We open in a train station crowded with people. As a train arrives, a man is visibly hot and bothered. He pops a Halls lozenge into his mouth, which has an instantaneous cooling effect.
Immediately he is hit on the side of his face by a snowball, thrown by a polar bear. A second snowball also makes facial impact as the man and bear then gravitate towards each other. A catchy musical beat ensues as they start to dance and cavort about, giving each other a high five, shimmying back to back against each other, and then engaging in a big heartfelt embrace.
The spot then cuts to three women who look on and laugh. But they’re not laughing at the polar bear and the man, but only at the latter as the camera reveals what the women see–the guy dancing and hugging, all the while by himself. Indeed there’s been a polar eclipse right before our eyes as the bear has disappeared–and in fact was never there as the man’s imagination got carried away due to the cooling Halls mentho-lyptus lozenge.
Titled “Polar Blast,” the spot was directed by Ram Madhvani of Equinox Films, Mumbai, for Contract Advertising, Mumbai. (Madhvani is handled worldwide–except for India–by greatguns in Venice, Calif, London and Bangkok.)
“Having the man and the polar bear at a train station was a great idea,” related Madhvani. “The challenge was figuring out exactly how they should interact there. The agency guys and I discussed it and at first the plan was to give the interaction a kind of romantic overtone. But the client said that wasn’t energetic enough to appeal to the younger demographic we wanted to connect with.”
Necessity being the mother of invention, the need for “energetic” spawned the creation of what Madhvani laughingly refers to as the “shiver dance.” “Our hope is that it will soon compete with the moon walk,” quipped the director, describing the “shiver dance” as “how you would move if you had ice down the back of your shirt…That dance with the man and the bear shimmying against each other back to back helped to make the spot zany, and popular.”.
Madhvani complimented animatronic bear operator Matt Brady for his tireless work. “Matt told me this job was one of the few in which the director talked to him,” related Madhvani. “Usually the director communicates to him through the first a.d. He appreciated that we struck up a rapport. I appreciated it as well.”
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More