Voyeurism has its appeal for some and it doesn’t necessarily have to be of the sexual variety. How about observing surgery being performed on a patient? If you have the stomach for it, becoming a fly on the wall of an operating room could prove fascinating, particularly in a life-or-death situation.
But this spot crosses the line in that our eager observer is the patient himself. We open on an operating room scene with a surgeon and his team working methodically on a person who is unknown to-and unseen by-us. There’s a sense of urgency to the operation being performed, as the surgeon asks for such instruments as a scalpel and a right-angle retractor. "More suction, please." The sight and sound of an intravenous drip are accompanied by the steady beeping of a heart monitor.
Then, from behind a linen barrier where the patient’s head is resting, a periscope rises. Clearly, the sedation wasn’t heavy enough as the scope peers back and forth, causing the surgical team to stop dead in its tracks. The periscope-armed patient then asks in an amazed tone, "Wow, is that my spleen?"
When his query is greeted by disbelief-laced silence, the patient utters, "Sorry."
The camera pulls back to reveal the heart monitor. A voiceover intervenes with a message, which is seen in part on the monitor: "Visit the Exploratorium, a hands-on museum for the curious ones."
This offbeat spot promoting the Exploratorium in San Francisco was conceived by a team at Odiorne Wilde Narraway & Partners (OWN&P), San Francisco, consisting of creative director Jeff Odiorne, copywriter Jeff Guenther, art director Kirsten Modestow and producer Molly Anderson.
"Spleen" was directed by David Jellison, who joined bicoastal Cohn+Company in June and was soon thereafter approached by OWN&P to direct this comedy project. Jellison and OWN&P have collaborated on numerous humor-driven ad campaigns over the years for such clients as Fogdog.com and EA Games.
Tony Cunningham and David Lasseron executive produced "Spleen" for Cohn+Company, with Johanna Woollcott serving as producer. The DP was Sean O’Dea.
The spot was edited by Kevin Zimmerman of Ntropic, San Francisco. Ntropic’s Alaina
Goetz was the online editor. Colorist was Stefan Sonnenfeld of Company 3, Santa Monica. Graphics artist was Gary Jaeger of Core Studio, San Francisco. Audio mixer was Jay Shilliday of Crescendo! Studios, San Francisco.
Principal actors for this spot were Sam Lovett, Felix Yan, Robin Hunter, Troy Webster, Katie McClanahan and Ingrid Shaw. The SAG/AFTRA Commercials Contract Standing Committee has granted a waiver to allow commercials to be available for viewing on SHOOTonline.com. The spots cannot be copied, downloaded or emailed.
