As 2013 draws to a close, it’s time for reflection on many fronts, including assessing what work was among the year’s most worthwhile creatively, and which in the process managed to strike a responsive chord with viewers.
Determining any year’s “best” in a highly subjective proposition so SHOOT staffers looked to at least narrow the field by first culling through two bodies of work, our weekly Top Spots as well as our “The Best Work You May Never See” gallery entries throughout 2013. We then added to the field select pieces of work that might have fallen through the cracks and not earned weekly “Top Spot” or “Best Work” status yet which we had covered extensively in other stories during the course of 2013. We did the same for our reviews of our quarterly Top Ten Tracks and VFX/Animation charts. We ultimately chose a Top Five from each.
So without further adieu, here are SHOOT’s selections for the Best Work of 2013, first for Top Spots and then from our best of “The Best Work You May Never See,” followed by our Top Music/Sound Tracks and Top VFX/Animation entries.
Top Spots of the Year
Our #1 Top Spot wasn’t even a commercial yet it’s the single piece of work that resonated most for SHOOT editors–and millions of others. Ogilvy Brazil’s “Real Beauty Sketches” campaign for Dove generated insights and had emotional resonance. The campaign’s centerpiece was a web short directed by John X. Carey who at the time was with Paranoid US. He has since joined Tool of North America.
In the Dove short, a forensic sketch artist draws women based on self-descriptions and how others describe them. The differences are striking, underscoring that women’s self-image falls short of capturing their true beauty, as more accurately reflected through the eyes of others. The artist never actually sees the women he sketches. His drawings are based solely on the verbal descriptions given to him.
“Real Beauty Sketches” has thus far amassed well over 60 million views on YouTube and back in June won the Titanium Grand Prix at Cannes.
At number two is a Super Bowl commercial, Dodge RAM’s “Farmer.” The Richards Group, Dallas, conceived of this two-minute spot which tapped into the “So God Made a Farmer” speech made by famed radio broadcaster Paul Harvey in 1978. The eloquent remarks become even more poetic and lyrical when played to a backdrop of images capturing U.S. farm life for this commercial. Noted photographers commissioned to chronicle this slice of Americana included William Albert Allard and Kurt Markus.
Taking the year’s third slot was another Super Bowl spot, Budweiser’s “Brotherhood” directed by Jake Scott of RSA Films for Anomaly, New York. The tug-at-the-heartstrings :60 set to the Fleetwood Mac song “Landslide” beautifully portrays the intense bond that can form between a trainer and a horse.
Fourth in our rundown is this year’s primetime commercial Emmy Award winner: Canon’s “Inspired” directed by Nicolai Fuglsig of MJZ for Grey New York. (See this issue’s Agency of the Year coverage for more details on this spot.)
Taking the fifth slot is Grey Poupon’s “The Chase” which debuted on this year’s Oscar telecast. Directed by Bryan Buckley of Hungry Man for CP+B, “The Chase” begins in the same way as the original Grey Poupon “Pardon Me” spot of some 16 years earlier–an aristocratic English gent is being chauffeured when another car pulls alongside at a stop. The back window rolls down and a second man asks in a snooty accent, “Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?” The first man obliges with a “but of course” and hands him a jar out the window. However in this latest version, that familiar end scene is just the beginning as the second car speeds off without returning the mustard. A wild, comedic car chase ensues, replete with pyrotechnics reminiscent of an action-adventure movie.
“Best Work” gallery
The clear best of our “Best Work You May Never See” is paradoxically a spot which wound up being seen by many online, sparking thought about and concern over the lack of more stringent gun control laws in the U.S. Titled “Ed–A Petition for Stronger Gun Laws,” the piece for States United to Prevent Gun Violence was directed by Adam Goldstein of harvest films for Grey NY (see Agency of the Year feature for more details).
