Since the beginning of time, man has looked longingly at birds in flight and dared to dream what if he too could fly. And even now, there’s still human wonderment when gazing at a bird soaring skyward.
But not all birds can fly and in this spot people take it upon themselves to give a penguin, a chicken and an emu the prized gift of flight.
The enterprising folks use hang gliders as their means towards that end. One guy takes a penguin up into the wild blue yonder. The penguin is in a harness right below the man in flight. In one scene, the penguin flaps its wings, seemingly in delight in mid-flight.
The chicken (in a harness set-up similar to that of the penguin) too enjoys its ascent as does the emu. In the case of the latter, the bird is in a special harness propelled by and suspended between two hang gliders.
A voiceover and an accompanying super relate, “Every bird should get to fly.” A tag appears with the Washington State Lottery logo and the slogan, “Whose world could you change?”
Titled “Birds,” the commercial was directed by Jerry Brown of Sticks+Stones Studios, Los Angeles, for Publicis in the West, Seattle.
Efx challenge Brown noted that the penguin, chicken and emu didn’t actually fly in this spot. A prime challenge of the project, he said, was “how to seamlessly composite birds with hang gliders and still make it feel spontaneous, natural and observed.” This meant that Brown had to capture the birds “enjoying flight” even though they weren’t experiencing it. Brown and DP Tom Olgeirrson deployed camera angles that “while interesting, didn’t stretch credulity,” said the director. “The animal trainers worked with the birds for more than a week, suspending them in harnesses and getting them used to being in their rigs.
Jake Parker of Fischer Edit, Minneapolis, served as visual effects supervisor/Flame artist on the job.
Attracting Brown to the project was its positive, uplifting spirit, focusing on the good things lottery winners can accomplish–“to show someone,” said the director, “doing something for someone, that they couldn’t do themselves.”
