To what extent will an auto manufacturer go to promote a new vehicle? Scion will perform surgical procedures to transform human heads into small squares.
As part of the campaign to launch the 2008 xB, which is commonly referred to as a box on wheels, Scion has incorporated the box metaphor into a campaign that includes the video Surgery that takes place in a mental institution where subjects emerge with reconditioned box heads before a man with a normal head is subjected to the same “mind bending” experience.
The video is playing at www.want2Bsquare.com, the site developed by ATTIK/San Francisco, which includes social games and a total of 17 custom videos to promote the square concept. The video “celebrates the xB’s box shape,” said Simon Needham, co-founder and creative director of ATTIK. “It’s crazy and entertaining enough to make them want to know more about it.”
The :90 video plays online and a :60 version was used as a theatrical ad, which ended with the url that directs viewers to the website.
The video was shot in Romania in an old mental institution, which provided “fantastic dilapidated scenes of industrial decay, with everything faded and rundown,” said James Rouse, director from Outsider USA, the production company in Santa Monica, Calif. “The location offered everything we needed, including the cast and a certain quality of otherworldliness and mysticism that is attached to that area of the world and the language.”
A doctor, with a nurse’s assistance, injects his subjects before they emerge with their small boxy heads and the video concludes with a new subject yelling “Butcher” before his head is locked into a chamber to begin the procedure.
The most surprising element of the video is the images of the small boxhead figures. “We thought how weird it would look if the finished boxheads were much smaller than a human head,” Rouse said. “The solution was a mixture of prosthetic, blackscreen and CG. We shot the actors wearing a prosthetic square head that was too small for them, allowing their natural head to poke out the top, as well as have a large hole at the front for them to breathe through. We then painted out the natural head and replaced it with the real background taken from a plate shot. Facial features were added in postproduction, from the black screen elements we‘d filmed on set. They included artificially wide noses and mouths. The noses were CG, disproportionately flat, much flatter than real life.”
The boxy headed figures in a Romanian mental institution make for an intriguing video. “It’s weird and wonderful,” Needham said, ideal for the 18-25 year old target market for the xB. “We know they spend a lot of time on the web and we’re confident they don’t watch TV commercials, so our approach is to pull away from TV and focus more on the Web.”
The website and the Surgery video don’t directly sell the xB, but that’s not the point, according to Needham. “It’s all about discovery. We’re not trying to sell the car, but establish credibility for the brand. We’re trying to build a cool brand and if you have a cool brand, they’ll go and buy it.”
Surgery isn’t just a cool video, it’s chilling.
Director Hans Emanuel Joins Caviar For Commercials and Music Videos
Production company Caviar has signed director Hans Emanuel for U.S. commercial and music video representation. The film and advertising director fuses his keen--and Berlinale Film Festival Award-winning--eye for cinematic storytelling with a commercial background across multiple genres including beauty, automotive, dance, and visual effects-heavy projects, to produce creative for clients like Kia, Nivea, Nissan, L’Oreal, BMW and more.
Caviar executive producer Salim El Arja noted, “Hans has a unique ability to blend stunning visuals with heart and humor, rooted in his confidence as a craftsman. This allows him to focus on drawing exceptional performances from actors--including celebrities--and crafting films that are not only visually striking but also deeply engaging and often hilariously comedic. His sensibilities align perfectly with Caviar’s vision, and we’re excited to collaborate with him on work that pushes creative boundaries.”
Emanuel added, “Caviar is a renowned name, certainly since I began my career. They have a solid reputation for quality work, and I’ve always respected them as a company. Life is about where destiny makes you flow with the people you need; thanks to a series of projects, I was introduced to Florence Jacob with Caviar Paris first, and the rest is history. I feel they can support my career growth with their comedic expertise and filmmaking prowess.”
Prior to joining Caviar, Emanuel had been repped by production house Stadium. He was born and raised in Santa Monica, Calif., to a Mexican-German mother, benefiting from a culturally diversified upbringing that carried through his education interests. Knowing he wanted to be a filmmaker from the start, he began his career in the luxury and beauty field,... Read More