Rose," the latest animated :60 in a recent campaign for United Airlines from Fallon, Minneapolis, effortlessly combines storytelling, elegant animation, color and music to create a soothing spot designed to form an emotional bond with the airline’s business traveler clientele.
The commercial tells the story of a business traveler who selects a bright red rose from his garden and carries it with him throughout his day. First, the flower is carefully placed in his briefcase and brought onboard his United flight. On the plane, the man takes the rose out and requests a glass of water from the flight attendant to place it in.
After landing, the businessman gets in a taxicab and goes to various meetings. Along the way, several people—from airport workers to the man’s business clients—admire the rose when they spot it in his opened briefcase. After his meetings, the man jumps into another cab and rushes to his final destination: his mother’s house, where he presents her with the rose. The music in this spot is an adaptation of George Gershwin’s "Rhapsody in Blue" by Trivers/Myers Music, Manhattan Beach, Calif.
"The overall idea of the campaign was about telling emotional stories which connect with people," explained Stuart D’Rozario, Fallon group creative director/copywriter. "The animation allows people to put themselves in the story much easier. It tends to be more emotional." The agency also hopes that frequent business travelers will connect with the idea of combining a business trip with a personal journey.
The campaign tapped the talent of top animators. In the case of "Rose," the helmer was Alexander Petrov, who is a director, artist and owner of Alexander Studio, Yaroslavl, Russia (where much of the production was accomplished). In North America, PPBmex Animation, Montreal, represents Petrov and was the production company for the spot.
Petrov—a 2000 Academy Award winner for his animated short The Old Man and the Sea—used his signature technique of painting on glass, as well as his storytelling prowess, to create the United spot. His technique is to paint using primarily his fingers and nails on glass, which is backlit. A 4k digital still camera captures each frame as Petrov works, essentially employing the method used in shooting stop-motion animation. For "Rose," the director’s son, Dimitri Petrov, assisted him in the painted animation and also served as a pre-vis animator on the spot. Dimitri Petrov is following in his father’s footsteps, and currently studying at the St. Petersburg Art School, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Fallon art director Bob Barrie explained that the bright red color of the rose is intended to help the viewer follow its path. "A lot of the work was to make sure the rose stood out as an element," related PPBmex executive producer Howard Huxman. To achieve this, the production went to Technicolor Creative Services (TCS), Montreal, where colorist Richard Lessard worked frame by frame, saturating the color of the rose to make it the focal point of each frame.
Lessard added that he received the work in high definition, and he color corrected using a da Vinci 2K. In addition to saturating the reds, a great deal of his time was spent making sure the color of the rose was consistent from scene to scene. The spot then went to TCS’ Jean-Francois Bachand, who did the final conform and mastering in HD in Discreet’s Inferno.
THE MUSIC
D’Rozario noted that since Fallon intends to elevate the look and feel of the United brand, it was important for "Rhapsody in Blue"—what he called "one of the great brand equities of United"—to play a large role in the new campaign.
Trivers/Myers’ partners John Trivers and Elizabeth Myers created the adaptation. According to Myers, they used two grand piano leads, performed by Daniel Lessner and Norman Krieger, and an orchestra made up of 30 members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the recording. Bing Wang was concert mistress, and Peter Doell at Conway Recorders, Hollywood, recorded the arrangement. Myers—who conducted—likened scoring the spot to scoring a silent movie, in that the music would be used to tell the story. She and Trivers spent much time researching the music, including listening to Gershwin’s original performances, before recording their version.
"Rose" is the third in a four-spot United campaign, which employs animation created by various artists. Rounding out the campaign are "Interview," created by Academy Award nominees Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis (SHOOT Top Spot, 4/2, p. 10); "Lightbulb," from two-time Academy Award nominee Joanna Quinn; and "A Life," from Michael Dudok de Wit, who won an Oscar in the category of best animated short for his Father and Daughter. "A Life" debuts later in the year; the others have already aired. "Interview," "Lightbulb" and "A Life" were produced by Acme Filmworks, Hollywood.
The United campaign was designed with an eye toward extending the reach of the television spots. Fallon also created documentaries on the artists behind each of the four ads, which will air as part of United’s in-flight entertainment. These short documentaries will include a look at the making of the spots in the campaign, as well as other work from these artists.
"We wanted to [create] not just a TV campaign, but a new look and feel for United," explained D’Rozario. "The association between United and the animation is something we intend to build on." Plans also call for the animation to be used in branding, including on the airline’s Web site and on lunch boxes served during flights.
