With the help of director Samuel Bayer of bicoastal RSA USA, the creatives at Deutsch, New York, went Hollywood—at least temporarily—to create and produce an epic, movie-style spot for Intel Corporation and Microsoft Corp. Part of a larger campaign showcasing the emerging digital lifestyle, the :60 "Digital Joy" utilizes iconic characters ranging from Little Orphan Annie to the alien creature from the Alien movie franchise to depict how families can use high-powered PCs based on the Intel Pentium 4 processor with Hyper-Threading (HT) Technology and Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 to enjoy, manage and work with digital content such as video, music and photos.
Of course, working with not one but two clients—and on such a huge undertaking no less—can be daunting. But, according to Deutsch managing partner/executive creative director Kathy Delaney, Intel and Microsoft were "aligned in their thinking," essentially charging the agency to "in a very revolutionary, big way tell people that home entertainment is going to change forever."
With that edict in mind, Deutsch senior VP/group creative director/copywriter David Rosen and Deutsch senior VP/ group creative director/art director Scott Bassen ultimately chose to demonstrate the breadth of entertainment options available to those who adopt the digital lifestyle by mounting a parade of sorts, featuring iconic characters such as the aforementioned Annie and alien, as well as Dr. Zaius from Planet of the Apes and other generic characters representing various entertainment genres. The icons make their way through the city streets to an all-American home, where they join a typical family in their living room to enjoy the multitude of entertainment options available through their home PC.
Given the grand nature of "Digital Joy," Deutsch thought the job would be best handled by Bayer. "I worked with Sam before many, many years ago. It was for a client that we no longer have anymore called British Knights, and it was when Sam was just sort of getting recognized," Delaney related, adding with a laugh, "I don’t think he’d ever take a job that small these days."
She continued: "He was so inventive and passionate and into what he did for us back in the day. I’ve always wanted to have the opportunity to work with him on a grander scale, and when I saw his treatment for this job, I thought, ‘Oh my God. I can’t believe he’s figured this stuff out to the nth degree already.’ "
AN AMBITIOUS
PRODUCTION
"We had very big goals for this spot," Bayer commented, "and I said [to the agency], ‘If we don’t make this look as good as a feature film, if it doesn’t have the production values that a feature film would have, then we are ruining the commercial.’ This had to have the scale, the detail and the art direction that a movie would have."
To that end, Bayer hired moviemaking talent to join his crew, including production designer Jan Roelfs, who most recently served as production designer on Oliver Stone’s latest film, Alexander; costume designer Marlene Stewart, whose credits range from Terminator 2: Judgment Day to Ali; and veteran stunt coordinator Chuck Picerni, whose recent credits include The Fast and the Furious and Collateral.
Bayer, who also served as DP for the shoot, lensed "Digital Joy" on location in downtown Los Angeles and suburban Van Nuys, Calif., over the course of three days, filming everything from a horse-drawn chariot racing down a city street to a car chase to a battle between martial arts fighters suspended in the air on wires.
"My goal was to do as much as I could in-camera," Bayer shared, "but I really have to give credit to [visual effects shop] Method [Santa Monica]." Among Method’s contributions to the spot was the creation of the alien spaceship that hovers above the crowd. "At one point, we talked about doing the spaceship as a miniature, but we ended up opting for a CG route, which we felt would give us more flexibility," Method visual effects supervisor Alex Frisch shared.
Method also duplicated the 50 soldiers Bayer shot live, making it appear as though are a sea of thousands. "That was actually fairly hard because of the nature of their shiny outfits and the red flags and so forth," Frisch explained. "Mostly, it was about creating a perspective in the distance and showing the idea of a grand army marching down the city streets."
To make the process easier, it was decided that crew members would move alongside the marching soldiers, carrying a green screen. "Then we used staggered moments out of the same take, comping them one on top of the other to multiply [the soldiers]," Frisch said.
While Method did the visual effects, creative director Tom Koh and producer Craig Houchin of Blind, Santa Monica, animated the bird that flutters about and lands on the alien’s finger.
"The elements of the spot that seem to get a response are the bird landing on the alien and Annie dancing next to the soldiers," Bayer remarked. "The way these images are combined give the spot a sweetness I like."
Michael Heldman of Spot Welders, Venice, Calif., cut "Digital Joy."
Pete Nashel and Andy Farber of Duotone Audio Group, New York, composed the orchestral track that accompanies the spot. "We used our go-to guys at Duotone on this one," Rosen said. "They looked at the film and said, ‘This feels like a feature, like a huge feature, and the music has to be that way." So rather than just hire a few musicians and supplementing them with synthesizers, Duotone recorded a 50-person orchestra. "And you can really tell the difference," Rosen said.
"This TV spot will also be appearing in cinemas, so doing the music, the sound design and the mix [right was especially important]," Bassen noted.
Bayer, for one, is glad that the agency chose to go all out on every aspect of the project. "Hey, I don’t want people booing in the theaters," the director cracked.
