At first glance, "Sign Of The Times" via Peterson, Milla, Hooks, Minneapolis, looks like yet another of the ubiquitous Gap khakis spots. There’s groovy music (Petula Clark’s classic song of the same name) and well-dressed youngsters gamboling in front of a blazing white cyc. The ad is minimal and dripping with attitude. But there is a crucial element that makes this spirited dance stand out sharply from the khakis work, and that is the graphic design.
"Sign Of The Times" takes the Target logo-a red bulls-eye-and places it in a dozen different contexts. A ring of lava in a lava lamp becomes the bull’s-eye, and a jiggly Jello ring served on a platter does too. And then there’s a round red booth and table shot from overhead that resembles the target and the spinning front wheel of a child’s tricycle. During the ’60s, American minimalist painter Kenneth Noland created a series of "ring" paintings that became icons of the period. On the eve of the millennium, it appears that the red Target bull’s-eye is being positioned to take the place of the Noland rings as a new "sign of the times."
Given the graphic concept of the Target spot, director Elaine Cantwell of Hollywood-based 3 Ring Circus, felt that Andrew Turman of the Mirisch Agency, Los Angeles, was a natural choice to lens the spot. Over the past several years, Cantwell has worked with him on broadcast IDs and promos for, among others, ZDTV, ABC Sports and Showtime. What’s more, when the folks at Target screened Cantwell’s reel, they were particularly attracted to the ZDTV and Showtime promos, both of which have a similar retro-graphic feel. "They wanted that look and they wanted [Elaine’s] design," Turman says. "They were looking for that retro-’60s feel, but also with a modern look, a clean, classic approach, and a graphic quality as well."
To accomplish that, Turman says they treated the set like it was "a dollhouse." "There was so much white in the spot," he explained, "so it was a matter of creating and controlling the slight fall-off from white to give just enough definition, so you have a sense of place, but at the same time you’re in a very graphic two-dimensional world. We actually treated it as a miniature world, using oversized lights very far away, and we lit it as if it were a dollhouse."
"Sign Of The Times" should help to establish Turman, whose background so far has largely been in the heavily graphic world of broadcast design and promotion. Appropriately, however, Turman was able to draw on that background when shooting the ad.
"In the television work I’ve done, I’ve worked with a lot of people with a design background," Turman says. "I love black and white and I love color, but people in design seem to like to work with color, so I’ve learned a lot from that and have definitely enjoyed it."
Cantwell says Turman’s "great sense of color" is just one of his assets: "[He] brings so much to the process and the end product, much more than you ask for," she says. "He gets inside your brain, shows you that, and then builds on it."
Starting Out
As a child, Turman spent his spare time taking photographs and making movies. The son of feature producer Lawrence Turman (The Graduate, American History X), the younger Turman grew up on sets and in studios. Later, he attended Brown University, and then studied architecture at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. But he found that architecture "wasn’t dynamic enough for me. There wasn’t the movement or the direct interaction with people." Eventually, he signed up for film school at USC, where he rediscovered cinematography.
The future DP got his first break in ’92 while still at USC. By taking on every grip or assistant camera job he could, Turman got to know Jeff Boortz, also of 3 Ring Circus. The director asked the film student if he would shoot the title sequence and a promo for Scorch, a now canceled sitcom. "I’d never shot anything legitimate before," Turman said, "and so I said, ‘Sure, I’ll do it.’ "
Afraid of what he’d gotten himself into, however, Turman called freelance DP Edward Pei of the Mirisch Agency, who he’d worked for previously. "I [asked him to] come down and be my gaffer and make sure I didn’t screw up," says Turman who recalls Pei’s response. "He said, ‘Okay, I’ll help you. Good luck, you’re on your own.’" Pei then hung up.
"The message was that you have to rely on yourself," Turman says. After that, the DP’s self-confidence underwent "a complete turnaround."
Scorch led to other broadcast work, including a title sequence in ’94 for a little show called ER, which won an Emmy Award. Other promos he’s shot have won several BDA and Telly Awards, and a Monitor Award. Now, however, Turman is focusing on spots and features.
He began making headway a few years ago, and in ’97 he shot four Clio-nominated commercials for Ames stores, which were directed by Alan Arkin of Brownstone Films, Santa Monica. He also shot a Paul Hunter-directed clip for the band Hostile, which was produced by F.M. Rocks, Santa Monica (Hunter is now repped by bicoastal HSI Productions), and a Cantwell-directed corporate image package for Sony.
Turman’s next assignment is a documentary directed by Oscar-winner Barbara Kopple (who helms spots via nonificition spots and longform) and financed by New York-headquartered investment bank Goldman Sachs. The film will feature interviews with financial and political luminaries including Bill Gates and Gerald Ford, among others. Also in the near future, Turman hopes to get some repeat business from Target.
Turman once got a call from Oscar-nominated cinematographer Allen Daviau (Bugsy, The Color Purple, E.T.) who saw Oink!, a short film Turman lensed for director Rand Ravich. Daviau was booked to work on Rand’s feature The Astronaut’s Wife. " ‘Hmm, I’m just looking at this film called Oink!, and I feel a little bad,’ " Turman recalls Daviau saying, " ‘like I’m stealing the next film that you should be shooting.’ " But apparently, Daviau didn’t really feel that bad. "You know what," he told Turman, "after Amblin, it took me a long time to get back together with Spielberg. Don’t worry, you’ll get your turn."s
