Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Schmetterer/Euro RSCG’s "Baseball" Needs Pentium II’s Power.
CLIENT
Intel/Pentium II.
PRODUCTION CO.
Propaganda Films, bicoastal/international. Gore Verbinski, director; Bojan Bazelli, DP; Andy Traines, executive producer; Jessica Cooper, producer; Monette Labeaune-Dubin, postproduction supervisor. Shot on
location.
AGENCY
Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Schmetterer/Euro RSCG, New York. Paul Wolfe and Michael Lee, creative
directors; Larry Silberfein, copywriter; Walt Connelly,
art director; Tom Meloth,
executive producer; Noel Tirsch, producer.
EDITORIAL
Nomad Editing Company, Santa Monica. Glenn Martin, editor; Jeff Maynard, assistant editor; Susye Idema, executive producer; Cindy Carey, producer.
POST
Company 3, Santa Monica. Stefan Sonnenfeld, senior colorist/president; Michael Pethel, senior colorist/technical director. Encore Santa Monica. Jais Thierry Lamaire, colorist.
VISUAL EFFECTS
Digital Domain, Venice, Calif. Scott Rader, visual effects supervisor; Gonzalo Garramuno, CG supervisor; Keith Huggins and Dan Fowler, CG animators; Mike Amron, freelance CG animator; Chris Howard and O.T. Hight, freelance compositors; Tonia Young and Paul Kulikowski, roto artists; Holly Port, visual effects producer; Allyse Manoff, visual effects
coordinator.
AUDIO POST
POP Sound, Santa Monica. Loren Silber, mixer.
SOUND DESIGN
Machine Head, Venice.
Stephen Dewey, sound
designer; Shari Christensen, producer.
BY KATHY DeSALVO
In their efforts to break Roger Maris’ home run record, both Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa had to contend with intense pressures and expectations, both external and self-imposed. But at least they had the chance to connect with the pitches, unlike the batter in a new spot for Intel’s Pentium II processor, which uses the great American pastime to demonstrate the chip’s superior performance. More specifically, it uses a baseball setting to dramatize the consequences of a slow, inefficient CPU as applied to everyday life situations.
Created by New York-based Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Schmetterer/Euro RSCG, the :30 "Baseball" was directed by Gore Verbinski of bicoastal/ international Propaganda Films. It opens with a shot of a broadcaster’s booth and pans down into a baseball stadium. The fans at the standing-room only ballpark (filmed on location at Anaheim Stadium) are cheering as they watch an intense game. "Bottom of the ninth," says a broadcaster. "Maltbie at the plate and here’s the pitch…"
But after the pitcher releases the ball, it cuts to the batter swinging in anticipation of the pitch that doesn’t arrive. The now-silenced crowd gets to its feet as it’s revealed that the ball is suspended in mid-air. The ball moves at a snail’s pace towards the plate, accompanied by the sound of a whirring disk drive. The catcher, batter and umpire walk toward the pitcher’s mound to stare at the ball. The play-by-play broadcaster, nonplussed by this bizarre turn of events, assumes a sympathetic tone as he says, "The pitch hasn’t processed yet. Aw, this slow-processing thing is a tough break for this young kid."
Cut to a medium shot of the infield. The baseball players look upwards at a graphic on the screen of a computer user-alert window that reads "Processing Fastball" next to a slowly building function progress bar. Cut to a shot of an umpire on the field watching the ball in transit. "Time for a Pentium II processor?" reads another user-alert window. A final overhead shot shows the beleaguered batter lying on the field; above him is a patch of grass displaying the Pentium II logo.
The agency creative team-copywriter Larry Silberfein and art director Walt Connelly-explained that the client wanted the campaign (which includes a :60 and two other :30s, "Soccer" and "Parachute") to focus on the speed of the processors. "We thought there would be a million positive ways to do this, which usually make for boring commercials," said Connelly. "So we took the approach of, ‘Let’s turn it around and make it a negative situation: If you don’t have a Pentium II processor, then you’re in bad shape.’ " Added Silberfein, "And we related that to your life: What if your life processed as poorly as many computers? We also wanted to do something with a humorous direction because most of the commercials you see for computers and chips take themselves very seriously; they always make a big statement about the world."
Silberfein said Verbinski (who was unavailable for comment at press time) is rare among directors in that his reel displayed "great special effects, great performances and great film." Connelly added that they also considered Verbinski for his storytelling abilities. "A lot of directors who work with special effects can’t work with actors very well and can’t tell a story," said Connelly. "Gore knows the effect should be good but realizes that, at the end of the day, it’s the idea that’s important."
"Baseball" was shot over two long nights at the end of July. Visual effects supervisor Scott Rader, who was on set to supervise the shoot, said the job posed several challenges, such as crowd replacement. Rader, who’s with Digital Domain, Venice, Calif., noted there were 200 extras in the stands during the night shoots. To create the appearance of 54,000 people, Rader returned to shoot additional plates of the crowd attending an actual Anaheim Angels game; the footage was cloned and retracked into the stadium shots.
