This :30 puts us smack dab in the middle of a morgue, where a coroner seems to have made a bizarre discovery. He asks a colleague to come over and check out what his examination of a corpse has revealed.
We are not yet privy to what’s on that gurney, but one could deduce that it’s a piece of physical evidence or a clue to the cause of death. Maybe it’s telling enough to even identify a murderer. In this CSI era, our imaginations run wild.
While the camera spares us having to see the deceased’s face and most of his body, a rigor mortis-stricken hand reaching skyward comes into view. The original coroner says to his buddy, “a splitter,” which is in reference to a pitcher’s grip on the seams of a baseball in order to properly throw a split-fingered fastball.
His fellow coroner corrects him–but not regarding medical ethics or just the plain poor taste of using a corpse to discuss the national pastime. Instead, the second coroner repositions the fingers on the deceased’s extended hand. “Now, there’s your splitter,” says that coroner with a sense of pride, having instructed his colleague on the fine points of the game. Indeed these coroners are die-hard fans. Meanwhile, in the background, we hear the whirring of what sounds like a buzz saw, adding to the dark comedy of the offbeat piece.
A voiceover intervenes, “There’s a place for people like you.” That place is ESPN Radio 1000, the Chicago-area sports station.
Titled “Coroner,” this is one of three spots in an ESPN Radio 1000 campaign directed by Kohl Norville of Z Group Films, Venice, Calif., and Chicago, for boutique ad agency Generator. In “Slim Jim,” a thief breaks into a car to steal its sound system. But when he inadvertently turns on the radio, he forgets to make good on his escape. Instead he sits in the car and listens to a Chicago Bulls basketball game that’s just gone into overtime. And in “Ravine,” we see an automobile that has run off the road and crashed. The sight of the car’s wreckage is horrific but amazingly the driver is still alive. Clearly, though, he’s seriously injured. He extends his hand in pain toward the dashboard, presumably to grab a cell phone or to activate an OnStar-like communications device to summon help. He finally reaches his goal–the radio dial and turns on an ESPN 1000 sports talk show.
Dan Zigulich executive produced for Z Group Films, with Cory Berg serving as line producer. The DP was Chris Deford.
The core creative team at Generator consisted of copywriter Jeff Martin and art director Vince Cook.
Offline/online editor was Amy Harvey of Swell Inc., Chicago. Swell’s Tom Rovak was the colorist. Other Swell contributors included graphics artist Tom Mackey, and audio post mixer/sound designer Dave Leffel.
Principal actors were John Pick and Ed Hoffman who played the coroners, and Bill Moor who was the corpse.