New Ad Council/Transportation Dept. :30 Buckles Up Without Crash-Test Dummies.
CLIENT
The Transportation Department/The Ad Council.
PRODUCTION CO.
Palomar Pictures, Los Angeles. Buddy Cone, director; Eric Edwards, DP; Jonathan Ker, executive producer; John Bick, producer; Tom Lowe, head of production; Guy Oliveri, production manager; Christine Carr, freelance postproduction supervisor. Shot on location.
AGENCY
Leo Burnett Co., Chicago. Paul Meyer, VP/creative director; Hunt Baldwin, associate creative director/copywriter; Will Cannon, associate creative director/art director; Michael Rafayko, VP/executive producer/managing director of production/producer.
EDITORIAL
Palomar Pictures. Patrick Sheffield, freelance editor.
POST
Company 3, Santa Monica. Mike Pethel, colorist. Sea Level, Venice, Calif. Jim Bohn, online editor.
AUDIO POST
The Outpost Sound Mixing Co., Hollywood. Tony Friedman and J. Eby, audio mixers.
MUSIC
CHKW, Santa Monica. Jon Klok, composer.
BY KATHY DeSALVO
Vince and Larry, the plastic crash-test dummies of past seat belt PSA efforts, have taken a backseat to live actors in the latest campaign for the Transportation Dept. and the Ad Council out of Leo Burnett Co., Chicago. The new PSA takes a realistic tack to pound home its message that seat belts save lives.
Contrary to some reports, Vince and Larry haven’t outlived their usefulness, according to Michael Rafayko, a VP/executive producer and managing director of production of one of Leo Burnett’s business units. In fact, he added, the long-running crash-test dummies campaign has resulted in dramatically increased seat belt usage. "But what we found in our research," said Rafayko, "is that there was still a hard-core group who was still not using their seat belts; Vince and Larry weren’t reaching them. The best way to reach those people was to have something a little more hard-hitting."
Directed by Buddy Cone of Los Angeles-based Palomar Pictures, the :30 "Ice Cream" is compelling for the graphicness and abruptness of the crash in the spot’s final moments. In fact, the PSA (as well as the other :30, "Cruising") is specifically intended to lull viewers into be-lieving they’re watching a warm and fuzzy ad-the better to illustrate how unexpectedly accidents occur.
"Ice Cream" opens on a scene in which a pregnant wife asks her husband to get her ice cream for her late-night craving; the homespun feeling is complemented by a guitar-laden music track recalling the show thirtysomething, composed by Jon Klok of CHKW, Santa Monica. "Ice cream … yep," he mumbles groggily. He gets out of bed and surveys the freezer, which apparently has no ice cream. "Some things you just can’t do without," drawls a folksy-sounding voiceover.
The husband puts on his coat and pauses at the doorway of his soon-to-be occupied nursery. This heartland setting is capped as he grabs his keys and wallet. "It happens every night, all across America," the VO continues. An outdoor shot reveals the peaceful moonlit night as the guy, grinning bemusedly, gets in his car parked in the driveway. While the setup to this point leads us to expect a pitch for an all-night convenience store, the true horrifying nature of the ad is suddenly revealed as the guy begins backing out of the driveway.
At that juncture, from a backseat POV, the camera looks out the front windshield, showing an oncoming car speeding around the corner toward the husband-driven automobile. In a split second, we realize that the driver of the oncoming car is probably under the influence of drugs or alcohol; his vehicle is speeding on the wrong side of the road, knocking over curbside garbage cans.
Meanwhile, the original car has backed out of the driveway and finds itself facing the oncoming car. After a close-up of the husband’s terrified reaction, the spot cuts to a wide shot of the impact. The brutal force propels the husband’s car backwards, smashing it into a neighbor’s parked car. The entire accident has occurred over a four-second span. Cut to a black screen with the words, "Didn’t see that coming? No one ever does. Buckle up."
Cone noted the idea was to go as far into the spot as they could without tipping off what it was for. The spot was shot on location in the Melrose Hill neighborhood in Hollywood; the location was chosen to represent "anywhere USA," said Cone, adding that they also used 16mm to create a feeling of immediacy and realism. "If nothing else, it helped us because it was so much easier to get a 16mm camera inside that small house. We tried to make [viewers] get to know these characters rather than feel like observers. And we tried to light the house and keep it as real as possible."
