The top 10 chart for fall highlights an animated urban landscape for Reebok that features an obstacle course set to a strong, Latin-infused beat. In Hummer’s “Monster,” touting the arrival of the Hummer H3, two monsters find love and a baby carriage set to an updated version of “Love is Strange” and memorable sound design. And, in “The Making of It,” eBay introduces the world to the greatest item ever, set to a rousing orchestral track that makes you wonder what “it” is.
NUMBER ONE
In “Wrapshear,” for Reebok’s RBK Pump Wrapshear shoe, an animated city pops out of the shoe when the pump is pressed. Suddenly, a young man begins running, dodging all kinds of obstacles–other people, pigeons, street signs, a fire hydrant, manhole covers, crates, and finally, a fence. As the jogger hops the fence, the city disappears back into the shoe, and a voiceover says, “Pump–custom fit technology. Turn it on, turn it off,” followed by a shot of the Reebok shoe. The music driving the action is energetic, with a Latin flavor, and a heavy drum presence that adds to the excitement of the spot. “Wrapshear” was done via mcgarrybowen, New York, and helmed by Motion Theory, the directing and design collective, located in Venice, Calif.
Composers Peter Nashel and Jack Livesey of Duotone Audio Group, New York, did the music for the ad; Rob DiLiddo of Duotone created the spot’s sound design. Nashel relates that the agency had a clear idea of what the track should be, and that he and his team were brought onto the project early, “so we could work closely with the animators and agency to find a pace and tone that worked well for the spot.”
Katya Bankowsky, the agency executive producer on the commercial, has worked with Nashel in the past. “I went to Duotone because of my long working relationship with Peter Nashel, who I have collaborated with in the past on Latin influenced tracks,” relates Bankowsky. “For this track, Pete brought in a whole group of authentic Latin percussionists from the Bronx..”
Nashel called on Bobby Sanabria, “one of the top Latin percussionists working today,” according to the composer. “We have worked with him a great deal, so there is shorthand that exists between us which helped to bring an incredibly deep and authentic sound to the recording.” Only one version of the track was created, though “that version went through several revisions on our end to get it just right with the animation.”
NUMBER TWO
“Monsters,” directed by Noam Murro of Biscuit Filmworks, Los Angeles, for the new Hummer H3, presents a rather unusual love story between a 130-foot tall lizard and an equally giant robot. The spot, out of Modernista!, Boston, opens on the lizard as she tears a path of destruction through a city; she comes across the robot, as he too wreaks havoc on the metropolis. It’s love at first sight. The pair go off together, wandering the city–he even plucks a tree off a rooftop to present to his new sweetie. Before long, the giant lizard is pregnant with the robot’s child. When their baby is born, it’s revealed to be a bright red Hummer H3, capable of tearing through city streets, just like its proud parents, although without the same level of destruction. The spot is scored to a guitar-heavy version of “Love Is Strange” from Everything But the Girl. Bryan Ray, music supervisor at bicoastal Elias Arts, secured the track for the agency. The sound design, which included making the monsters seem capable of love and parenting was created by Gus Koven of stimmüng, Santa Monica. Jeff Payne of Eleven, Santa Monica, was the audio mixer for this spot.
Eric Voegele, the senior producer on the spot from Modernista!, related that initially, the agency wasn’t looking for licensed music for “Monsters.” “We wanted people to take the spot seriously, and really care about the characters,” he explains, adding that the agency had considered 500 tracks, and 40 music house demos before selecting the Everything But the Girl version of “Love Is Strange.”
“We had a lot of freedom,” says Ray of Elias. “We were encouraged to give a lot of creative input. There were only a few restrictions in overall attitude of the song we had to consider; other than that, it was totally up to us to find something that we thought would work with the concept of the spot.”
“It brings a warmth and sincerity to it,” says Voegele of the song. “It’s not too jokey, and it’s not too serious. The story is kind of twisted, but it is really sweet at the same time. The song helps make that happen.”
