By A SHOOT Staff Report
One of the ad highlights of this year’s Super Bowl was “Portraits,” a stirring piece for Fiat Chrysler’s Jeep in which more than 60 curated images—ranging from regular everyday people to celebs (Marilyn Monroe, BB King, Aretha Franklin, Steve McQueen), from pop culture (The Terminator, Jurassic Park) to historic moments (D-Day invasion)—are featured.
The images unfold to narration which reads, “I’ve seen things no man should bear. And those that every man should dare. From the beaches of Normandy, to the far reaches of the Earth. In my life, I have lived millions of lives. I’ve outrun robots and danced with dinosaurs. I’ve faced the faces of fear and fortitude, and witnessed great beauty in the making. I’ve kept the company of kings (BB) and queens (Aretha Franklin) but I’m no royalty or saint. I’ve traveled, trekked, wandered and roamed only to find myself right where I belong.”
A parting super conveys the simple message: “We don’t make Jeep. You do.”
Conceived by New York agency iris Worldwide, “Portraits” pays homage to the Jeep brand on its 75th year anniversary—and in doing so pays even more homage to the people and moments that have driven Jeep. The reflective tone of the commercial stood out in a crop of more visceral, gimmicky, comedy Super Bowl ad fare.
Contributing significantly to this feel was a score from Hum Music, Santa Monica, Calif., employing the existing track “Aerial.” The Hum ensemble included composer Kristin Dyrud, creative director Scott Glenn, executive producer Debbi Landon and executive creative director Jeff Koz.
Backstory
Glenn provided some backstory on the Super Bowl spot, noting that “iris reached out to Hum during the pitch phrase after developing the concept for ‘Portraits’ and sharing boards with our team. They described the emotion they were looking to convey with the music that would accompany the visuals, but they were also very open to hearing any other ideas HUM had that we felt would amplify the emotional resonance of the spot. As such, we sent a diverse range of tracks for iris to use for their pitch and for their edit.
“The HUM team was thrilled with iris’s selection as this composition [‘Aerial’] had been one of our very favorites,” continued Glenn. “Additionally, it was created by one of our very own in-house composers [Dyrud], a singular talent who has lent her music to many high-profile campaigns as well as to television and film, and who recently released an album that charted in her home country of Norway.”
Still the track also carried an inherent challenge, related Glenn. “Since this piece of music existed before the spot was created, it required some customized adjustments to work with the final ‘Portraits’ :60. This proved somewhat challenging, because what makes this piece of music so uniquely powerful is the way in which the piano arpeggio accelerates and decelerates while all along still maintaining a sense of meter within the track. It’s this very quality that strongly contributes to the beautifully tumultuous human emotion encapsulated within the music. This “bending of time,” to use a term that Iris coined to describe such flexible pacing, is very much a reflection of the original composer’s personal sense of feel, the nuance of which is not so easy to rerecord, which nonetheless was essential for the spot. Knowing this would prove challenging, we brought in a brilliant studio and concert pianist for a custom performance, making sure that the ebb and flow of the music would work in conjunction with the visual and voice over narrative, while still mapping out within the exact sixty second time frame required. And, with Iris’s direction, our aim was always to push the tension in the pacing of the music to the very breaking point in order to maximize the impact of the spot.
Audio post mixer was Walter Bianco of Cutting Room, New York.
Catch&Release handled creative research, clearances and licensing services for the photographs which take a look back at Jeep’s historical influence in the military as well as on our culture.
See the Top Ten Tracks chart here.
“Heretic” and “Maria” Set As Red Carpet Premieres At AFI Fest
The American Film Institute (AFI) has announced that Heretic, the psychological thriller starring Hugh Grant, and Maria, based on the life of opera singer Maria Callas starring Angelina Jolie, will round out the Red Carpet Premieres section at this year’s AFI Fest. The Heretic Gala Screening will take place on Thursday, October 24, and the Maria Gala Screening will be held on Saturday, October 26. The complete Red Carpet Premieres section includes the world premieres of Music By John Williams, Robert Zemeckis’ Here, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2. All Red Carpet Premieres will take place at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre. The full lineup for AFI Fest 2024 will be unveiled on October 1.
“At the heart of AFI Fest is an unwavering dedication to celebrating the best in global cinema--together,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI president and CEO. “We look forward to uniting artists and audiences once again to be inspired by the art form in a powerful sense of community.”
Heretic follows two young missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) who are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (portrayed by Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse. The film is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods and produced by Stacey Sher, Beck, Woods, Julia Glausi and Jeanette Volturno. The film will be released nationwide by A24 on November 8.
Directed by Pablo Larraín, Maria presents a tumultuous and beautiful depiction of one of the world’s most renowned artists and reimagines the legendary soprano in her final days in Paris, as Callas (Jolie)... Read More