Launch," the first spot in a campaign for First Union, a financial services firm, is visually stunning. As a somber-sounding narrator talks about "a world only few know well, a world of risk and uncertainty," the camera shows strikingly realistic images that could have come out of an animated impressionistic painting or a German expressionist film of the ’30s.
The people are seen through a green-tinted haze, dressed in vaguely Depression-era garb. As one scene blends into another, we see the men and women standing in a line with signs on their backs saying, "Acquire Me." We see a man falling and his head shattering like porcelain; there is a rain-drenched street which could be a dark, foreboding version of Wall Street, with horrific images of floating piggy banks in the sky. When the narrator says, "This is the financial world," we are taken into a grotesque funhouse of two-faced people in bowler hats, of salesmen hawking wares, of flickering TV monitors. The sequence is reminiscent of Blade Runner and is scarily photo-real.
"For decades, banks and investment firms of mountainous size have moved the land," intones the narrator. "Yet high above the horizon, another mountain rises. A mountain called First Union." Suddenly, the green filter is gone, and the sun is shining on images of the real world and of First Union’s sleek, golden tower.
A virtuoso performance, "Launch" is the work of director Steve Beck at Industrial Light+Magic Commercial Productions (ILMCP) in Marin County, Calif. The agency producer on the spot is Sam Walsh, senior VP/director of broadcast production at Publicis & Hal Riney, San Francisco. The spot is a masterpiece of special effects and brings into relief how crucially important the technical world is becoming in the world of advertising.
"ILM is so damn good at it, you just have to keep with their effects, particularly with the way Steve Beck visualizes so quickly," notes Avatar Kramer, senior agency producer at Publicis & Hal Riney, who has since taken over production duties on the account, producing First Union’s Super Bowl entry, "Cityscape," as well as "Noise" and "Change." (The latter spot was co-produced with Walsh.) Kramer is currently working on a series of three new spots for the campaign. "He can visualize in any medium-Flame, CGI, whatever," says Kramer of Beck. "He’ll say, ‘We’ll use CG for the top of this building, but the bottom will be real.’ And you have to have the mental flexibility to keep up; but you also have to gather enough knowledge so that you know the impact of what he’s talking about. It is profoundly unusual stuff."
Unusual is an understatement. With HDTV, DTV, Smoke, Symphony, Fire, Flame, Discreet, and such terms as "NT platform," "black box," and "futureproofing" being bandied about with increasing regularity, postproduction has turned into a rich soup of technical jargon. How does an agency producer keep ahead of the curve?
"Technology is changing so fast that postproduction is now 50 percent of the work," says Karim Bartoletti, a senior producer at DDB Needham Chicago. On "Farmer’s Daughter," a spot for Budweiser directed by Kevin Smith of Backyard Productions in Chicago and Venice, Bartoletti says, "you see a house and barn, but the house and the barn were not shot in the same location."
"I’ve been in this business a while and have seen quite a few changes," observes Buzz Warren, senior VP/deputy director of broadcast production at Grey Advertising, New York. "I’m keenly aware that things are changing rapidly. You really have to stay on top of it all."
Homework
Warren, like many other producers, does that by a systematic approach to reading and researching, some of which is done while riding home from work. "I’m a voracious reader of periodicals and weeklies," Warren notes. "Every month, I get over 14 periodicals that I read [among them, SHOOT]. Fortunately, I commute to the office. On the way home, I read a magazine or two. When I get to the bus at the other end, I rip out a couple of pages [to keep and look into further]."
Besides reading, producers also tap into their relationships with post houses. "Every once in a while, I check in with operators and ask them what they think is cool," says Kramer, who was once the executive producer of San Francisco-based post house Radium. "I’ll talk with a particular artist I’ve worked with before. It’s important not to have such a huge ego that you’re afraid to ask questions. That requires a certain level of humility, but I love the whole process. [When you’re talking about new equipment,] it’s like getting cut loose in a hardware store and toy shop combined. You know, ‘How much is one of those? That’s a cool effect. How can we do it?’ "
"I think it’s real important to network with the large facilities," agrees Warren, "and also with the people who are involved with emerging technologies. I make a point of seeing as many new systems as I can. I like to absorb this stuff. We talk about the equipment, not a specific project."
Some producers even go to trade shows, although that is rare. "I’m going to NAB," notes Warren at press time. "I find that’s an extraordinary place to be exposed to."
But Bartoletti asserts that most producers don’t visit NAB or other trade shows because "we learn after the thing is over. Not all the machines presented at the convention get everyday use. You want to know about what ‘sticks,’ because what sticks is what we use everyday on our jobs."
"It doesn’t make a lot of sense to go there," agrees Damon Webster, director of advertising production at Saatchi & Saatchi L.A., Torrance, Calif. "After NAB, I ask my contacts in the post world about what went on there. You want to see what makes an impression on them; what is the new toy, the new tool."
