Discus Athletic Allows Creative Headroom To Give Spot Visual Punch.
CLIENT
Discus Athletic.
PRODUCTION CO.
A Band Apart Commercials, Los Angeles. Kevin Kerslake, director/DP; Michael Bodnarchek, executive producer; Larry Gold, head of production; Dawn Rose, line producer. Shot on location.
AGENCY
Siquis, Ltd., Baltimore. Ron Thompson, art director; Tom Daniel, copywriter. Beaucoup Chapeaux, Dallas. Jennifer Pearse, producer.
EDITORIAL
Graying & Balding, Santa Monica, Calif. Hal Honigsberg, editor.
POST
Post Logic Studios, Hollywood. Rob Blue, online editor; Michael Eaves, colorist; Leslie Sorrentino, executive producer.
VISUAL EFFECTS
Post Logic. Michael Killen, visual effects artist.
AUDIO POST
POP Sound, Santa Monica. Loren Silber, mixer/engineer.
MUSIC
tomandandy, bicoastal. Tom Hajdu, composer; Tim Boland, arranger.
BY REGINALD OBERLAG
The world’s most popular sport, soccer (better known to non-Americans as football), is the source of inspiration for one of four spots for Discus Athletic clothing’s “Poetry in Motion” campaign. The commercials, from the Baltimore advertising and marketing firm Siquis, Ltd., were helmed by director/cameraman Kevin Kerslake. It was his next-to-last project through A Band Apart Commercials, Los Angeles, from which he recently departed.
The dynamic and visually rich :30 “Soccer,” which began airing nationally Sept. 1, was one of the four :30s that Siquis and its client created in hopes of breaking through sports commercial cliches. According to Discus Athletic director of marketing Jane Pace, “It was very important to us that Siquis and the people [it] chose to work with had the opportunity to try different things to get us the unique look we wanted.”
The result, she explained, were spots that avoided cliches by focusing “on the nitty gritty, behind-the-scenes action.”
“Soccer” opens with a night view of a soccer field’s sidelines; dramatic side lighting makes the field look like a coarsely textured fabric, creating a visually strange, almost toylike set on which a black-and-white soccer ball rolls.
A voiceover reads a poem extolling the nature of the game; it compares soccer to an artillery battle as a marchlike, techno-industrial soundtrack, composed by Tom Hajdu of bicoastal tomandandy, plays in the background.
Next, the burning emulsion of a frame of film stuck in a projector creates a bubbling-orange segue into a rapidly cut montage of a non-professional soccer match. The game is shot from unusual angles and shows an untraditional choice of captured moments, like a close-up of a soccer shoe dragging along wet turf and an illegal sliding block. Kerslake said his goal was to avoid all the typical slick “money shots” to which sports commercials resort. As a result, the shots include a brief but comic glimpse of men guarding the goal for a penalty kick, with all their hands in front of their laps in order “to protect the family jewels,” as Kerslake put it.
Siquis executive producer Ron Thompson said it was quite a challenge to attempt something new in sports commercials because the big advertisers had already pushed most of the limits. “How do you skin that cat again?” he asked, suggesting that Kerslake “had reinvented the wheel” by bringing a fresh eye to sports spots “by letting the viewer be more of a participant than a spectator.”
As for Kerslake, he said he was amazed to work with an agency and client that kept asking him to “give me more” of the unusual styling. “Usually in commercials you show them something out of the ordinary and they [respond] with fear, and back off.”
The director said he sought to achieve the viewer-as-participant effect by “getting up close with wide-angle lenses, to put the camera in the center of things, and even digging a hole in the field so we could get the camera to look up at the players’ feet from ground level.”
The dramatic lighting, he explained, was jacked-up further by his pushing the film two-stops in the camera, creating an almost solarized graphic effect that makes the garments’ colors pop out.
The spot was further pushed during editing at Graying & Balding in Santa Monica, Calif., where offline editor Hal Honigsberg explained they resorted to a variety of tricks such as “flashing a flashlight off the glass element inside the Rank to create a light prism and color reflections.” He explained that Kerslake “wanted a hand-processed look to the film,” which they were able to simulate. “I’ve had ideas of how to get this look in my head, but I was never able to actualize it until now, while working with Post Logic [for post and visual effects] and liberal clients,” Honigsberg said.
Executive producer Thompson added that much of the spot’s success “is due to Discus being such an open client and insisting that we experiment with both the creative message and the post-production techniques.”
