Using television seems incongruous with promoting the value of literature. But the Amazon.com spec spot "It" bucks conventional wisdom and manages to make an eloquent case for the enduring power of a good book, especially when it is read by a very young person.
"It" depicts a woman on a bus. Looking out the window, she escapes life’s mundane routine by daydreaming—recalling her childhood fantasy of pursuing a magical creature. That pursuit and her imaginative sense of adventure as a little girl were nurtured by a book. Scenes on the bus alternate with images of the child walking through the woods to her tree house, to read. Throughout this section, the girl’s voice, reading aloud, reverberates through the mind of her adult self.
Back in the reality of adulthood, sitting in her claustrophobic office, the woman surfs the Web to find that long-ago book that meant so much to her as a kid. She succeeds: The cover of E. Nesbit’s Five Children and It appears on the computer screen.
The online order is fulfilled when she receives a copy of Five Children and It. We later see her reading the book to her own three kids, who appear to be engrossed in the tale. The woman even takes on the voice of the magical "sand fairy" in her oral interpretation of the words on the printed page. Her young son plays with a modern toy resembling the salamander-like creature on the book. Clearly he’s becoming attached to his amphibious friend.
The Amazon.com logo appears, then the slogan: "spark the imagination."
The :60 returns to the little girl. She’s pulling her wagon through the woods, heading home from her treehouse—perhaps in search of the mystical "It."
Jerry Fried, best known in industry circles as an editor at Red Car New York, conceived, wrote, cut and audio-mixed the spot, which was directed by Dana Buckley via Dana Buckley Inc., New York. Spencer Tomkins executive produced for Buckley. The DP was Russell Swanson.
Tom Tortoriello and Jose Lopez of Red Car served as visual effects compositor and assistant editor, respectively. The colorist was Chris Ryan of New York-based Nice Shoes.
–Millie Takaki