There were several considerations in making the PSA, related Rafayko. First, it had to be readily apparent to viewers that the victim had broken no traffic laws or been at fault; his only failing was not belting up. (This also applied to "Cruising," in which two teen boys in a sedan, who come to a complete stop at a light, are hit from behind by a van). "What we tried to communicate was that it has nothing to do with how good of a driver you are," said Rafayko. "In this spot, what happens is totally beyond his control."
The whole issue of the crash itself was another challenge. "It was very important that we portray the crash to be violent," said Rafayko. "At the same time, there was a very fine line we had to walk because the viewer needs to see these commercials and walk away knowing the people could have survived. It’s important that their reaction isn’t ‘A seat belt wouldn’t have saved them anyway.’ " To that end, a good deal of prep time was devoted to conversations with the Dept. of Transportation about the physics of realistic car crashes.
In staging the crash, a dummy was used in place of the husband for the actual impact shot. Cone explained they hit the car quite hard-harder than they’d want a stunt driver to be hit. He added they had to do the preceding shot of the oncoming car over and over again-with stunt drivers in both vehicles-until they got the timing right. (During these runs, the oncoming automobile swerved away before actual impact).
The spot went through multiple edits before it earned approval. Cone related they’d shot the crash from several angles and they experimented with how much to show. "Depending on how it was edited," said Cone, "it could either look a lot worse or not as bad."
Many have seen the PSAs on news programs, several of which have aired them in their entirety. The publicity is gratifying to everyone who worked on the project, says Rafayko. "You don’t usually associate advertising as being in a position to save lives."
Orbit, Edit Sweet
Drive Oldmobile
CLIENT
General Motors/Oldsmobile.
PRODUCTION CO.
Orbit Productions, Hollywood. Danny Weisberg, director; Russell Swanson, DP; Lee Nelson, executive producer; Amy Peck, producer. Shot on location.
AGENCY
Leo Burnett Co., Chicago. Charley Wickman, creative director; Ron Nelken, executive producer; Ray Swift, producer; Ron Smith, associate creative director/copywriter; Roger Simpson, associate creative director/art director.
EDITORIAL
Edit Sweet, Chicago. Jan Maitland, editor; Jennifer Plasch, postproduction coordinator.
POST/VISUAL EFFECTS
Optimus, Chicago. Craig Leffel, colorist; Mike Weber, online editor; Glen Noren and Mike Ciacciarelli, type animation/ composite artists; Julia Finlayson, postproduction coordinator.
AUDIO POST
Cutters Inc., Chicago. John Binder, mixer.
THE SPOT
Set to Fat Boy Slim’s "Right Here Right Now," "Pomegranate" features fast-paced, high energy lifestyle vignettes and stylish type treatments to spotlight Oldsmobile’s Intrigue, Alero, Bravada, Silhouette and Aurora. The :60 ends with the tag, "Get out of neutral and get into drive."
Spot broke Jan. 31.
FilmCore Runs With
The Bulls For Nike
CLIENT
Nike.
PRODUCTION CO.
radical.media, London. Ralf Schmerberg, director; Franz Lustig, DP; Guy Pechard, executive producer/producer. Shot on location.
AGENCY
Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, Ore. Hal Curtis and Chuck McBride, creative directors; Canice Neary, copywriter; Rob Palmer, art director; Jennifer Swieja, producer.
EDITORIAL
FilmCore, Santa Monica. Paul Norling, editor; Therese Hunsberger, executive producer.
POST/VISUAL EFFECTS
Encore Santa Monica. Nigel Randall, online editor/compositor/Henry artist; Bob Festa, colorist.
AUDIO POST
Warner Bros. Sound, Burbank, Calif. Todd Grace, engineer/ mixer.
MUSIC
HUM Music+Sound Design, Santa Monica. Jeff Koz, composer/arranger.
SOUND DESIGN
Warner Bros. Sound. Royer Boyce, sound designer.
THE SPOT
In the :60 "Running of the Bulls," the animals finally meet their match-the Denver Broncos offensive line. Released from their pen, the bulls set off in pursuit of a horde of men, whose wiser countrymen look on from the safety of the bleachers and balconies. Just before the bulls reach the stadium, five men in football jerseys hop a fence and assume three-point stances in front of the marauding herd. The sound of impact is followed by silence and the onscreen text "What are you getting ready for?"
Spot broke in Decem
