The stock exchange has instilled fear and wonder in those who remain outside its formidable walls. It is a place we only see on television or in movies like Wall Street, a place where we have to ask what all those hand signals mean. This kind of exclusivity is the antithesis of online trading, so Datek Online teamed up with Bozell New York to show the world that it is leveling the playing field between trading insiders and the common folk.
"The Wall" opens to a dizzying shot of a crowded stock exchange trading floor. A tuba drones a warped tune as the camera weaves among the shouting traders. The music escalates to a techno beat as the shot shifts to a scene outside the stock exchange, where scores of people are rushing its gold embossed doors. Inside, people peer through and press their hands against the glass enclosure of the overhead observation deck separating them from the action on the floor below. The voiceover says, "Until now, there has been a wall between you and the tools of serious trading. That wall is coming down." The camera pans the faces in the observation deck window when suddenly one hand breaks through the glass. The music fades and then rises again with a cacophony of sounds ranging from church choirs to tribal calls as the observation deck shatters and shards of glass rain down on the traders below. At the same time, the people outside break through the doors of the exchange and storm the trading floor, Bastille Day-style. The voiceover continues, "The information that professionals use is now available to everyone. Datek Online: The rules are changing."
With so many e-trade sites using humor and the promise of making millions to attract attention, Bozell New York creative director Brent Bouchez said he wanted to brand Datek as the "serious" online trading site. "Datek’s mission is to give people all the tools they need to trade, so it’s saying when you’re serious about trading, come to us," explained Bouchez.
To deliver that message, the spot had to convey the same intensity that existed on the trading room floor. Due to time constraints and the complicated nature of the production, both Bouchez and Bozell New York executive director of broadcast production Andrew Chinich felt the job required an experienced director. "I just said, ‘Let’s put all our eggs in one basket and get Gerard de Thame for this,’" recalled Chinich, who flew to London, sat in front of de Thame and told him he wouldn’t take no for an answer. "De Thame was so impressed with the clarity of the concept that he accepted the job," said bicoastal HSI Productions’ executive producer Bill Sandwick. De Thame was unavailable for comment at press time.
Perhaps one of the most crucial decisions de Thame made was hiring production designer/ art director John Beard, who worked on the feature film Brazil, to build the set. Combining elements of the New York Stock Exchange with other bourses, Beard was able to create a stock exchange that looked familiar to the viewer but wasn’t an exact replica of any particular one.
"The Wall" was shot at Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, England, over the course of four days. An expert who works at a stock exchange was brought in to coach the nearly 300 extras on how to act like stockbrokers. De Thame used a variety of camera angles and techniques to depict trading floor mayhem, including a slow-motion shot moments before the glass shatters.
The music, composed by Peter Lawlor of Water Music, London, also helped to build the tension. When scoring the spot, Lawlor said he concentrated on what the people on the floor would be thinking if it were a real-life situation. Aside from the faint sound of the traders milling about, Lawlor chose to distort the "real" sounds from the shoot. "It would have been too easy to just have the sound of shouting and then kaboom, so I just cut into all the sounds I was given and distorted them beyond all recognition," explained Lawlor, who was aiming for something that sounded alien and unsympathetic. Coincidentally, Lawlor worked on Wall Street for a year.
Flame artists Phil Crowe and Barnsley of The Mill, London, added the visual effects. The entire set was cleared to explode the observation deck, and the people standing behind the glass were composited in later. The glass seen raining down on the traders was actually clear bits of rubber, and the data that appears on the trading floor monitors was also added in post.
