The camera peers through the window of a hospital delivery room door, zooming into a scene of a woman in the throes of intense labor. Her attentive husband alongside, the woman screams to the high heavens. The doctor is poised to bring a new life into the world, offering encouragement to his patient. Though there’s no dialogue at this point, you can almost hear the exhortations to take deep breaths and to push, push, push. Finally, the woman literally delivers. A doctor’s slap on the baby’s backside, and the infant’s subsequent crying, mark the occasion.
"I’m so happy," says the dad as he takes the baby from his wife. The new poppa, however, wastes no time in passing the bundle on—to a Lucifer-type character.
The devil places a sharp fingernail on the baby’s tummy. The infant reacts by crying louder, much to the devil’s delight.
The woman looks in disbelief at what’s transpired. The husband responds: "What? We can have another."
A voiceover interjects: "There’s an easier way to get your film made."
A super then appears which simply reads: "IFP/West. Call to join," with an accompanying phone number. (IFP stands for Independent Film Project, an organization offering support services to filmmakers.)
The spot then returns to the devil uttering "cooochi, coochi, coo" to the baby. The devil raises his hand, causing the hospital ward’s double doors to magically open as he whisks the infant away.
The IFP promo, entitled "First Born," was directed by Brian Belefant of bicoastal Bedford Falls. It was shot by DP Kevin Ward. Belefant’s support team included executive producer Tom Korsan and producer Janet Ferrari.
"First Born" was conceived by an ensemble at DDB Los Angeles that consisted of executive creative director Mark Monteiro, associate creative director/art director Kevin McCarthy, associate creative director/copywriter Ed Cole, and director of broadcast production Connie Myck.
Michael Bartoli of FilmCore, Santa Monica, edited the spot. Jason Frank of R!OT, Santa Monica, was the online editor and handled compositing on the Fire HD.
Audio engineer was freelancer Ted Blaisdell who did the job via Decibel Architects, Los Angeles.
Music composer/sound designer was Decibel Architects’ president Tom Page who went to great lengths to capture realistic sounds. During the birth of his daughter on July 18, he recorded audio of newborn sounds in the delivery room with a portable DAT machine. "My wife was scheduled to deliver just about the time we were working on the spots, so the timing worked perfectly," related Page.
"We chose Decibel Architects not only because of their reel, but because no one else was willing to conceive a child for the project," quipped DDB’s Cole.
The IFP spots—a :60, with a :30 lift—are running on the Bravo cable network.
