Major League Baseball star Prince Fielder runs at full speed towards a catcher who braces for what promises to be a tremendous home plate collision. But the impact ante has been upped considerably when it’s revealed both players are perched atop locomotive trains that are speeding across the desert towards each other, underscoring the power of baseball as depicted in 2K Sports new video game The Bigs 2.
Meanwhile in a distinctly different spot, assorted balloons, each carrying a carton of Vinamilk, serenely float to the wild blue yonder, filling the sky over Vietnam.
Indeed there’s a curious range in mood, speed and mode of transportation represented in the 2K Sports and Vinamilk commercials, which are respectively entries number one and two in this summer’s SHOOT Top Ten Spot Tracks Chart.
The Bigs 2’s “Two Trains” let’s us know from the outset what to expect. We’re clearly headed for a helluva train wreck. By contrast, we’re not sure about the balloons’ intended destination in the Vinamilk commercial. That destination, though, turns out to be a most deserving one as the balloons eventually make their way gently back to earth into the hands of disadvantaged youngsters who benefit from the much needed nutrition contained in Vinamilk.
Finishing first in the Summer SHOOT Top Ten Tracks Chart, “Two Trains” stars Milwaukee Brewers’ slugger Fielder, one of the biggest and most powerful men in baseball. From the point of view of a catcher protecting the plate, a collision with Fielder might feel like being hit by a train.
The spot cuts between the accelerating trains and video game footage, and ends with a shot from the game of Fielder blasting into the catcher, sending him and the ball flying. This scene highlights a new feature of The Bigs 2 that allows players to slow the action at critical points in the game.
Right behind “Two Trains” in the number two slot in SHOOT’s quarterly Music & Sound Chart is Vinamilk’s “Balloons,” which is also featured in this week’s “The Best Work You May Never See” gallery. The spot opens on a child riding in a bus, tying a gift bow around an individual mini-carton of milk. He then draws a heart on an inflated blue balloon. Next, he extends his hand out of a bus window, lets go of the balloon–which is now tied to the milk carton–and watches it float skyward.
Another child releases his carton skyward from a balcony.
Soon this act of sending milk carton-carrying balloons to the wild blue yonder repeats itself kid by kid seemingly all over the city.
We then see the balloons hovering above a city skyline that’s now densely populated with them.
Next we find ourselves in the countryside where other kids are chasing after the balloons which are now descending. Juxtaposed with slices of everyday country life, we witness scenes of youngsters picking the balloons and their nutritious cargo out of the air.
A voiceover (in Vietnamese) relates: “Every time you buy our milk, we donate a glass to a child in need.” As we hear this, we see a boy sipping out of a Vinamilk carton. An end tag carries the Vinamilk logo.
“Two Trains” Directed by Peter Berg of Pony Show Entertainment, L.A. for Ground Zero, L.A., “Two Trains” for 2K Sports’ The Bigs 2 video game relates a story which is conveyed as much through the spot’s intricate 5.1 surround sound soundtrack as through its visuals.
The clatter of the trains on the tracks and the urgency of their horns build to feverish intensity as the distance between the trains inexorably shrinks, while the hyper kinetic clicking of players working game controllers provides a nervous subtext.
“There is an immense layering of sounds,” said audio post mixer Peter Rincon of POP Sound, Santa Monica. “And they are heard from lots of different perspectives–the trains are going from right to left, then left to right–or you’re listening from above the train, or inside. We do a lot of surround panning in the 5.1 version.”
In preparing the mix, Rincon worked with scores of sound elements supplied by sound designer Dan Creech of Revolving Blackbird Sound, Santa Monica, and a music track, created by composer Michael Tavera of Tavera Music, Agoura Hills, Calif., that draws influences from Inuit and Tuvan throat singers.
“We did a custom surround mix that utilizes sub-woofers and surround information,” Rincon related. “There are times when the train is rushing past the screen, creating wonderful opportunities to push the sound from the front to the rear speakers.
“There is a great scene where the train is heading straight toward you. As it nears the screen, the camera slides around the side and then enters a window. The sound follows all the perspective shifts, creating an amazing immersive experience.”
“Balloons” Directed by Douglas Avery of bicoastal Furlined and produced by production house Sudest in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, for agency Lowe Worldwide, Vietnam, Vinamilk’s “Balloons” unfolds to a musical score out of Beacon Street Studios, Venice, Calif., that’s a mesh of Asian and Western sensibilities, bringing a magical, charming tone to the proceedings.
Beacon Street composers Andrew Feltenstein, John Nau and Danny Dunlap took advantage of Southern California’s cultural melting pot, going with Lowe Vietnam creative director Robert Cohen to the Little Saigon Vietnamese community in Orange County to tap into the knowledge and artistry of musician/teacher Chau Nguyen.
“This job required that the music had to be authentically Vietnamese,” related Feltenstein. “The Vietnam government had to approve the spot first of all in order for it to go on air. And authenticity was a big hurdle to clear to gain that approval. Lowe wanted Vietnamese music with a Western twist. The Western twist wasn’t a problem for us. But we had to do our homework in order to capture musical authenticity for Vietnam.”
Beacon Street started searching through various channels in order to find an expert in Vietnamese music. Dunlap said he came up with the idea of exploring Little Saigon, which is the largest Vietnamese community outside of Vietnam in the world. The Little Saigon trail led to Nguyen who runs Lac Hong Group, an Orange County school that teaches Vietnamese music to young students, encompassing lessons on such native instruments as the Dan Bao, the Dan Tran and Dan Co. These instruments are for the most part in the strings section with a smattering of percussion.
The Dan Bao, for example, is a single string instrument that’s a cross among several instruments, including a zither and a stringed harmonica. “It’s pretty hard to describe,” noted Nau, “but it makes distinctive sounds.”
Beacon Street also had to be cognizant of music that would appeal to North as well as to South Vietnam. “Certain songs don’t fly in both the North and South so you have to be aware of that and craft your music accordingly,” said Feltenstein, crediting Lowe Worldwide’s Cohen with providing expertise that kept the balance needed in order for the spot to attain universal appeal musically for audiences throughout Vietnam.
Again it all came back to authenticity, affirmed Nau. “We couldn’t do work that sounds like some guys in L.A. trying to be Vietnamese.
In visiting musician/teacher Nguyen, the Beacon Street artisans found an adept performer who not only introduced them to Vietnamese music but performed on assorted instruments from that country. “We were in Chau’s living room where he laid out his instruments for us and played them,” recalled Feltenstein. “We brought a laptop mobile rig with microphones and headphones to capture everything. It was a great learning experience and taste of a different culture. We used his performances, brought them back to our studio and added some Western flavor. That was essentially the process by which we created this score.”
Dunlap said that while Chau “taught us, we also saw him during the course of the day teaching the proper playing of the instruments to different students at his school. It must have been around 20 students that day who came in to learn between our sessions. He was generous in letting us hang out. He gave us a taste of Vietnam which allowed us to bring that same taste and style to the commercial.”
The audio post mixer on “Balloons” was Jeff Payne of Eleven, Santa Monica.
“Balloons” represented Beacon Street’s first venture into the Vietnamese market, yet it clearly has proved successful. At press time, the music/sound house was about to embark on another project for Lowe Vietnam–this one for a different undisclosed client–which will entail bringing hip-hop elements to the project’s score.