"Another challenge was making it feel like it was a real ball doing the processing thing," said Rader. "It was [a matter of] getting the real texture and fitting it into the real lighting of the scene. And we also had to match all the eyelines of the coaches and players around it." To complicate matters, Verbinski shot the spot using moving cameras. They couldn’t use motion-control equipment, which would have wrought too much wear and tear upon the stadium’s grass field. "They had the grass patrol out there with us all night," recalled Rader, "and if anybody looked at the grass the wrong way, they got slapped."
The initial four-week post schedule was shortened by about 10 days after the client decided it wanted to air the spots in test markets, said Rader. After Digital Domain hurriedly knocked out rough comps, the spots yielded "phenomenal" scores. Delivery on the final version of the spots was then moved up in order for the ads to break during the networks’ season premiere weeks ("Baseball" debuted during FOX’s Ally McBeal). Said Rader, "They bought the airtimes, so we were living here, working day and night, to make sure it got out."
Pinnacle Studios
Tackles Seahawks
CLIENT
Seattle Seahawks.
PRODUCTION CO.
Exterior footage by Metro Pictures, Marina del Rey, Calif. Hermann Lederle, director; Mark Reshovsky, DP; Craig Farkas, producer. (Lederle recently joined the directorial roster of Strato Films, Los Angeles. See story p. 8.) Interviews shot by Ober Lenz Films, Seattle. Kelly Evans, director/DP; Brad Lenz, producer. Shot at Seattle Grip Stages, Seattle, and on location.
AGENCY
Publicis, Seattle. Gail Anne Grosso, creative director/copywriter; John Holm, creative director/art director; Binky Walker, executive producer.
EDITORIAL
Pinnacle Studios, Seattle. Alan Nay, creative editor.
POST
Pinnacle Studios. John Davidson, colorist; Tina Eastlake, digital artist; Lisa Cohen, producer.
AUDIO POST
Pure Audio, Seattle. Paul Gold-berg, engineer.
MUSIC
Michael Boyd Music, San Francisco. Michael Boyd, composer.
SOUND DESIGN
Pure Audio. Paul Goldberg, sound designer.
THE SPOT
Four spots-"Bulls of Pamplona," "Dads and Fathers," "Action" and "Team"-promote the Seattle Seahawks 1998-’99 season. The commercials feature blue-hued scenes of the team trotting through empty bridges and streets in Seattle, intercut with closeups and comments from Seahawks players.
Spots broke July 6.
Open Frame Gets
Athletic For Rutgers
CLIENT
Rutgers University Athletic Program.
PRODUCTION CO.
Open Frame Productions, New York. Kevin Jones, director/DP; Nan Swoyer and Andrew Swee, executive producers; Federico Negri, producer. Shot on location.
AGENCY
DKB & Partners, Morristown, N.J. Joe Stapleton, copywriter; Brian Hagen, art director; Hank Sagman, producer.
EDITORIAL
Northern Lights Post, New York. Mark Littman, editor; Marshall Dostal, producer.
POST
Moving Images, New York. Tim Masick, colorist. Northern Lights Post. Mark Littman, online editor.
AUDIO POST
Buttons, New York. Paul Levin, engineer.
MUSIC/SOUND DESIGN
Jim Farmer, New York, composer/sound designer. Kevin Jones, sound designer.
THE SPOT
"Get Into the Game" features vignettes of athletes engaging in various sports including track, soccer and football, while the voiceover poses the question, "When do you know you’re an athlete?" The :30, shot in black and white with red highlights, ends with the answer, "When you can’t stop playing," and the tag, "Rutgers University. Get into the game."
Spot broke Aug. 20.
t minus 30 Explodes
For US Unwired
CLIENT
US Unwired.
PRODUCTION CO.
t minus 30 Films, Los Angeles. Jim Zoolalian, director; Kevin Ward, DP; John Clark, executive producer; Sara Bennett and Beth George, producers; Dana Byal, head of production; Brooke Lawrence, production manager. "Bomb Squad" shot at Delfino Sound Stages, Sylmar, Calif., and on location. "Braces" shot at Delfino Sound Stages. "Log Cabin" shot on location.
AGENCY
Lawler Ballard Van Durand, Birmingham, Ala. Steve Saari, creative director/producer/copywriter for "Braces" and "Bomb Squad"; Chris Crane, copywriter, "Log Cabin"; Stephen Jones and Kevin Davis, art directors, "Bomb Squad" and "Braces"; Chris Cole, art director, "Log Cabin."
EDITORIAL
t minus 30 Post, Venice, Calif. Scott Young, editor; Brett Nicoletti, assistant editor.
POST
Hollywood Digital, Hollywood. Craig Price, Henry artist. Encore Santa Monica. Jais Lamaire and Greg Kibler, colorists.
