Rachel Novak loves the magic of the movies. As a small girl, she saw going to the cinema as a perfect escape from life’s worries. "To this day, I walk into a movie theater and I breathe easier," she says. "There’s something liberating about it; it’s wonderful."
Chris Ott also has a sense of wonder—about people. "I love working with people," she declares. "I like to work with a lot of different personalities. I’m adventurous. I like the constant change."
Wonderful adventures are what Novak and Ott are about. And both women get their share as senior producers at Merkley Newman Harty & Partners (MNH), New York, frequently traveling the globe as they supervise the crafting of commercials. Besides sharing a love for filmmaking, as of July they also share a special distinction.
When the Emmy nominations were announced last month, Novak and Ott, became friendly competitors, scoring an unusual double play for both Mercedes-Benz USA and MNH. Two of the five Emmy nominees for best primetime commercial are for Mercedes-Benz: "Modern Ark," directed by Gerard de Thame of bicoastal HSI Productions and Gerard de Thame Films, London, and produced by Novak; and "Aaooga," directed by Victor Garcia of bicoastal Morton Jankel Zander (MJZ), and produced by Ott. (The other noms are PBS’ "Light" and "Photo Booth," out of Fallon Minneapolis and directed by Errol Morris of bicoastal/international @radical media; and Nike’s "Freestyle," helmed by Paul Hunter of HSI, out of Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore.)
"It’s remarkable that the agency has two out of five finalists for the Emmy nominations," observes Gary Grossman, head of broadcast production at MNH. "The fact that Rachel and Chris are the producers of those spots is a tribute to their talent. They are extremely experienced, and passionate about what they do. They are an essential part of the creative team."
The Producers
Novak has only been with the agency since February 2000, but she has worked on Mercedes for much longer, having been a producer at Lowe & Partners (now Lowe Lintas & Partners), New York, when that shop had the account. She had gotten into the advertising business indirectly: she held a job in the early 1980s, at the Young Presidents’ Organization, a group that organized educational seminars for corporate presidents under age 40. "It was similar to producing," she recalls.
"One of the events was actually an advertising seminar," relates Novak. But she aspired to more. "I wanted a career where I could move around," she explains—and also one that would involve her love of movies. She got a job running the production office at now defunct Humphrey Browning & McDougal. She didn’t do any hands-on production—but she did make contacts, which led to becoming an assistant at now defunct Levine Huntley Schmidt & Beaver. It was there that she first began working on car commercials, including Matchbox toy cars and Subaru spots; she also worked on ads for Maidenform and Beneficial Management, eventually becoming a senior VP/ producer. She left Levine for a two-year stint at the then Ammirati Puris Lintas, before shifting over to Lowe. (The two agencies later merged.)
"I started dealing with special effects more when I started working on Mercedes," she says, noting that she prefers effects spots that are concept-driven—not "effects for the sake of showing off the effects."
Ott knows about effects, too, since she began work as a coordinator, and subsequently became a videotape editor, at Reeves Teletape Facilities, New York. Yet she says she always wanted to be a producer. Her chance to make the switch came when she was offered the job of postproduction supervisor at Backer Spielvogel, and eventually became a producer. She worked at that shop until it merged with Bates USA, New York. She then went to Jordan McGrath Case & Partners, New York, in the early ’90s. She was there for several years before moving to the then Lowe & Partners. After a stint there, she freelanced, but found herself working a great deal for MNH, eventually becoming staff producer. Although she has done spots for everything from cars and insurance to packaged goods and beer, since coming to MNH, she has worked "pretty much exclusively on Mercedes."
The Spots
Ott and Novak were naturals for the two Emmy-nominated Mercedes spots, explains Grossman, who selected them to produce the pieces. "In both instances, they brought to the party a previous knowledge of the way effects work and knew how to bring [each spot] to a successful completion," he says. Still, other than using special effects, the two pieces could not be more dissimilar. One is Cecil B. DeMille-like in its pageantry; the other blends simple elegance with old-time cartoon silliness.
The :60 "Modern Ark" updates the Biblical tale of Noah’s Ark, as pairs of animals—giraffes, elephants, horses, zebras—are seen walking in a desert setting, under an ominous, cloud-covered sky. They enter a huge ark, followed by people carrying various objects: Van Gogh’s "Sunflowers," Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, Miles Davis’ Birth of the Cool, an Apple Macintosh. Then, as thunder crashes and raindrops begin to fall, a Mercedes-Benz E430 sedan and an E-wagon ascend together as the voiceover asks, "What would you bring if you were loading the Ark today?"
