Never underestimate the power of tinkering. One day director Stewart Hendler was waiting around somewhere and fiddling with his iPod. He began mindlessly rubbing the earphones and it occurred to him that they looked like miniature CPR paddles.
“I remember thinking, ‘What can you bring to life with tiny electric CPR paddles?'” said Hendler. “And the idea stuck in my mind for quite awhile before I decided to actually do something about it.”
That “something” was to create a spec spot which is this week’s entry in SHOOT’s “The Best Work You May Never See” gallery.
The piece opens with a youngster listening to his Microsoft Zune music player as he walks down the street in drab inner city surroundings. The lad comes upon what looks like a dead baby bird lying on the sidewalk. He kneels down and gently places his dual earphones–as if they were CPR paddles–against the bird’s tiny chest.
Amazingly the impromptu musical treatment/resuscitation works. The bird springs back to life and flies off.
Succeeding graphics read, “Music Is Life” and “Zune is Music,” followed by the Zune logo.
The 30-second spec spot ends with the boy quietly continuing his walk.
Departing from the norm
Titled “Music Is Life,” the spec ad was conceived, directed, shot and edited by Hendler whose spotmaking home is Hollywood-based Über Content.
“You see a lot of music spots these days that are very ‘in your face’ and high energy,” said Hendler. “But the challenge here was to do something a little more subtle, that spoke to the power of music on a more basic level. This product category of advertising, with its highest profile work being for Apple’s iPod, tends to be bombastic and big. My idea was to go in the opposite direction and try to find the gravity of a very small moment.””
Hendler also sought to contrast the initial downcast inner city with the upbeat prospect of reviving a tiny living creature. “I went for a slight melancholy in the beginning of the spot, an uninspiring backdrop for this kid’s world in which an unexpected moment of redemption takes place.”
Hendler’s support team at Über Content included executive producers Phyllis Koenig and Preston Lee. Head of production was Steve Wi. Hendler lensed the spot with the Red One digital camera.
Sound designer was Colbert S. Davis IV, a friend and colleague of Hendler.
Music for the spot came from bicoastal original music and sound house Human.
Score
Hendler noted that the musical score “needed to be the emotional foundation for the spot, starting small and melancholy but then growing into something uplifting in just a few seconds. Human came up with a great vocal hook which begins really meek and distant but then develops into a beautiful, soaring crescendo.”
Human composer/co-founder Morgan Visconti described the track as being one with a “bittersweet, haunting feel. We wanted a track that would be instantly memorable–one that would sound more like a record than a scored piece. We wanted to write something that a potential Zune user would want pre-loaded onto their machine. We used acoustic instruments–piano, guitar, drums and violin. In post, we added reverb over the whole stereo mix to give it a ghostly, ethereal sound, featured during the bird’s ‘resurrection’ sequence. One of the musical artists that I produce, Leah Siegel, a well known New York City artist, co-wrote the track, wrote its melody and provided the vocals.”
Hendler is no stranger to SHOOT recognition. He was included in this publication’s inaugural New Directors Showcase in 2003. At that time, he was with the former Omaha Pictures.
Several years later, after taking time out to helm his feature debut–a supernatural thriller titled Whisper–he sought new commercials representation, signing with Über Content nearly a year ago (SHOOT, 5/11/07).
Hendler made his first major industry splash after graduating from film school at USC when he directed the short film One, which took home the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. That honor catapulted Hendler into the ad world, eliciting interest from Omaha Pictures, which he joined. His early work gained recognition at not only SHOOT’s New Directors Showcase but also Y&R’s Young Guns competition, the Clio Awards and the Cannes Ad Fest.
