The Cultural Mixmaster Goes Into High Gear In Two New Spots For Separate Advertisers.
By JEREMY LEHRER
In the diverse world we live in, it’s no surprise that the small screen is beginning to reflect more and more of the cultures that comprise the American and global melting pots. But for the most part, ethnic representations in spots remain a fairly saccharine blend.
CNET’s "Redirect" and WebTV’s "Foreign Movie" both feature South Asian characters. "Redirect," via Leagas Delaney, San Francisco, was directed by Traktor of bicoastal/international Partizan; and WebTV’s "Foreign Movie" out of Foote, Cone & Belding, San Francisco, was directed by Michael Patrick Jann of bicoastal HKM Productions. South Asians aren’t featured often in spots, and their appearance in two that broke at about the same time, while short of a trend, is at least thought provoking.
CNET’s "Redirect" features a stark setting where one character wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the word "You" inscribed on it is given the task of choosing between a man with the T-shirt, "The Right Digital Camera," and another man with the T-shirt, "The Wrong Digital Camera." The "You" character sheepishly chooses "The Wrong Digital Camera," and then is redirected to "The Right Digital Camera" by a gent wearing a CNET T-shirt. In the spot, "You" is a South Asian gentleman, and his voiceover, in an Indian accent, provides the conclusion.
In WebTV’s "Foreign Movie," a character is sitting at home surrounded by all sorts of science fiction arcana. From the futon in the middle of his living room, the man watches an elaborate dance sequence from a Bollywood film on television. In the middle of the complex choreography, one of the dancers stops to admonish the viewer for watching the flick instead of more worthwhile science fiction programming. The Bollywood character explains that if the guy at home were using WebTV, he would have known that the science fiction shows were airing. After his chastisement of the home viewer is complete, the Bollywood character returns wholeheartedly to the dance sequence.
Harry Cocciolo, Leagas Delaney’s creative director for the CNET spot, said that there wasn’t any directive to include a South Asian character in the "Redirect" spot. When
casting, he said that Traktor was simply going after real people who looked interesting and had the qualities that they wanted for the spot’s characters. The choice of using the Indian gentleman’s voiceover was an improvised decision made on the set, and it fit with the spot’s manifesto of using non-actors.
The concept for "Foreign Movie" evolved out of the overall approach for the WebTV campaign, which called for characters on television to break through the fourth wall and talk to the viewers at home. John Davis, the FCB art director for "Foreign Movie," had been an admirer of Bollywood films and wanted to reference the genre in a commercial. The spot’s scenario called for the character to be watching a program that was what Davis described as something unfamiliar that nevertheless "mesmerizes" him. The Bollywood film appealed to the FCB creative team precisely because it was unfamiliar.
"You see a lot of clichés in advertising, and you’re always trying to get away from the same themes and the same situations," observed Davis. "You never see Indian musicals or anything playing off of that—maybe in movies, but I have not seen it in advertising that much."
"It’s most fascinating to see things on television that are the least familiar," added FCB’s Jeff Iorillo, who was a copywriter/ creative director on other spots in the WebTV campaign. "Because the world is becoming more global, more things are becoming more familiar. … So we are now looking to other parts of the world that are unfamiliar, yet connected with us."
For the spot, Jann—who directed the six other spots in the WebTV campaign—had the task of replicating a tradition he has studied from afar. Jann was introduced to Bollywood films by some friends who are Sikh, and he has since gathered a small collection of Bollywood films on videotape. When FCB described the idea for "Foreign Movie," Jann in turn responded with very specific scenarios and art direction that he wanted to use for the Bollywood dance sequence in the spot.
As someone who enjoys the genre and is informally versed in its conventions, Jann said that he wanted to maintain a certain tone. "I wanted to do it in a way that was respectful," he said. "[Bollywood] movies are fun, and I respect the people who make them. … It’s a completely different set of cultural signposts, and I’m glad I was able to do it because it could have come out as offensive and disrespectful."