Post houses, too, educate agency producers-and also hawk their wares-by offering seminars, tours, and informal announcements of new gear. Tape House Advanced Imaging Center, New York, for instance, offers regular open houses demonstrating new technologies.
"Many agencies have come by for tours to see what technology can do," says Tim Spitzer, director of high definition and data services. "They see what they can accomplish. Other times, an agency will come by, they’ll call us, and say they want to see what’s happening. And by showing agency people capabilities, that draws in other work."
Producers and post houses both agree that knowing what’s out there is crucial to keeping producers on the cutting edge of production. "It’s invaluable for the agency producer to at least be aware of different tool sets available for image creation and image manipulation," notes Spitzer. "They need to know how it can be done cost-effectively. Having knowledge of different tools available sets them in the right direction, sets them talking to the right facilities, so they can choose the facilities that have the expertise. If producers are not aware of the capabilities of technologies being used, they may not take full advantage of what technologies can offer."
Warren agrees: "Knowing what the equipment can do can give you a competitive advantage. If the equipment provides a new visual or effect, and if you could be first on the scene to employ that, there is a brief window where that effect can be arresting. The first person to use time slicing-a frozen frame used on the Gap commercials [the client-direct "Khakis Swing," directed by Matthew Rolston of bicoastal Venus], I think-got the audience to pay attention. It rapidly became a technique that everybody used." (The frozen moment’s first spot appearance, according to some, was in the ’97 Gold Clio and Cannes Gold Lion-winning Smirnoff spot "Smarienbad" via Lowe Howard-Spink, London, directed by Michel Gondry of Paris and New York-based Partizan Midi Minuit.)
Indeed, if knowledge is power, the most knowledgeable producers are able to cut costs by knowing what they’re doing. Warren cites "Rain Bar Graph," a computer-generated commercial for Bridgestone tires that was produced by Kleiser-Walczak Construction Company, North Adams, Mass. (The company also has offices in Hollywood and New York.) Completely created in CGI, the spot shows two automobiles with different tires racing through a stormy night, picking up splashes of water as they fly through puddles.
"Rendering rain and water is a difficult task," Warren notes. "We wanted it to look real; more like hyper-reality. So we used the latest computer graphics technology and created great water effects. At the same time, we were busy using a high-speed data network [to communicate with the facility]. We were in the office here, and they were sending us twice-daily updates on what they were doing in the scenes. Because I understood what they were doing, and what we could do with the equipment, everything went smoothly."
By the same token, not knowing can be expensive. "A lot of creatives think that they can go into a spot and ‘light it,’ " says Bartoletti. "You can do a lot to a spot in post, but you can’t actually light it. You have to do that on the set. But a lot of creatives get to a coloring session, and say, ‘Darken that background,’ or do this, or do that-things they cannot do. They create a lot of confusion by not knowing."
"You have to know the implications of what you’re doing," adds Webster. "A knowledge of effects helps determine what may be achieved. You want to have effects house reps on the set. As things change, because they’re on site, they’re able to solve creative decisions. If you change camera angles, that can make a great difference if you are mixing live action and an effect. Some of those effects take a long time to plan. So you can’t be arbitrary."
Nonetheless, most say that the producer will never become a complete tech-head. "I think the agency producers are more concerned with getting the job done on time and on budget than they are with knowing the specifics of technology," asserts Dick Voss, president of Post Logic, Hollywood and Santa Monica. "They have to rely on the editorial house facility to guide them down the right path. A Henry and Flame can do similar things. A Flame has a broader tool set than the Henry but the Henry is a faster box. When an agency producer comes in, they don’t know which is better for what they need to do. They rely on the facility to guide them. They have to be aware of what a Flame or an Inferno can give them, but few need to understand the technology in-depth."
Indeed, all admit that to a great extent producers rely on the knowledge of the facility and the director. "I’m currently dealing with a creative team that wants to produce a commercial," says Michael Taylor, the senior VP/managing director at Riot in Santa Monica. "They rely heavily on directorial influence and the editorial house to lead them in the right direction."
"The agency producer’s function is to know the broad strokes," adds Voss. "In live action, a producer doesn’t know what kind of camera or lens the director is using. The director and DP make the choices on the best tool to use. It’s the same with a post facility."
Knowing more can certainly help producers do more. But all acknowledge that while technique may be important, talent is forever. "I don’t sell them tools," says Taylor. "They expect you to have those. I sell them the artists. It’s not the latest, greatest machine that counts but who you have on it."
"The talent is absolutely as important as the equipment," agrees Spitzer. "The talent helps the client accomplish their vision and indeed often contributes to expanding on that vision. The people operating it are not just a set of hands punching buttons but are artists communicating with creatives to accomplish a vision."
"There’s a new expression," concludes Webster. "It’s not ‘We’ll fix it in post,’ but ‘We’ll re-shoot it in post.’ Rather than fixing it, you’re creating it in post. So everybody has to know what they’re doing."8
