Each year, SHOOT singles out a selection of spots from its "The Best Work You May Never See" gallery as the cream of the crop. These ads are well worth re-visiting. This year’s mix is diverse—public service announcements, international work, and humor-based fare. Below is the best of 2003.
YouthAIDS, "hallway"
Directorial team Happy has extended its reach beyond the emotion described in its moniker via two commercials that are sad, dramatic and poignant. Indeed, the message being delivered by Happy is anything but—particularly in the more shocking of the two PSAs, "Hallway," which opens on a young woman whose naked body we see in silhouette as she dries off after a shower, and drops the towel onto the bathroom floor.
Her face is revealed to us in a fogged-up mirror. She picks up a pair of scissors and begins snipping her hair. Then the phone rings. She rushes to answer it, but trips over the towel and lands on the hallway floor with a thud. We see that she has been stabbed by the scissors she was holding. Bleeding, she lies motionless, presumably dead.
A super appears, which reads: "Why do we make bad decisions when we’re naked?"
The spot then cuts to a black screen, which displays a parting super identifying the intended sponsor: "Youth AIDS.org," accompanied by the slogan, "Act now. Live later."
The other PSA in the campaign, "Kitchen," is similarly themed. It depicts a naked young man in the kitchen. He rushes to a toaster that is billowing out smoke, and attempts to fix it by sticking a knife inside to pry a piece of bread loose. When the metal knife comes in contact with the electrical wiring, he is electrocuted and falls to the floor. The same supered rhetorical question from "Hallway" then appears.
"Hallway" is jarring in that the graphic ending isn’t expected. By contrast, in "Kitchen"—which also has an ill-fated conclusion—there’s a sense that disaster is about to unfold as the man reaches for a knife to fix the toaster. Both spots carry the forceful impact needed to convey the desired message, although neither mentions AIDS until the YouthAIDS end tag appears. Clearly, shock value is necessary to gain the attention of the target audience before safe sex and HIV/AIDS prevention can be addressed.
The two-spot campaign came out of DDB New York and was originally created for YouthAIDS, a group formed to help heighten HIV- and AIDS-prevention awareness among teenagers and young adults. However, YouthAIDS declined to use the ads due to their controversial nature, leaving DDB to now try to find another sponsor in the AIDS/HIV-prevention field. The core creative team was comprised of executive creative director John Staffen (who has since left the agency), copywriter James Bray, art director D.J. Pierce (who is also no longer with the shop) and producer Lorraine Schaffer.
Members of the Happy collective who worked on the campaign were Guy Shelmerdine, Lucas Spaulding and Richard Farmer. Happy’s spot roost is bicoastal production house, Smuggler. Executive producers on the job were Smuggler’s Patrick Milling Smith and Brian Carmody. Jeff Miller line produced for Smuggler. DP was Mott Hupfel.
Spaulding, who cuts spots via MacKenzie Cutler, New York, additionally served as offline/online editor and sound designer. Colorist was Milan Boncich of Moving Images, New York. Audio mixer was Marc Healy of MacKenzie Cutler.
Xbox, "Tic-Tac-Toe"
Have you ever been thrown into the middle of a situation without the chance to fully orient yourself or get a grasp of what’s going on?
This commercial does just that, thrusting us into a scenario in which two young men jump from building rooftop to rooftop in pursuit of someone or something. They throw caution into the wind as they leap across the large chasms that separate several high-rise buildings.
Soon we see two other men doing the same thing, and it appears that they are in fierce competition with the first couple of guys. Graffiti seems to be integral to the contest—the daredevils are all armed with spray paint, which they use freely. However, we have yet to see what they’re painting on the rooftops.
A man on the streets below reads his newspaper, oblivious to the death-defying acrobatics going on many stories above him. The spot then takes us back to the rooftops as one of the guys knocks down some cylinders and building materials, putting obstacles in the path of the competing duo that’s right behind him.
The gymnastics continue as the young men roll and tumble across roofs, firing their spray paint liberally. Finally, two guys stop in their tracks and hold their spray cans over their heads triumphantly.
An overhead shot of the rooftops—nine in all—offers visual context and a full explanation: the building rooftops collectively form a tic-tac-toe board, with some spaces marked by huge, spray-painted O’s, and others by X’s. The X team has won, with three X’s in a diagonal row from top left to bottom right.
As we view this larger-than-life tic-tac-toe board, a female voiceover intervenes: "Games at a higher level."