The subject led Jann to ruminate on the opposing forces of advertising’s need for whatever is novel, as well as the homogenizing trends of globalization. "I think the big danger of globalization is that it will stomp out the areas that develop these kind of things," Jann said in reference to Bollywood films. "You have to have a certain amount of isolation from the mainstream in order for a different style to develop. The fear is that everything might become the same all over the planet and there won’t be any interesting thing left to discover."
Jann’s comment provided an interesting contrast to what Cocciolo said about the CNET spot. "I think that the real world is a lot more mixed than we normally see [in spots], and it’s nice to have advertising accept that a little more," Cocciolo said.
On "Redirect," Traktor was assisted by a team including Andrzej Sekula, DP; Ole Sanders, executive producer; and Jim Bouvet, producer. In addition to Cocciolo, personnel at Leagas Delaney included Sean Ehringer, creative director; Roger Camp, associate creative director/art director; Matt Elhardt, copywriter; and Lisa Gatto, producer. The spot was edited at Nomad Editing Company, Santa Monica, where Jim Hutchins was editor and Ben Looram was assistant editor. Santa Monica-based HD West’s Steve Rodriguez was colorist. For The Finish Line, Santa Monica, Stan Kellam was Henry artist/online editor. Audio post was done at Eleven, Santa Monica, where Jeff Payne was mixer and Matt Downs was assistant mixer. The spot was shot at Raleigh Studios, Manhattan Beach, Calif.
For "Foreign Movie," creatives at FCB included Brian Bacino, creative director; Jim DiPiazza, copywriter; and Robert Gondell, producer/senior producer. At HKM, Jann’s production team consisted of Joaquin Baca-Asay, DP; Lisa Prentis Margulis, executive producer; Suzanne L. Haasis, producer; Laurie Devine, production supervisor; Elizabeth Minzes, head of production; and Peggy Holmes, choreographer. The spot was edited at Santa Monica-based Cosmo Street, where personnel consisted of Avi Oron, editor; Brian Freundlich, assistant editor; Yvette Cobarrubias, executive producer; and Tatiana Derovanessian and Gina Pagano, producers. Music for the spot was composed at Los Angeles-based Velvet E, where personnel included Lyle Workman, composer; Brad Colerick, executive producer; and Dave Curtin, producer. Audio post and sound design were done at POP Sound, Santa Monica, where Mitch Dorf was audio mixer/sound designer and Jill Ambrosino was assistant mixer. At Santa Monica-based Company 3, Mike Pethel was colorist. Santa Monica-based The Finish Line’s Stan Kellam was Henry artist/online editor. The spot was shot on location in Los Angeles.
Tim Burton Discusses His Dread Of AI As An Exhibition of His Work Opens In London
The imagination of Tim Burton has produced ghosts and ghouls, Martians, monsters and misfits — all on display at an exhibition that is opening in London just in time for Halloween.
But you know what really scares him? Artificial intelligence.
Burton said Wednesday that seeing a website that had used AI to blend his drawings with Disney characters "really disturbed me."
"It wasn't an intellectual thought — it was just an internal, visceral feeling," Burton told reporters during a preview of "The World of Tim Burton" exhibition at London's Design Museum. "I looked at those things and I thought, 'Some of these are pretty good.' … (But) it gave me a weird sort of scary feeling inside."
Burton said he thinks AI is unstoppable, because "once you can do it, people will do it." But he scoffed when asked if he'd use the technology in this work.
"To take over the world?" he laughed.
The exhibition reveals Burton to be an analogue artist, who started off as a child in the 1960s experimenting with paints and colored pencils in his suburban Californian home.
"I wasn't, early on, a very verbal person," Burton said. "Drawing was a way of expressing myself."
Decades later, after films including "Edward Scissorhands," "Batman," "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Beetlejuice," his ideas still begin with drawing. The exhibition includes 600 items from movie studio collections and Burton's personal archive, and traces those ideas as they advance from sketches through collaboration with set, production and costume designers on the way to the big screen.
London is the exhibition's final stop on a decade-long tour of 14 cities in 11 countries. It has been reconfigured and expanded with 90 new objects for its run in... Read More