Taking the second slot are a short documentary and PSAs cut from it. The PSAs mark the spotmaking debut of documentarian Werner Herzog, perhaps most notably the poignant AT&T-sponsored “Texting While Driving,” which introduces us to Xzavier, a boy whose life was changed forever as a result of a tragic accident–he was walking in a crosswalk when struck by a driver who was texting. The spot was cut from a Herzog-directed 35-minute short, From One Second to the Next, which tells more detailed stories about Xzavier and other victims, as well as texting drivers who caused the accidents.
Finishing third in our rundown is a darkly humorous spot, “Orphanage,” for Chicken Licken Slyders directed by Terence Neale of Egg Films, Cape Town, for Net#work BBDO, Johannesburg. The :60 takes us to a dark, forsaken orphanage that resembles a haunted house. There, children seem to be living a joyless existence. However, when a girl gets a chance to be adopted, she turns it down. The camera cuts to an explanation as we see Wednesday night at the orphanage dining hall is “Slyder Night” when the kids are served Chicken Licken Slyders.
Taking fourth place is Made In a Free World’s “I’m With Lincoln.” Noam Murro of Biscuit Filmworks directed this PSA which opens with what looks like a budding young romance but turns into a tragic illustration of abuse, fear and pain as the woman initially being wooed is forced into slavery, We then see an Abe Lincoln-like character approach the woman, symbolizing a challenge to viewers to declare “I’m With Lincoln,” a campaign to combat this tragic ongoing present-day form of slavery. Agency was barrettSF.
And rounding out our top five is Herbaria Tea’s “Fears” which has run in German movie theaters and online. A terrifying clown, a mass murderer with a chainsaw, and death itself are fighting for their lives underwater. Something is pulling them down. They try to fight their way to the surface but to no avail. All three lifelessly sink to the bottom. It’s then revealed that an oversized tea bag was tied to each victim’s legs. A super reads, “Drown your fears” with “calming tea.” “Fears” was produced by Tempomedia Hamburg with Jung von Matt/Neckar and the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. Director was Andreas Roth.
VFX/Animation
Shortly after its debut, “98% Human,” a PSA for PETA out of BBDO New York, won for Mill+ and The Mill a Gold Lion for Best Visual Effects at Cannes. Now add another feather to that spot’s proverbial cap–the number one slot in SHOOT’s year’s best as culled from its quarterly Top Ten VFX/Animation Charts. The latest honor is earned as much for what’s in the spot as what isn’t. We see an ape about to commit suicide after enduring abuse while being forced to perform in a film. What’s amazing is an ending line which informs us that “no real apes were used in this commercial.” BBDO’s script called for a CG chimpanzee to be created that would appear completely authentic. BBDO and PETA wanted a key part of that message to be that CG animals could be created, precluding the need to use real animals in moving imagery.
Earning second place in our countdown is Digital Domain 3.0’s CG re-creation of late singer Teresa Teng. Last year’s CG “hologram” of the late rap star Tupac Shakur for a live performance that was part of Dr. Dre’s show at the Coachella Music Festival quickly gained recognition as a breakthrough event in entertainment. Fast forward to 2013 and “virtual” Teresa Teng, a CG likeness of the iconic Taiwanese Chinese singer who passed away in 1995, delivered a surprise performance as part of pop sensation Jay Chou’s “Opus 12” shows at the Taipei Arena.
Taking third place is Jameson Irish Whiskey’s “Iron Horse,” a :60 directed by John Hillcoat via SKUNK for TBWAChiatDay, NY. “Iron Horse” opens on John Jameson in Ireland in the early 1800s. He’s reading a newspaper when we see that a steam locomotive is running wild through the countryside. Jameson comes to the rescue in a visually rich spot furthered by subtle VFX from The Mill NY.
Axe/Lynx Apollo’s “Fireman”–with effects from Framestore, London, akin to Ron Howard’s Back Draft–took the fourth slot in our rundown. Tim Godsall of Biscuit directed “Fireman” for BBH London promoting the UK leg of a global competition in which contestants can win a ride on the private Space Expedition Corp. Lynx spacecraft.
