A family of circus performers carries over their amazing contortionist act to everyday life in this Spanish language commercial, “Amazing Contortionist,” in the California Milk Processor Board’s “got milk?” campaign.
Mom ties her daughter’s shoes by literally bending over backyards 180 degrees. Dad reads the newspaper by holding it with his feet, while his little girl is perched upside down on a library desk workstation, typing on the computer keyboard with one foot and one hand. The son makes a soccer goal with an incredible exhibition of leg flexibility. And the daughter turns herself in a human hula hoop, revolving around the waist of another girl.
The family’s incredible anatomical flexibility is also exhibited in a crowded elevator, and at the dining room table. At the latter, each family member is seated in what seem like physically impossible positions. And in the elevator, all matter of appendages are visible at eye level.
The parents and kids attribute their talents to milk, which enhances muscle flexibility and coordination. The other two spots in the campaign also showcase extraordinary physical feats. In “Amazon Hair Goddess,” we see a village of woman who use their long hair to amazing ends, including lassoing a wild horse. And in “Teeth,” milk has strengthened people’s choppers to the point where they can chomp down on and carry heavy objects all over the city.
The spots were directed by Andy Fogwill via Landia, Buenos Aires, and Colibri Films, Hermosa, Beach, Calif., for agency Grupo Gallegos, Long Beach, Calif. John Ehrenfeld executive produced for Colibri. Juan Carlos Ferro was the DP.
Grupo Gallegos’ contingent consisted of creative directors Favio Ucedo and Juan Oubina, copywriter Francisco Puppio, art directors Andrews Munera and Guillermo Lucero, and producer Carlos Barciela.
Editor was Jaime Valdueza of Module Zero Media, Venice, Calif. Colorist was Siggy Ferstl of Riot, Santa Monica. Audio post mixers were Jorge Morales and Sebastian Consigli of Swing Musica, Buenos Aires.
Visual effects house was Kroma, with contributors there including creative director/compositor Bert Yukich, on-set visaual effects supervisor Bob Yukich, and executive producer Amy Yukich.
While the actors cast in “Amazing Contortionist” had contortionist skills, their abilities did not extend to the over-the-top exploits shown in the commercial. This is where Kroma’s prowess came into play.
“For the shot of the girl using a computer with her hands and feet, we first shot her seated in a chair with her legs covered in blue and then shot her again with her legs draped over the chair back with her body in a blue suit,” explained Bob Yukich. “In postproduction, we married the two halves of the girl together.”
Turning the girl into a human hula hoop entailed going to even greater lengths of trickery. “That was also created from two elements: a girl mimicking the action of hula hoping, and a second girl holding her own angles to form a ring,” related Bert Yukich. “In order to make the girl look more like a hoop, we morphed her body, and then animated her to make her spin around the other girl.”
Martin Scorsese On “The Saints,” Faith In Filmmaking and His Next Movie
When Martin Scorsese was a child growing up in New York's Little Italy, he would gaze up at the figures he saw around St. Patrick's Old Cathedral. "Who are these people? What is a saint?" Scorsese recalls. "The minute I walk out the door of the cathedral and I don't see any saints. I saw people trying to behave well within a world that was very primal and oppressed by organized crime. As a child, you wonder about the saints: Are they human?" For decades, Scorsese has pondered a project dedicated to the saints. Now, he's finally realized it in "Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints," an eight-part docudrama series debuting Sunday on Fox Nation, the streaming service from Fox News Media. The one-hour episodes, written by Kent Jones and directed by Elizabeth Chomko, each chronicle a saint: Joan of Arc, Francis of Assisi, John the Baptist, Thomas Becket, Mary Magdalene, Moses the Black, Sebastian and Maximillian Kolbe. Joan of Arc kicks off the series on Sunday, with three weekly installments to follow; the last four will stream closer to Easter next year. In naturalistic reenactments followed by brief Scorsese-led discussions with experts, "The Saints" emphasizes that, yes, the saints were very human. They were flawed, imperfect people, which, to Scorsese, only heightens their great sacrifices and gestures of compassion. The Polish priest Kolbe, for example, helped spread antisemitism before, during WWII, sheltering Jews and, ultimately, volunteering to die in the place of a man who had been condemned at Auschwitz. Scorsese, who turns 82 on Sunday, recently met for an interview not long after returning from a trip to his grandfather's hometown in Sicily. He was made an honorary citizen and the experience was still lingering in his mind. Remarks have... Read More