Voegele has high praise for Koven, who came onto the project fairly early on. “Everyone at Modernista! loves his reel so it was an easy sell,” he relates. “He even wrote a treatment. I had sent Noam Murro’s treatment to stimmüng, which was the best treatment I had ever read, and it rubbed off on him–I think that may be the first and last time I’ll see a treatment from a sound designer.”
For his part, Koven noted that the most important part of the sound design was getting the vocalization right on Jennifer the lizard, as the team dubbed her. He relates that there was a lot of collaboration with the spot’s editor, Avi Oron of Bikini Edit, New York, and the visual effects team, led by Alex Frisch, at Method, Santa Monica. “We started out by agreeing that her voice should be made up of animal vocalizations, but it took some time to get her voice right,” relates Koven, who visited the Los Angeles Zoo and a feline breeding center in Rosemond, Calif., to get the sound right for Jennifer. “[The voice] had to be similar enough in all the scenes for there to be a sense of continuity, but still be able to evoke all these different emotions–running the gamut from a rampaging, crazed dino-predator, to doe-eyed and amorous, through childbirth to wistful as her baby leaves the nest.” Alex Flint of Modernista! helped to develop the voice of Jennifer the Lizard.
Koven related that because of the intense post work on the project, he had a decent amount of time to nail the sound design, and is pleased with the results. “It’s a great piece of work,” he says. “It’s visually cool, and despite the amount of time in post, there’s a refreshing absence of digital polish. Jeff Payne at Eleven, Santa Monica, did a really good mix on it, and there are some great moments between the characters.”
NUMBER THREE
In “The Making of It” for eBay–one of the first spots out of BBDO New York since the shop won the account earlier this year–two guys sit in a garage, late at night working at drafting tables. One hands a piece of paper to the other, excited that some sort of product breakthrough has been reached. On the sheet of paper: block letters spelling “it.” Cut to images of each letter, the “i” in green (the dot is yellow), and the “t” in red, which are being displayed by the designers at a press conference. Magazine covers with the two letters flash across the screen, and talk show hosts in all languages tout “it,” while the letters are shipped globally via trucks and planes. Everyday people are seen talking about the new product, though no one actually says what “it” is. The spot, which was directed by Fredrik Bond of bicoastal/international MJZ, ends with a man opening a package from an eBay seller, containing the two letters; his wife asks what it is, and he says “it’s a–” at which point a voiceover cuts in and says “whatever it is, you can get it on eBay.” Throughout the spot, an exhilarating orchestral track, heavy on strings and flutes, adds to the excitement, making one wonder exactly what “it” could be. Judson Crane of Fluid, New York composed the track; Brad Stratton served as producer, with Fluid partner David Shapiro serving as executive producer.
“The music helps tell the story of this little idea that was scratched on a little piece of paper becoming this big huge, iconic thing,” explains Loren Parkins, VP/executive music producer at BBDO. “The music helped shape the story; it helped the emotional and storytelling aspect of the spot.”
Parkins, who praises the “expansiveness” that Crane brought to the score, related that the composer and Fluid were brought onto the project after it was shot, and while the agency team had some ideas for Crane, Parkins reports “the actual direction to him was mostly conceptual.”
The team at Fluid came up with the score quickly. “They were given a very short deadline to approach this composition, and in a very short amount of time they were able to compose this track,” says Parkins, adding that Crane only had a day or two to come up with a score “They did an excellent job in coming through with this track.” (Fluid was not at liberty to discuss the project per eBay policy of having the agency address questions about the creative aspects of the project.)
The final track was fairly close to the original demo from Fluid, says Parkins, who noted that only minor revisions were made to the composition. Overall, the agency was pleased with the way the soundtrack turned out. “Everybody really likes it,” he says. “The music is all about the storytelling. … The music helps set up the idea, shows the development of the idea, and the power of the idea of ‘it,’ and leaves you with this positive feeling about ‘it.’ “
