When Denver-based Impossible Pictures receives a phone call from J. Walter Thompson, Denver, it often means they will have to produce an ad quickly, as in a matter of days. Oftentimes, the budget is low and of course, the client wants it to be "beautiful." Additionally, there are times when the agency creatives don’t know what they want and call on Impossible Pictures to come up with ideas. The Impossible artists may like the creative freedom but when the spot has to be delivered in three days, as was the case with the recently completed "Focus/ZX2-ESP" for Ford Motors’ auto dealer, St. Louis Metro, it made for an added challenge. In this case, the commercial had to be good, fast, cheap and creative.
"JWT came to us because they felt we could bring something new to the table," said Impossible Pictures owner/animation director Joel Pilger. "They came over on a Thursday afternoon and spent about a half hour with us. We saw the script, we brainstormed and they said, "We’ve got twelve thousand dollars and need something by the end of Tuesday." Despite a busy schedule that Friday, the company still committed to doing the work in two days.
"It was essentially a design job for the first day, where we were working on desktop machines," explained Pilger. "We did a little bit of production on Monday evening but Tuesday was devoted to executing on Flame."
The :30 loosely interprets what it would be like to gaze at the greenish-blue Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) of a mind-reading medical instrument. The patient, in this case, is preoccupied with buying a car–we know this because images of different Ford models are appearing and disappearing. The voiceover chimes in: "Right now you are thinking, you need a car you can count on and you need a deal you can afford." On-screen text reads, "100,000 Mile Powertrain Warranty," followed by $2,500 Cash Back or 0% Financing."
The voiceover continues, "Then it must be ESP–Extended Service Plan from Ford. A fully transferable, 100,000 mile Powertrain protection plan, plus $2,500 cash back or zero percent financing on all remaining ’02 Focus and ZX2s." Appropriate readouts follow the cues from the voiceover and a meter in the upper right corner takes readings, presumably of brain activity. A color screen shows "video thoughts" of Ford vehicles taking corners. The thoughts seem to form into a reasonable conclusion (that the patient can afford a reliable car) and numbers and letters quickly flash across the screen. Our patient appears to be getting excited.
The voiceover continues, "Now you are thinking, great cars, great deals, which makes you think … " At this point, the voiceover goes silent and the display disappears. We are left with a simple drawing of a brain in the same LCD-style. From the brain, thought bubbles emerge leading to the Ford logo and tagline, "Ford Quality & You." The ending pulls the viewer from a busy display filled with charts and readouts into a refreshingly clear ad message.
"Based on the script, we liked the idea of the brain element," said Pilger. "So we thought about looking through a device like a surgeon’s tool. He is examining the patient’s brain and the instrument is showing what the guy is thinking. We were doing it in a nice design way as opposed to a literal interpretation. We didn’t want to be looking at an MRI machine and we didn’t want it to be creepy like you were in the hospital."
The mind-reading concept may have been easy for Impossible Pictures to execute since they have been reading J. Walter Thompson’s mind for years. Over the course of their seven-year relationship, Impossible Pictures has learned that the way to work with J. Walter Thompson and still profit from the experience is to plan in advance. "We have come to know their business and know their clients," explained Pilger. "So when we have downtime, we think of ideas for sales that come at the same time every year. That way when they call us and ask for ideas, not only do we have them but we have ideas for say, the ‘Year-End Sale,’ which is what they are calling about."
In the case of "Focus/ZX2-ESP" and its $12,000 budget, profit margins were bound to be small. And although Impossible Pictures finds ways to make projects like that one viable, more profitable opportunities await after the spot is produced. Because "Focus/ZX2-ESP" and others like it are produced for local car dealerships, oftentimes dealers in other markets will want the same spot for a similar promotion. Impossible Pictures can bill for "versions"-spots that are specially tailored to local markets. "Of course, the profit margin on versions is much wider," said Pilger. "Some versions are tough but for the most part, they are easy and fast and somewhat automated to the less expensive tools or talent that you have." Charges for versions range widely but can represent the majority of the total income. "For year-end promotions where we will do one fifty or sixty thousand dollar spot, they will spend that amount of money again, or even double that, in versions. It works for the dealers too who are getting a local commercial at a fraction of the cost."
Looking to the future, Impossible Pictures has its eye on HD cameras as a possible money and time saving option during production. "We have made a conscious decision that the next time we do a full, live action production spot or series of spots, we are going to shoot in HD," stated Pilger. "We feel we will be able to shoot a lot more and not have to be conscious of the film costs. Another advantage is turnaround. Sending your film off to the lab can take a half or full day. Getting that time back really keeps us ahead of the curve. Also, HD can help us during postproduction. On a recent project, we realized that if we shot in HD, we wouldn’t be so concerned about the transfer session and getting the beautiful look because we can do so much in post. If we can eliminate film costs and extra transfer costs, then it is worth a try."
For a house like Impossible Pictures, standards remain high in a business where speed is of the essence. To produce projects that are good and fast while still keeping costs down, they must plan ahead, watch new technology and familiarize themselves with their customer’s business. "The biggest thing we offer our clients is confidence," Pilger concluded. "They know we will execute something great and have it on time. Many of these projects have to be uplinked at seven o’clock the following night and if you don’t make that deadline, they don’t care what the price is and they don’t care how good it is because everybody is hosed. Everybody is throwing temper tantrums and money is wasted. In that sense we are taking advantage of that need because we can meet it."