***
Noren Has The Stuff For Old El Paso
CLIENT
Pillsbury Co./Old El Paso Beef Tortilla Stuffers.
PRODUCTION CO.
Noren Productions, Seattle. Gary Noren, director; Jan Kiesser, DP; June Leahy, executive producer; Lisa McClelland, producer. Shot at Jonas Jensen Studios, Seattle.
AGENCY
Leo Burnett Co., Chicago. Elena Robinson, producer; Kevin Seavitt, art director; Rob Heider, copywriter.
EDITORIAL
Cutters, Chicago. Chris Claeys, editor; Chris Johnson, producer.
POST
Cutters. Oscar Oboza, colorist; Chris Claeys, online editor; Danny Yoon, Flame artist.
AUDIO POST
Cutters. John Binder, engineer/mixer.
MUSIC
Steve Ford Music, Chicago. Steve Ford, composer; Elizabeth Bergman, producer.
SOUND DESIGN
Cutters. John Binder, sound designer.
THE SPOT
“The Stuff” introduces Old El Paso’s Beef Tortilla Stuffers. The :15 ends with a boy enthusiastically gobbling up a tortilla as his mouth stretches to form a huge smile.
Spot broke Aug. 1.
***
IPA Scores A Hat Trick For Chi. Wolves
CLIENT
Chicago Wolves.
AGENCY
Lois/EJL, Chicago. Mary O’Mal-ley, VP/creative director; Jeff Norman, writer; Kelly Lose-Giardino, senior producer; Eric Bryning, senior art director, “Snowed In”; Jack (Adam) Vos, art director, “Slow Motion.”
STOCK FOOTAGE
“Snowed In” footage provided by CNN, Atlanta.
EDITORIAL
IPA, The Editing House, Chicago. David Fortney, editor.
POST
IPA, The Editing House. David Fortney, online editor.
AUDIO POST
Audio Recording Unlimited, Chicago. Mike King, engineer.
SOUND DESIGN
Audio Recording Unlimited. Mike King, sound designer
THE SPOT
“Snowed In” and “Slow Motion” promote season ticket sales for the Chicago Wolves hockey team.
Spots broke Sept. 8.
***
Cosimo & Co. Rolls Seven For Showboat
CLIENT
Showboat Casino-Hotel.
PRODUCTION CO.
Cosimo & Company, New York. Cosimo, director; John Hora, DP; Irene Scianna, executive producer; Maribeth Phillips, producer. Shot on location.
AGENCY
J. Caserta & Associates, Mt. Laurel, N.J. Joe Caserta, creative director; Maria Rykaczewski, agency producer; Margie Lefcoe and Stacey Kelly, account supervisors.
EDITORIAL
Backstreet Edit, New York. Michael Swerdloff, editor.
POST
Nice Shoes, New York. Scott Burch and Chris Ryan colorists; Rich Schreck, online editor. DuArt Film and Video, New York, laboratory.
VISUAL EFFECTS
High Horse Animation, Palmdale, Calif. Dale Baer, animator.
AUDIO POST
Howard Schwartz Recording, New York. Roy Latham, mixer.
MUSIC
Elias Associates, bicoastal. Alex Lasarenko, composer.
THE SPOT
The :30 “Showboat” features an animated cat, Paws, who serves as a tour guide, dancing his way through the Showboat Casino as a Dixieland band plays and customers and employees alike kick up their heels.
Spot broke in June
***
Pomegranit Has 24 Hours For Pac Bell
CLIENT
Pacific Bell Yellow Pages.
PRODUCTION CO.
John Crawford Films, San Francisco. John Crawford, director; Adam Beckman, DP; Tim Rayle, producer. Shot on location.
AGENCY
Foote, Cone & Belding/San Francisco. Mike Leonard, creative director; Sean Mullins, art director; Iliani Matisse, producer; Mike Leonard, copywriter.
EDITORIAL
Pomegranit, San Francisco. Mitra Tyree, editor; Bruce Jones, assistant editor; Mark Bashore, producer.
POST
Western Images, San Francisco. Alan Chimenti, online editor; Bill Weber, Henry artist; Gary Coates, colorist.
VISUAL EFFECTS
Click 3 West, San Francisco. Bob Roesler, Flame artist.
AUDIO POST
Skywalker Sound, San Rafael, Calif. Dennis Leonard, engineer.
MUSIC
Michael Boyd Music, San Francisco. Michael Boyd, composer.
