Artist/animator Dave Schlafman has not contributed to any high profile commercials–yet. He was recently named the grand prize winner of the “60 Seconds to Save the Earth” ecospot contest sponsored by Current TV and the Alliance for Climate Protection, both Al Gore-driven projects.
The grand prize and finalists’ ecospots are being broadcast internationally on Current TV (www. current.com/ecospot), and will be showcased on MySpace’s Impact Channel and featured in the Alliance For Climate Protection’s multi-million dollar national campaign. “I would obviously be ecstatic if my spot is aired nationally. I’m a young director who’s trying to get my work out there. It would obviously be the highlight of my career,” says Schlafman.
Brian Hardwick, director, development of communications for the Alliance, explained that The Martin Agency, Richmond, Va., has been working on all the different elements of the national campaign that launches the first quarter of 2008, including how to integrate the winner of the ecospot contest into it.
The ecospot contest encouraged viewers to create 15-, 30- or 60-second video messages to inspire people to get involved in finding solutions to the climate crisis by taking action or motivating change. A panel of celebrity judges including George Clooney, Cameron Diaz, Orlando Bloom and Rihanna, as well as Alex Bogusky, chief creative officer of Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, Miami, director Joe Pytka of Venice, Calif.-based PYTKA and Cathy Zoi, founding CEO of the Alliance for Climate Protection, selected the 23 semi-finalists from more than 500 entries. Current viewers voted for their favorite ecospot, leading to the selection of Schlafman as the grand prize winner of a hybrid Toyota Highlander.
The sky is falling
In his animated entry “The Sky is Falling,” elephants falling from the sky represent the amount of carbon dioxide the U.S. releases into the air. As the scene unfolds–dark smoke billows from exhaust pipes of cars stuck in a traffic jam–the spot tells viewers that in 2005, the U.S. released 6.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the sky; that’s equal to 1.2 billion elephants. A passerby seems unfazed by the chaos around him–horns blowing, elephants landing all around him–until an elephant crashes down on him. The super reads. “Its time to stop ignoring the 1.2 billion elephants in the room.”
Hardwick said the Alliance is excited about the potential of user-generated content being a part of its first major national campaign. The Alliance was founded in ’06 by Gore, and Zoi came on board in ’07.
“At the Alliance we realize the power of trust networks, and the trust networks are people speaking to people. When you have regular people who take the time to create something like this, there is no doubt it holds a different type of sway with consumers and people who are watching it. That’s a big part of it–the credibility that comes from regular people, ” said Hardwick.
Schlafman said he came up with the idea when he was stuck in traffic during his commute from Providence to Boston. “The car in front of me reeked and dark exhaust was coming from the muffler. I remembered hearing something like the U.S. pumps a zillion pounds of CO2 into the air. I went home that night and found some stats about carbon dioxide emissions. I was startled when I found the figures. Instantly I thought of elephants falling,” Schlafman related.
The next step for Schlafman was to do a rough storyboard–a “scribble” in his sketchbook. From there, he experimented with character and background design on paper. He scanned them in and did some more tests in Photoshop. He then decided to draw and paint on recycled paper bags for the backgrounds, keeping with the spirit of the message. From his initial sketches, he designed the final characters and elephants in Flash.
Once the design was finalized, he gave the background scans to his friend and effects artist, Evan Sussman, who built a 3D environment in After Effects with Schlafman’s paper bag images. “While he did that, I started animating the characters. Once all the animation was completed, I handed it over to Sussman, who composited the final animation in the 3D environment, again with After Effects. The final stage of production was sound design. I worked with Boston sound designer and musician, Joe Pleiman. The sound design really makes the piece come to life,” Schlafman said.
Schlafman, a graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art, has also directed a series of shorts for the PBS children’s show, Between the Lions, and he is also co-developing a new health-food-related animated Internet series for WGBH/PBS Kids. “Slowly but surely, I’m trying to get my work out there. This contest has helped me do just that…When I found out that I won the grand prize, I was floored. I created this piece because I just love making animation. I never dreamed it would lead to something this amazing. In the end, I just want to keep making creative, simple and fun work that people can lose themselves in.”
Fun and simple are Schlafman’s trademarks. “I always go back to those two points. I think back to when I was a kid and what got me excited about animation. In the end, I wanted to be swept off my feet and taken on a wild adventure with fun, imaginary characters. There’s so much animation out there that depends heavily on a script. Almost all animated shows are now sitcom-based. I like to create animations that depend more on action and visual gags than heavy dialogue,” he said.
“The most memorable cartoons for me are the old Road Runner shorts. They’re brilliant and timeless because of their simplicity. That’s the gold standard in my book.”
