“Computer Game Designer” Shows Real People And Their Shoes.
CLIENT
The Rockport Co.
PRODUCTION CO.
Johns+Gorman Films, bicoastal. Ramaa Mosley, director; Jeanne Mattiussi, executive producer; Colleen McCrory, producer; Arlene Donnelly, DP. Shot on location.
AGENCY
Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, New York. Richard Kirshenbaum, co-chairman; Bill Oberlander, executive creative director; Jennifer Solow, associate creative director; Richard Yelland, art director/copywriter; Laura Silverstone, producer.
EDITORIAL
Graying & Balding, Santa Monica, Calif. R. Katz, editor.
POST
Encore Santa Monica. Beau Leon, telecine/colorist; Nigel Randall, online editor. Video graphics by Imaginary Focus, Los Angeles.
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BY REGINALD OBERLAG
Since Rockport Walker shoes are known for their comfort, it’s only natural that New York-based Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners would decide to focus on people who are comfortable with themselves for the shoemaker’s new ad campaign. That creative brief, in conjunction with the agency-coined slogan “Uncompromise,” resulted in three spots by director Ramaa Mosley of bicoastal Johns+Gorman Films that flaunt the individuality of some very real people.
The :30 “Computer Game Designer,” which is sans dialogue, is perhaps the most eclectic of the bunch. It features real-life computer-game designer David Osper, a slacker-looking dude who’s made it to the top, and who proclaims (via type) that “I’m comfortable never growing up.”
The spot, which has an edgy feel thanks to a variety of camera speeds, surreal colors and a funky trumpet-and-percussion soundtrack by the DJ group Electric Lazyland, has Osper hanging out at a video-game arcade–both inside, and outside on the sidewalk where he spins inside a big tube. On the street, the spot’s progression stops abruptly and the soundtrack is cut as Osper jumps up and then, in slow motion, floats back to the pavement. Next comes a close-up of his Rockports, resumption of the music and type providing Osper’s name and vocation. The spot ends with the tag: “Be comfortable … uncompromise … start with your feet.”
Agency co-chairman Richard Kirshenbaum said the word “uncompromise” was invented to convey the idea that Rockport Walker shoes are chosen by interesting people. “What we wanted to do was not just show the comfort of the shoes, but the emotional comfort that comes from being confident about being yourself, even if you are unconventional,” Kirshenbaum explained.
He said they selected Mosley because of her “real unique take on the world.” Plus, he noted, the agency likes tapping directors “who may be the next star.”
Creative Control
The spot had no storyboards, and Mosley felt free to tweak the agency’s ideas. She said she was given a mandate from KB&P copywriter/art director Richard Yelland, however, “to find people living lives in unique, uncompromising ways.” The idea, she said, was to find people comfortable with who they are “and willing to be strange, willing to be unique and wear Rockport shoes–even if they’re seen as dorky.”
But while KB&P wanted to show people in their everyday environments, Mosley said she felt the environments should be a counterpoint to their work. “I didn’t want to shoot a game designer sitting in front of his computer,” she said, “but show him completely kidlike, having fun.” (The other two spots–“Pastor” and “Climber”–show a minister skateboarding and a phone-repairman scaling the side of a building.)
As for the spot’s style, Mosley, a documentarian, said the creative team wanted a raw, documentary look. She felt, however, that documentary styling has become a commercial cliche. Plus, she said, obtaining the emotional involvement of a documentary takes more than 30 seconds.
Instead, she was after “a web of abstract imagery that didn’t look techniquey.” So Mosley created the kind of visual naivete one sees in yearbooks, where “those funny-looking schoolkids look straight into the camera and reveal themselves honestly, rather than plastering a plastic smile on their faces.”
Another way Mosley sought an original look was by also using a photosonic (high-speed) camera that would shoot up to 500 fps. “[It] lets us look at a moment in time that is captivating and see the world in a completely unique way, because our eyes can’t see that slowly,” she said.
And in post, Mosley explained, Santa Monica, Calif.-based Encore Video telecine operator Beau Leon helped things along. “I wanted colors that were wacky, vibrant, slightly surreal … I didn’t duplicate reality,” said the director, who when shooting, used the video arcade’s fluorescent lights that on film appear to strobe green and blue.
“I wanted the green flicker to show through, because it’s almost hypnotic,” Mosley noted. “It gives you a chance to see life as you don’t get to see it normally. Ads are always trying to re-create reality, but we’re showing reality you see only on film.”
The entire job mirrored the campaign theme, Mosley concluded, by allowing the work “to be `uncompromised’ while doing the most unique things we could.”
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Tequila Mockingbird, Cash Sing For Nissan
CLIENT
Nissan Motor Corp.
PRODUCTION CO.
A Band Apart Commercials, Los Angeles. Charles Wittenmeier, director; David Stockton, DP; Rick Fishbein, producer; Michael Bodnarchek, executive producer. Shot on location.
AGENCY
TBWA Chiat/Day, Venice, Calif. Rob Siltanen, creative director; Eric Gruneaum, writer; Craig Tanimoto, art director; Kelly Waltos, producer; Cheryllyn Carter, assistant producer.
EDITORIAL
Rock Paper Scissors, Los Angeles. Angus Wall, editor.
POST
Rock Paper Scissors. Angus Wall, online editor. POP Television, Santa Monica, Calif. Stephen Sonnenfeld, colorist.
AUDIO POST
RavensWork, Venice. Robert Feist, mixer.
MUSIC
Tequila Mockingbird, Austin, Texas. Danny Levin, arranger; Karen Jacobs, executive producer.
SOUND DESIGN
Machine Head, Venice. Stephen Dewey, sound designer.
THE SPOT
In the :60 “Assembly Line,” Johnny Cash sings the theme song from Laverne & Shirley, while Nissan employees busily build cars. They join in on the chorus (“Doin’ it our way … ”).
Spot broke Sept. 1