SOUND DESIGN
Skywalker Sound. Dennis Leonard, sound designer.
THE SPOT
A campaign promoting the Pacific Bell Yellow Pages features a stories in which an individual or group is given an assignment to be completed within 24 hours, using the Pac Bell Yellow Pages. Each spot ends with the last frame of the story falling away from the viewer and into the cover of the Pacific Bell Yellow Pages. Included in the seven-spot package are the :30s “Woman Learns Boxing,” “Making a Circus,” “Cowboy,” “Greek Birthday Party,” “Rock Star,” “Sailing to Tonga” and “Bachelor Pad.”
Spots broke July 1.
***
Area 51 Bolts For American Cyanamid
CLIENT
American Cyanamid Co.
PRODUCTION CO.
Area 51 Films, Santa Monica, Calif. Toby Phillips, director/cameraman; Mark Thomas, executive producer; Anthony Harding, producer. Shot on location.
AGENCY
WestWayne, Atlanta and Tampa, Fla. Martin Macdonald, executive creative director; Mark White, associate creative director/art director; David Huntington, senior copywriter; Michael LaGattuta, director of broadcast production; Evan Davies, account group director; Keith Sorrell, account supervisor, Lightning; Scott Nichols, account supervisor, Prowl.
STOCK FOOTAGE
The Image Bank, New York.
EDITORIAL
Abbott & Editorial, Santa Monica. Bill Abbott, editor.
POST
Hollywood Digital, Hollywood. Steve Rodriguez, colorist; Brian Robinson, Fire artist; Anita Randazzo, Flame artist.
AUDIO POST
Margarita Mix, Hollywood. Tim Rock, mixer/engineer.
MUSIC
“Weather Vane” by Machine Head, Venice, Calif. Ralph Schuckett, composer/arranger.
THE SPOT
Two :30s promote American Cyanamid’s herbicides Lightning and Prowl. “Weather Vane” starts out with a sweeping camera move that travels up the side of a weathered barn. On its topmost point is a weather vane. As the voiceover describes Lightning, a thunderbolt springs from the clouds, strikes the earth and sends veins of electricity coursing through the fields, highlighting that Lightning requires only a single application so farmers need only “strike once.” “Street Lights” compares the work of a farmer raising early cotton to a driver negotiating “an uncharted highway.” It explains that Prowl removes one obstacle from the farmer’s path, as it is “tough on weeds, easy on cotton.” The visuals layer images of traffic lights, a car passing through a driving rain and other highway-related imagery, over scenes of cotton and farmers tending their fields.
Spots broke in July.
***
Shapiro, Shelter Root For adidas
CLIENT
adidas America.
PRODUCTION CO.
Shelter Films, New York. Jonathan David, director; Ron Fortunato, DP; Steven Shore, executive producer; Maribeth Phillips, producer. Shot on location.
AGENCY
Leagas Delaney, San Francisco. Harry Cocciolo, creative director; Sean Ehringer, head of art; Adrienne Cummins, executive producer; Ben Latimer, producer; Scott Wild, copywriter; Peter Nicholson, art director.
EDITORIAL
Bob ‘n Sheila’s Edit World, San Francisco. Bob Spector, editor.
POST
Western Images, San Francisco. Greg Gilmore, online editor; Gary Coates, film-to-tape; Orin Green, Henry operator.
AUDIO POST
Crescendo! Studios, San Francisco. Tim Claman, engineer/mixer.
MUSIC
“Abandoned Mr. S.” and “Yanks Guys Open a Can O’ Whoop Ass” music composed by David Shapiro of Shapiro Music, Boston.
THE SPOT
In “Abandoned Mr. S.,” a corpulent, balding fan with a large blue letter `S’ painted on his chest hangs out on a street corner. He gets curious stares, nervous glances and double-takes from passersby, and is clearly uncomfortable until relief arrives in the form of a taxi. He crams himself into the backseat next to four half-naked and out-of-shape buddies, each branded with a letter on his chest, which together spell “YANKS.” In “Spelling Trouble,” the fivesome are en route to the game in a taxi, when the driver asks, “What’s ANKSY?” Realizing that they are in the wrong order, they rearrange themselves in the back of the cab to correct the spelling. In “Yank Guys Open a Can O’ Whoop Ass,” the fans finally arrive at the stadium, where the security guards allow them to remove the shirts of a bunch of scrawny fans. Stripped of their garments and dignity, it is revealed that the sidelined six collectively spell “BOSTON.”
Spots broke in August
