While times change, some things stay the same. Such is the philosophy behind "Cityscape," a new campaign for financial services firm New York Life which debuted on the Academy Awards on March 26. The commercials were created by Berlin, Cameron & Partners (BC&P), New York, and directed by Gerard de Thame of Gerard de Thame Films, London, and bicoastal HSI Productions.
"Cityscape" was shot by feature DP Michael Coulter (Four Weddings and a Funeral), and scored by noted composer Carter Burwell (Fargo). It consists of four ads (a :60 and three :30s) which feature scenes from the past century and the next century. Some vignettes in the :60 entitled "Past, Present & Future" are references to historically significant events, while others are everyday images. But all take place near the New York Life building on Madison Avenue and 27th Street in New York City. (The other spots are "Past & Present," "Present & Future" and "News.")
"Past, Present & Future" opens with grainy black-and-white footage of the New York Life building circa the early 1900s. A plane flies past the building, followed by a montage of New Yorkers and a shot of the New York Life building’s exterior plaque. Then a wide shot of the area transforms into washed-out color as ticker tape falls from the sky. Panning down, we see the city in celebration. It is the end of World War II and a sailor embraces a woman—a tribute to the famous Life magazine photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt.
Overhead, a muted sky turns a brilliant blue and jets fly overhead, again signaling time’s passing. Back at street level, a parade commemorates the first moon landing and the safe return of the Apollo 11 astronauts. Civilians wave American flags and cheer as a motorcade carrying the heroes passes by.
As the setting morphs into contemporary times, a voiceover asks, "Does a century of change change everything?" A young girl steps out of a yellow cab and walks through the building’s rotating doors. The voiceover continues, "At New York Life, we think not. The values with which we started … remain the unshakable foundation of the company today." From the building emerges a businesswoman who signals a cab that resembles something out of Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element; after the woman steps in, the "sky taxi" lifts off from the ground and flies past a futuristic city skyline.
The tag: "New York Life. The company you keep."
Ewen Cameron, BC&P director of planning/copywriter, described the campaign as "fairly simple conceptually." He said it was "based on the idea that the company hasn’t changed its values in a world that’s relatively fluid." The idea stood out, he added, because "in the financial services market, everyone’s chasing the same thing in their advertising—a quick fix to make money fast. New York Life really has a contrary point of view. So that was the inspiration."
Once that concept was established, the storyline was fairly logical. The idea was to show the New York Life building as a symbol of stability amidst a constantly changing society. "The campaign is about the path they’re building," said BC&P creative director/art director Jason Peterson. "They have these values that [have stood the test of time] and will be relevant in the future."
Capturing the concept on film wasn’t as simple. The production involved three days of shooting on location in New York—as well as constructing a replica of 118 feet of Madison Avenue and 68 feet of 27th Street (including about two stories of the New York Life building); seven days of shooting the set at Shepperton Studios, Middlesex, England; and several weeks of postproduction at The Mill, London, where location and set footage were enhanced with numerous visual effects. The campaign "employs almost every film technique," said BC&P executive producer/head of broadcast production Dane Johnson—including miniatures, digital matte painting, CG and live action. "One of the most interesting things about it was figuring out how to do it," he added. "[The ads go] through several time periods, but the tricky bit was that it was all to take place in and around the New York Life building. It would have been impossible to block off Madison Avenue to do several period treatments on everything from cars to windows. So the thought occurred early on to bag all that and build it."
Set designers and artisans from The Mill were flown to New York to observe the actual setting, while New York Life made its archives of old photographs and historical information available. "We did quite extensive research—even back to how the building was built," said de Thame.
Extra steps were taken to ensure the authenticity of the set. Molds were used for the architectural details such as archways and gargoyles. "They could only make them so detailed because they were so fragile," Johnson explained. "When we arrived at Shepperton, it was getting dark and it was drizzling. These wonderful men were up on scaffolding with photographs and spoons in their hands, carving the last bits of the details that the molds couldn’t get."
The idea of recreating these different periods in history also appealed to de Thame. "That’s always an interesting thing to do on film," he said, adding that "the celebrations at the end of the war and for the astronauts really did happen there, so that was really cool."
The director and DP also used film stocks and techniques common to the specific periods to ensure authenticity; for instance, hand-cranked black-and-white cameras captured the opening sequences from the early 1900s.
"One of the reasons we chose Gerard to do this is that he’s fantastic at recreating history," Cameron said. "The other thing I feel good about is the future part. When people use predominately CG to create a picture, it often looks contrived. Gerard and The Mill did a great job at making the future look as convincing—even though no one knows what the future will look like—and realistic as the rest of the story. I think that’s quite an achievement."