The spot cuts to an end tag with the XBox logo for the Microsoft video game system. The parting voiceover asks, "Wanna play?"
Steve Chase of The Partners’ Film Company, Toronto, and bicoastal Reactor Films directed the spot, entitled "Tic-Tac-Toe," for agency MacLaren McCann, Toronto. (In the U.S., Chase directs via Reactor Films, part of the Stoney Road family of commercial production houses.)
Don McLean of Partners’ and Garbrielle Yura of Reactor Films executive produced the job, which was a co-production of Partners’ and Reactor. For Partners’, the producers were Rob Allan and Gigi Realini.
The spot was shot in Toronto by DP Dan Mindel. Sam Pecoraro was first assistant director. Production designer was Aaron Goffman.
The agency ensemble consisted of creative director Dave Kelso, art director Gerald Flach, writer James Dunlop and producer Sandy Cole.
Editor was David Baxter of Panic & Bob, Toronto. Post artist/online editor was David Giles of AXYZ, Toronto, with John Stollar as executive producer. Colorist was Billy Ferwerda of Notch, Toronto. Sound designer/ audio mixer was the mono-monikered Rocco of Eggplant Entertainment, Toronto.
AccuServ,
"Paper Tray"
There’s something to be said for sophomoric humor that’s pulled off well, despite the questionable taste that’s involved.
Director Steve Burrows of Backyard Productions, Venice, Calif., clearly isn’t afraid to tread into this unsafe arena—and neither are client AccuServ Copier Repair, a business headquartered in Kansas City, Kan., and agency Eisner Underground, Baltimore.
"Paper Tray" opens on a heavyset woman in an office. It’s after hours. She says "good night" to a janitor as she walks down a corridor toward the copier room, papers in hand. Instead of making photocopies of her documents, however, the woman suddenly turns around, lifts up her dress, pulls down her underwear and climbs awkwardly onto the machine to make a copy of her backside.
She presses the "copy" button, which beeps twice, but nothing happens. She presses the button a second time, and gets the same malfunctioning beeps.
Frustrated, she pounds on the button with her fist—but again to no avail. The woman peers down at the display panel, and the message that the machine is giving her only intensifies her anger: "Select larger paper tray." Indeed, this heavy-duty copier has met its match as the weight of the woman is too much to bear—and the woman has way too much to bare, as well.
She vents her frustration by kicking the machine repeatedly while still perched on top. A super appears over the scene: "We don’t care how it gets broken…"
Now the woman is standing in front of the machine and beating it with one of her shoes. The supered message continues, "We’ll be there to fix it."
The spot concludes with a tag that reads, "AccuServ Copier Repair."
Burrows helmed the :30, backed by a Backyard team that included executive producers Blair Stribley, Kris Mathur and Eriks Krumins, head of production Peter Steinzeig and producer Sean Hobbs. The spot was shot at Sunset Stage, Hollywood, by DP Tom Marvel.
Eisner Underground’s team consisted of creative director/executive producer Eric Hartsock, art director Paul Safsel and copywriter David McMillan.
Jeff Hinman edited the spot via Blue Collar Productions, Hollywood, and online edited it at Post Logic, Hollywood. Artemus Mayor of Post Logic served as colorist. Visual effects artist was Aaron Baumle of Transistor Studios, Hollywood.
Audio mixer/engineer was Konrad Pinon of Margarita Mix, Hollywood. Music composer was Santa Monica-based freelancer Matt Cartsonis.
Apartheid Museum,
"Koeberg"
In a society with an attention span of minutes, historical context is elusive. Yet such context is essential for society to flourish, and helps us learn from mistakes and do everything possible to prevent the unthinkable from recurring.
This :30, which gives us a taste of the unthinkable, thrusts us into the middle of a newscast, where Sally Burdett, a TV reporter in the field, is standing on a beach in Koeberg, South Africa. She informs us of a breaking development—a proposed law in Parliament that will ban anyone born prior to 1950 from the popular beaches of Cape Town.
There are several reasons for this proposal. For one thing, reports Burdett, the law’s backers point out that old people have wrinkled skin and don’t need to get any more sun. Also, their bodies are unsightly in swimwear. And if that’s not enough, senior citizens generally aren’t very good swimmers.
Continuing her report, Burdett notes, however, that if the law is passed, the government will provide elderly people with their own separate beach in Koeberg, which is also home to a nuclear power testing ground.
We cut away from the report to a sobering super against a black background that simply reads, "If you don’t believe this can happen, visit the Apartheid Museum."
