimsical, charming work, McKay said the agency knew the director was the perfect fit for the job, which also included two other spots.
Mr. Hide and his DP John Toon shot the Toyota Prius campaign in a warehouse in Auckland, N.Z. “I tried to do as much planning [as I could] before shooting because even though we had nine days to do three spots, which sounds like a lot, the process of getting everything live is very exacting and takes time,” Mr. Hide shared. “I wouldn’t have had nearly the time I needed if I attempted to work everything out with a massive crew around. Besides, I am sure that would have made everyone nervous.”
People person Mr. Hide oversaw a cast of 200 extras costumed to look like grass, river and cloud people and so on. When it came to the look of the costumes, the director aimed to create an organic feel. “Since the only physical senses that a commercial can appeal to are sight and hearing, how we communicate to the other senses using the visual was really important. I wanted textures that looked like they would be pleasant to touch,” the director said, noting, “For the clouds, we used cushiony balls of cotton that felt and looked the way I had imagined clouds. Also, for the flowers I wanted bright, happy colors that looked like they would smell good.”
Movement was also a crucial element in the spot, and Mr. Hide cast a core group of 30 dancers to handle the more intricate movements as well as rock climbers and martial artists to take on the more physically demanding roles of cloud and tree people.
While the performers were placed on metal forms to create the trees and the clouds, Mr. Hide had his water people jumping on trampolines to create the effect of a rushing river.
In the end, about 90 percent of the action was caught in camera. VFX director/lead Flame artist Jon Baxter and other artisans from Auckland’s Perceptual Engineering were on set roughly compositing the elements together as the shoot went along so that Mr. Hide and his crew could see whether they were shooting everything from the right angles.
Jigsaw puzzle When the shoot ended, Mr. Hide worked with Perceptual Engineering to put the spot together. “This wasn’t a job I could hand off right after shooting wrapped. I was involved with the compositing of every shot,” Mr. Hide said. “To make it look crafty, we really built the whole thing out of many jigsaw pieces, so the shoot was only for providing the raw materials that we then had to put together in postproduction. It was only when we started post that we could see how all of the pieces fit together in a whole.”
While the multi-layer compositing was done at Perceptual Engineering, the final tweaks and adjustments were performed by 2D artist Patrick Poulatian and VFX producer Diana Young at Brickyard VFX, Santa Monica. Additionally, Fin Design+Effects, Sydney, created a CG car used in the spot.
Avi Oron of New York’s Bikini Edit cut “Harmony,” crafting a commercial that lets viewers discover more each time they watch the spot, which is in heavy rotation. “We found it was great to let people discover that the landscape was made up of people,” McKay said, pointing out, “The first time you watch it, you might not quite notice that the landscape is made up of people until the middle of the spot.”
While “Harmony” is something to see, the spot is also something to hear thanks to an a cappella version of the Bellamy Brothers “Let Your Love Flow” performed by Petra Haden.