"Aaooga" is quite different in tone, featuring elegant live-action imagery that breaks into CGI-devised madness. Scored with a rerecording of Charles Trenet’s ’47 tune "Tombe de Cielm," the :60 shows elegantly dressed people as they take note of a Mercedes-Benz C-Class driving by. The gimmick comes from their reactions: In classic cartoon style, people’s eyes pop out of their heads, steam blows out of a man’s ears, and the dots on a woman’s polka dot dress turn into hearts. Teapots in a store react with glee, while a parking meter swoons, spewing forth a collection of coins. The tag: "The new C. Live. A lot."
For "Modern Ark," Novak worked closely with art director Sivan Ben-Horin and director de Thame. Novak had previously collaborated with de Thame on the Cannes Gold Lion-winning Mercedes spot "Falling in Love" for Lowe & Partners. "I knew him," she relates. "He was perfect for [‘Modern Ark’] because I knew he would deliver a class job. He’s got great taste and is great with special effects."
De Thame had most of the elements shot as separate live-action pieces, which were then composited by artists at Smoke & Mirrors, London. The animals were shot at Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, U.K., in a 250-foot-long by 50-foot-high set. The Mill, also in London, handled the transfer. Novak says that the vendors were de Thame’s choice. "[De Thame and I] had worked together before," she notes. "I believe in trying to create a relationship in which you trust each other. Both of us have had a good experience in the past. That’s really important."
On "Aaooga," Ott’s first assignment as a full-time MNH producer, trust was also central. Copywriter Scott Zacaroli and art director Bryan Burlison described the spot to her as "Avedon meets Avery"—as in fashion photographer Richard Avedon and Warner Bros. cartoonist Tex Avery. "They wanted an elegant look with somewhat campy animation," Ott explains.
Ott studied reels of directors who "had a sense of elegance but could still pull off the animation part of it," she says. "[I was impressed by] the elegance and beauty of a Jaguar spot [‘Sensations’ for Ogilvy & Mather, New York] on Victor Garcia’s reel."
After she’d spoken with Garcia, he sent over hand-colored stills, which gave Ott a sense of how "meticulous he was—there was a sense of artistry to the work."
The ad was shot in Prague over four days. Postproduction was handled at The Mill; Garcia did the first edit of the spot, which provided the basic layout for the animation sequences, done by Oscar Grillo and Ted Rockley at Klacto Animation, London. "Right from the start," says Ott, "Victor had hired an animator to take care of and think about the character animation."
To capture the Tex Avery style, the animation was actually created in cel format first, then transferred and completed in CGI. "We wanted to make it whimsical and fun without being too campy," explains Ott. "The most difficult part was having the eyes popping out of the couple’s heads. Should we make it 2-D or 3-D? We thought 3-D might look gross; it was a constant battle between full CG reality and keeping it fun and light."
The final touch was the rerecording of the music. The original recording of "Tombe du Ciel" was not available, but London-based Amber Music was not fazed: the house brought in ’40s-style musicians to rerecord the tune. "It was quite a sight," recalls Ott of the sea of white-haired men assembled to play at the Abbey Road Studios. "Everyone comments on how great the music sounds. They were terrific."
MNH’s Grossman has nothing but praise for his two producers, who work on anywhere from half a dozen to a dozen spots a year, depending on the ads’ complexity. "On both [of the Emmy-nominated] spots, there was a great deal of conversation about the correct tack to take and the way to achieve the concepts," he notes. "Those two spots could have been handled in so many different ways. I think [the producers’] taste level helped us achieve very ambitious ideas in an imaginative and sophisticated way, which is not easy. Both of those commercials, if not handled correctly, could have been problematic."
But for Novak, making the problematic practical is what producing is all about. "A lot of it is done by instinct and by my gut feeling," she explains. "Every spot I work on is different, and my input varies. The creatives often come to me while they’re working on a concept, and ask me about my ideas. Part of what I do as a producer is to know what is right creatively. I didn’t create the music for ‘Modern Ark,’ but I did pick the right composer. That’s creative. Picking the right director is creative. And being creative is always about being collaborative."
"As a producer," adds Ott, "you have to gain the trust of the people you work with. You have to be a good people person. You have to enjoy the variety of it all. That’s why I wanted to be a producer. It’s a challenging, creative job. I love it."
