Just when you thought it was safe to get back in the water, it isn’t–at least in this tongue-in-cheek :30 titled “A New Plunge” for the Pittsburgh Zoo out of agency MARC USA, Pittsburgh. The offbeat twist is that instead of a fin attached to a great white shark, the telltale danger sign is fur from a great white polar bear. That sighting sets off a panic that gets an otherwise brave, hearty crew to scurry out of the drink, fearing for their safety.
The spot features Pittsburgh’s own Polar Bear Club about to take its annual Polar Bear Plunge in a freezing Allegheny River. You have to be a bit crazy to wear a relatively skimpy swimsuit and then jump into near frigid water. But this group isn’t crazy enough to remain in the river upon seeing a huge polar bear swimming about. The scenario begins with and focuses on Jack, who’s about to take his first plunge. (Jack is the only professional actor in the bunch.) He’s surrounded by veteran Polar Bear Club members of all ages who are already getting wet in the freezing H20. Jack talks to someone off camera. “You have my keys,” Jack asks, as if looking for an excuse not to go into the river. Yet alas his keys are safe and there’s no reason not to hit the drink.
Finally Jack somewhat reluctantly heads into the water. But at that point, he finds his excuse, spotting the polar bear. He screams out “Bear” repeatedly, pointing out into the distance, alerting his fellow club members. Panicked, they rush out of the river.”
A supered message reads, “The real bears are back,” accompanied by a logo for the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium.
The spot serves as the perfect attention-getting warning to Pittsburgh residents that polar bears are returning to the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium after an eight-year hiatus. The twin, two-year-old bears will be part of the Water’s Edge exhibit, scheduled for completion in April, featuring a large viewing window and two underwater tunnels for an up-close experience with the animals in the exhibit, which will eventually also include sea otters and walruses.
Keeping track Pittsburgh-based production house Animal deployed computer graphics to put wild bear footage into the live-action scene of Pittsburgh Polar Bear Club swimmers entering the water. Animal scouted a section of the downtown Pittsburgh river that would match up with the footage of the polar bear in its original watery habitat. “We worked closely with River Rescue, placing buoys in the river to determine tracking points to place the bear in the correct location,” said Animal Director Michael Killen. “We rehearsed moves and points to be hit in the story, which had to be done in a single 26-second take, making sure the sunlight’s direction matched the stock footage.”
Animal compositor Jim Kreitzburg utilized Discreet Logic’s Flame to remove the old water and composite the bear into the river water, taking care that the water looked realistic along the edges of the bear’s body.
Pre-production work included Navy Seal divers scouting the underwater area for anything that might endanger the swimmers plus regular checks of the water current speed by the River Rescue team. To further ensure safety, River Rescue remained on location throughout the shoot, which had to be stopped several times when the Just Ducky tour boats passed by.
MARC USA senior art director Dena Mosti explained that to create the feel of a Polar Bear Clubber’s home movie, the :30 was executed in one consecutive shot–albeit with many takes to get the desired effect. The DP was Stephen Hunter.
The visual trickery wasn’t confined to meshing the stock bear footage into the Allegheny. Though the commercial just recently debuted (on Pittsburgh stations and the local outlets for Animal Planet, Discovery Channel and TLC), it was actually filmed in May 2006 as the temperature hovered around 90 degrees. Part of the chilling “challenge,” said Killen, “was to create the look of a gray and cold January day.”
Winter wonderland To create the illusion of a wintry environment, handmade snow was used. Animal’s sleight of hand also included the removal of telltale warm weather greenery, and the addition of falling snow, visible breath (employing 3D Studio Max) and fog.
The Marc USA creative team consisted of Mosti, creative director Ron Sullivan, senior writer Jason Fotter and producer Beth Fornaro.