The spot opens with firemen responding to the scene where flames are engulfing a large building. A woman is trapped and calls out for help. A brave fireman sees her and bolts to her rescue. Post-rescue, things seem to be heating up between the fireman and the lass as they gaze into each other’s eyes. But that spark is lost as her attention is diverted. The camera reveals what she sees–an astronaut walking past a fire truck. She immediately runs towards the space traveler, ditching the firefighter. A super reads, “Nothing beats an astronaut.”
And rounding out SHOOT’s top five is “Vapor Trail” for Nike Football directed by Mark Zibert of Imperial Woodpecker for Wieden+Kennedy, Portland and Tokyo. With VFX from The Mission, the web film features a soccer team and stadium of fans fighting gale-force winds and debris—both human and non-human—as Ronaldo leaves a whirlwind en route to the goal.
Off the Chart: Ad tracks
The top entry in this issue’s fall quarterly Top Ten Tracks Chart also topped our year’s best Music/Sound lineup: Samsung’s The Developer, a two-minute film that plays like a musical, sort of a contemporary Les Misérables featuring an inspiring version of Lorde’s hit song “Royals” sung by a group of kids. Directed by Adam Hashemi who was with Furlined and has since joined Reset, The Developer was created by Leo Burnett, Chicago, with music supervised by George Drakoulias and sound design by Gus Koven of stimmung. Audio post mixer was Loren Silber of Lime Studios. (See this week’s Fall Music Chart story for more details.)
Taking second place are agency Pereira & O’Dell, San Francisco, and clients Intel and Toshiba for their six-episode online film experience The Power Inside directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon of Furlined. In this atypical tale of a zombie alien invasion starring Harvey Keitel, Craig Roberts and Analeigh Tipton, humans must enlist technology to discover “the power inside” to defeat extraterrestrials who invade in the unlikely form of moustaches and unibrows that appear on innocent earthlings.
The Power Inside had a multi-faceted score. Elias exec creative director Brent Nichols said, “In some respects it’s a mesh of an epic Marvel score with an ethereal kind of Radiohead-ish independent brand of music. We employed big strings and horns for the sweeping epic, emotional feel, mixing in electronic elements and guitar to capture that youthful energy.” POP Sound did the sound design.
Number three in our countdown is Verizon FiOS’ “Science Project” created by McCann NY and directed by Jim Jenkins of O Positive. After extensive research and consulting with tech experts online using high-speed FiOS, a boy is able to build a fully functioning Iron Man suit for the school science fair. While “Science Project” is a visual adventure driving a comedic storyline, sound played a major role in helping the spot realize its full effect. Robert Lopez of stimmung composed while Bill Chesley and Matthew Hedge of Henryboy were the sound designers. Paul Weiss of Sonic Union was the mixer.
Fourth in our rundown is Hennessy’s docu-style spot “The Man Who Couldn’t Slow Down” with sound design from Rasmus Winther Jensen and music from Q Department, NY, the soundtrack’s song being “Follow The Rabbit.” The piece tells us the story of legendary motorist Malcolm Campbell who dedicated his life to breaking land speed records. Mixer was David Papa of Sonic Union. Martin De Thurah of Epoch directed for Droga5, NY.
And finishing fifth is Miracle Whip’s “Keep An Open Mouth” Beacon Street Studios turned out the score for this music video. The clip has a tongue-in-cheek vibe reminiscent of “We Are The World” except with a less lofty ambition—to get people to open their minds and mouths to Miracle Whip mayo. Andrew Feltenstein and John Nau of Beacon Street were the composers. Director was Brian Billow of Anonymous Content. Joel Anderson of Optimus was the mixer.
See the this year's Top 5 Animation/VFX Chart here.
See this year's Top 5 Music Tracks here.