Entitled "Koeberg," this is one of four similarly themed PSAs. The campaign was directed by Clive Will of Velocity Afrika, Johannesburg and Cape Town, for TBWA Gavin Reddy, Johannesburg. (Will is repped stateside by Crossroads Films, bicoastal and Chicago, which has a reciprocal representation/production support relationship with Velocity Afrika.)
The other spots for the Johannesburg-based Apartheid Museum also feature reporter Burdett. She tells us of plans to bar redheads from public transportation because they have fiery, out-of-control tempers, women from swimming pools because they should be in the kitchen or having babies, and short people from normal schooling because they have low intelligence and are capable of performing only menial tasks. However, separate facilities and services will be provided in each case for these unfortunate groups. The creative ensemble at TBWA Gavin Reddy consists of creative director/copywriter Damon Stapleton, art director Minky Stapleton and producer Helen D’Hotman.
Velocity proprietor Barry Munchick served as executive producer on the campaign. Producer was Boris Vossgatter. Director Will also served as DP on the commercials, which were lensed at various locations in and around Cape Town. The spots were edited by Willie Saayman of City Cuts, Johannesburg.
American Academy
of Dermatology,
"You’re It"
The mainstay kids’ game of tag—as depicted in ad fare—has proven to strike a responsive cord among adults. The prime example is Nike’s "Tag," directed by Frank Budgen of Gorgeous Enterprises, London, and bicoastal Anonymous Content for Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore. In that lauded spot (winner of numerous honors, including the Cannes International Advertising Festival’s Grand Prix in 2002), an entire city is engaged in the game. The commercial was the centerpiece of Nike’s successful "Play" campaign.
While that "Tag" has quickly become a classic example of ad humor at its best, the latest rendition of the children’s game through the eyes of a commercialmaker takes on far more serious overtones. Director Stewart Hendler of Santa Monica-based Omaha Pictures—one of the up-and-coming talents in SHOOT’s Directors Showcase (5/16, p. 23)—presents a tag pursuit in which, sadly, "It" is not confined to a single person at a time.
Titled "You’re It," this public service spot conceived by a creative team at Publicis, New York, opens with the sun beating down on a small town. We spy a man dressed in black, his face covered by a black mask, who seemingly moves about unnoticed by others. He walks into a restaurant and puts a small round "You’re It" sticker on the back of a man seated at the counter. The man, who’s chomping away at a sandwich, doesn’t realize that he’s been tagged.
Next, the masked predator puts a "You’re It" sticker on a woman watching some girls play soccer at a public park. The tag has been placed on her right shin. A man sitting down in the bleachers is also tagged on the back of his T-shirt.
The commercial then takes us to a rack of clothes in front of a store. A young woman takes a jacket from the sales rack and puts it on—at which point we see the "You’re It" sticker on the back of the garment.
The next unknowing victim to be tagged is a young boy who walks out of a supermarket. The masked mystery man is ubiquitous—after making his rounds at the supermarket, he sees a group of joggers running down the street. He pursues them and targets a shirtless jogger. Just as the masked man is about to put the tag on the runner, he stops in his tracks—the runner has just put on a shirt for protection from the sun’s rays.
The spot cuts to a supered message against a black background, which simply reads: "One in five Americans will get skin cancer in their lifetime."
We then return to the man who we now know as the embodiment of skin cancer. He lowers his hand—which holds a "You’re It" sticker—to his side.
The commercial then segues to another supered advisory, "Don’t be the one."
The American Academy of Dermatology logo and some tips to heed appear: "Wear sunscreen. Cover up. And see a dermatologist." Accompanying this advice is the American Academy of Dermatology’s Web site address (www.aad. org).
Hendler’s support team at Omaha included exec producer Eric Stern and producer Nancy Cetner. The DP was John Ealer, with Ricardo Jattan serving as production designer.
The creative ensemble at Publicis consisted of chief creative officer Peter Nicholson, associate creative director/art director Matthew Leopizzi, copywriter Josh Greenspan and producer Dan Blaney.
The commercial was edited by Adam Pertofsky and JD Smyth at Rock Paper Scissors, Los Angeles. Online editor was Greg Kiernan of Cutting Vision, New York. Colorist was Lez Rudge of Nice Shoes, New York. Audio mixer was Scott Persson of Headroom Digital, New York. Sound designer was Bill Chesley of Amber Music, New York. Music composer was Amber’s Will Richter.
