With the popularity of movies like Babe, Stuart Little and Cats & Dogs, it’s no wonder we’re seeing more singing and speaking cats, dogs and other critters in commercials these days. In fact, this week’s Top Spot—a Visa ad created by BBDO New York—finds a bird, fish, dog and cat serenading their owner. If you are about to roll your eyes and say, "Big deal. We’ve seen this before," hold on. We probably haven’t ever seen this illusion so realistically achieved in a television commercial prior to the debut of this spot, in which the live action was directed by Erich Joiner of bicoastal Tool of North America, with Bill Westenhofer of Rhythm & Hues Studios, Los Angeles, serving as director for the visual effects portion of the spot.
Titled "Petsmart.com," the commercial touts the fact that consumers can use their Visa cards to shop online at Petsmart. com. Set in a cozy, dimly lit living room, the ad depicts a man shopping online at Petsmart. com, on behalf of his fish, bird, dog and cat. He seems oblivious to the fact that his appreciative pets are singing the song "Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man," from the musical Show Boat, in the background.
As the spot opens, we see a goldfish swimming about her tank, singing the first line from the classic tune: "Fish gotta swim." Cut to a shot of a bird—a blue crown conure, to be exact—in a cage. He picks up with the line, "Birds gotta fly." Then a beagle, sitting contentedly on the couch, sings, "I’m gonna love one man ’til I die." All three animals chime in for the line, "Can’t help lovin’ that man of mine."
The focus then turns to their master, a man sitting at his computer, looking at Petsmart.com. A cat lounges on the desk near the monitor. The cat speaks, "Want your pets to love you, too? All you need is the most popular pet site online, and Visa—Petsmart.com’s preferred way to pay."
The feline’s voice ought to sound familiar, by the way: It’s that of Ed Grover, the Visa voiceover man.
Next we see a close-up of a Visa card, and another shot of the man making a purchase on the Petsmart.com site, as the pets continue to sing, "Can’t help lovin’ that man of mine."
The spot concludes with the following phrase superimposed over a wide shot of the scene: "Visa. It’s Everywhere You Want To Be." Visa.com appears in the lower right-hand corner of the screen.
The warm, mellow spot—of which there is also a slightly different version, themed for Christmas and titled "Petsmart. com Holiday"—is rather remarkable in its realism. "That was the charge here: to keep it real," said BBDO senior VP/creative director/art director Rick Hanson. "I know they’re singing, but let’s not go over the top."
To ensure that the spot would "not look like a bad cat food or dog food commercial with singing animals," BBDO VP/ executive producer Grant Gill spent hours in his office watching movies like Paulie (incidentally, this ad’s feathered star was one of the birds in that film), Stuart Little, Babe, Babe: Pig in the City and Dr. Doolittle. "I was watching kid movies all day, and people were like, ‘Are you whacked or what?’ " Gill recalled, adding—"And I was having the best time."
Aside from pleasure, what did Gill glean from studying these films? "I learned that there was a real marriage between great cinematography and great effects," he replied. It also became obvious that Rhythm & Hues was the best company to hire for the job. After all, the outfit was responsible for creating the effects in Cats & Dogs, not to mention much of Gill’s reference material, like Stuart Little and Babe: Pig in the City.
Both Tool’s Joiner (who was out of the country at press time and unavailable for comment) and Rhythm & Hues’ Westenhofer were brought into the process by BBDO early on. Gill pointed out that Joiner "was absolutely wonderful in collaborating with Rhythm & Hues and making sure that when we were shooting, we would deliver everything that they would need for postproduction."
Acclaimed feature film DP Robert Richardson (whose credits include A Few Good Men, Casino, Nixon and Snow Falling on Cedars) served as cinematographer on the job, which was shot over two days at Raleigh Manhattan Beach Studios, Manhattan Beach, Calif. A motion control camera was used to film several scenes, "so they would be able to later combine everything to make it one fluid piece," according to Gill.
Everything went smoothly on the set, although not everyone got along. "The dog and the bird did not get along well. They hated each other," Gill reported, laughing. Given their mutual dislike, those two pets did not appear on the set together. In fact, the scene in which we see a wide shot of the dog, bird and fish all together in the same area of the room was composited in post.
One of the most challenging aspects of the job was creating the goldfish. "Fish gotta swim, but fish can’t act," Hanson cracked. Therefore, Rhythm & Hues created a CG fish. "Once you go to a CG fish, sometimes the risk is that you’ll say, ‘We can make her do all these wacky things. We can have her come in and dance.’ But I was really happy that [BBDO] went for something more natural," commented Westenhofer.
The fish certainly looks real. Subtle touches—including darkening the area around her eye to look like eyeliner—were made to ensure that the audience would view the fish as female.
The cat also required a lot of work, including complete eye replacements. "Since he was a spokesman, he had to look straight into the camera, and an animal is always going to want to look at his trainer. So the best you can do is put [the trainer] right by the lens. But it’s still a little off, so we completely replaced the eyes," Westenhofer explained.
All in all, it took a crew of 15 at Rhythm & Hues, including CG supervisor Alberto Noti, producer Peggy Regan and character animators Glenn Ramos and Hunter Athey, four weeks to complete the entire job using the company’s proprietary software, as well as Maya, RenderMan and the Flame.
Meanwhile, David Horowitz of David Horowitz Music Associates (DHMA), New York, arranged and recorded a smooth, jazzy version of "Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man" for the spot. The goal was to make the track "sound casual, as if [the pets] were standing on a street corner, singing," said BBDO VP/executive music producer Loren Perkins, who hasn’t been able to get the catchy tune out of his head since finishing the job. "I actually find myself singing it, and I’m not sick of it."
BBDO’s creatives actually came up with the idea to use the tune. "It’s the perfect song, which leads you right into the idea in the first three lines. How are you going to change it? It was a natural fit for this," Hanson noted.
While a memorable song and realistic effects contribute to the appeal of the commercial, "Petsmart.com" ultimately works because it strikes a chord with viewers, touching them emotionally, according to Hanson. "If you do own any kind of pet, you identify with the love that you have for your pet," related Hanson, who happens to be a dog owner. "At times, I look at him, and if he’s not chewing up my couch, it almost looks like he wants to speak."