AUDIO POST
Margarita Mix, Hollywood. Dave Marcus, engineer/mixer.
MUSIC/SOUND DESIGN
Groove Addicts, Los Angeles. Brad Chiet, composer/arranger, "Braces"; Leland Bond, composer/arranger, "Bomb Squad"; Jonathan Miller and Robert Nelson, sound designers; Dain Blair, executive creative director.
THE SPOT
Three :30s center on cell-phone batteries that go dead at the worst possible time. In "Bomb Squad," a man stuck in an elevator with a bomb set to explode has his batteries fail just as another man attempts to talk him through defusing the bomb. In "Log Cabin," a man enjoying a weekend getaway with his buddies, repeatedly ignores his ringing phone when he sees that the caller is his wife. That changes when he realizes that her lawyer is phoning. In "Braces," a pair of teens sitting on a couch nervously eye one another. He moves in for a kiss only to have their braces lock. Together they make their way to a computer where he taps an e-mail SOS to his mom, who receives it on her US Unwired cell phone.
Spots broke in July.
Air Force One Gets
Excited For Coke
CLIENT
The Coca-Cola Company.
PRODUCTION CO.
Air Force One, New York. Trez Bayer, director; Marc Schumacher, DP; Walter Thomas, executive producer; Tina Ragsdale, producer; Michele Wilson, production manager. Shot on location.
AGENCY
Fitzgerald & Co., Atlanta. Eddie Snyder, creative director; Celeste Maguire, art director; Jason Cox, copywriter; Christine Sigety, executive producer.
EDITORIAL
Air Force One. Brian Monzella, Avid editor.
POST
Click 3X Atlanta. Terry Boyer, online editor. The Film Group, Atlanta. Richard Parker, colorist.
AUDIO POST
Crawford Communications, Atlanta. Greg Crawford, engineer/mixer.
THE SPOT
An executive excitedly extols the seemingly ordinary virtues of Coke’s 16.9 ounce bottle and newly designed six-pack carton, which has just enough room in each compartment to hold each bottle, in "The Corporate Guy."
Spot broke Sept. 7.
Editing Concepts
Heats Up Bior
CLIENT
The Andrew Jergens Company/ Bior Self-Heating Face Mask.
PRODUCTION CO.
Nonstop Pictures, New York. Morten Sandtroen, director/DP; Ronit Avneri, executive producer; Kathleen Feeney, producer. Shot at Daylight Studio, New York.
AGENCY
Deutsch Inc., New York. Kathy Delaney, group creative director; Tony Fisher, executive creative director; Andy Hall, copywriter; Lois Pyanowski, art director; Karen Lieper, producer.
EDITORIAL
Editing Concepts, New York. Mary Alice Williams, editor; Gala Verdugo, assistant editor; Nancy Finn, producer.
POST
The Tape House Editorial Company, New York. Jay Tilin, online editor; John Dowdell, colorist.
VISUAL EFFECTS
R/GA, New York. Rick Wagonheim, executive producer; Michael Miller, head of production; Katie Haser, producer; Clay Budin, CG project leader; Jeremy Lasky, designer.
AUDIO POST
Howard Schwartz Recording, New York. Steve Rosen, mixer.
MUSIC
Chris Girand, composer, New York.
THE SPOT
The :15 "A Little Heat" combines live action and animation to spotlight Bior ‘s new line of self-heating facial masks, which heat up on contact with skin to clean one’s pores.
Spot broke July 1.
OPEN Films For
Trojan Condoms
CLIENT
Carter-Wallace/Trojan Condoms.
PRODUCTION CO.
OPEN Films, Culver City, Calif. Michael Givens, director/DP; Tory Hazard, executive producer; Jeanne Stack, producer. Shot at OPEN Films and on location.
AGENCY
Bates USA, New York. Belinda Broido, senior VP/associate creative director/copywriter; Chris Harden, VP/associate creative director/art director; Ed Bishal, producer.
EDITORIAL
OPEN Films. Gil Goren, editor; Chris Lin, assistant editor; Paul Fadoul, post supervisor.
POST
Editel/LA, Hollywood. Laurie Hunter, Henry artist; Larry Brission, online editor/titling. Cerulean Digital Color & Animation, Santa Monica. Jason Bond, art director; Hugo Umana, Michelle Williams, Paul Desharnias and Gonzalo Gonzales, animators.
VISUAL EFFECTS
OPEN Films. Robert Stromberg, digital matte artist; Patrick Zentis, visual effects designer.
AUDIO POST
Pomann Sound, New York. Bob Pomann, mixer/engineer.
MUSIC/SOUND DESIGN
Pomann Sound. Bob Pomann, composer/sound designer.
THE SPOT
In the :30s "Restaurant" and "Rowboat," couples enjoying a romantic evening suddenly find themselves interrupted by the off-screen Trojan Man and his horse, who introduce them to Trojan Condoms.
Spots broke August
