Who has the easy answers to life’s big questions? The E-Z Answer Squirrel, according to a humorous viral video for the United Church of Canada created by Toronto-based Smith Roberts and directed by Aleysa Young of Untitled, Toronto.
The 72-second viral finds average people posing queries such as, “Is the soul eternal?” and “Does God hate me because I’m gay?”
The E-Z Answer Squirrel, a real, gray squirrel, then answers each question by pulling on acorns marked “Yes” and “No.”
At the end of the spot, those who are interested in engaging in a deeper discussion of life’s big questions are directed to Wondercafe.ca, a website sponsored by the United Church.
The goal here is to introduce those in the 30 to 45-year-old range who may have lost faith in organized religion to the United Church, according to Smith Roberts’ creative director/art director Malcolm Roberts, who conceptualized the viral with creative director/copywriter Brian Smith.
“We weren’t talking to atheists obviously, but just people who don’t see the church as relevant to them anymore, people who feel that the church is judgmental and too dogmatic,” Roberts explained.
Those fed up with organized religion don’t constitute an easy target to reach, of course. After studying advertising for other religions, the agency found that a lot of the messages were repetitive. “How many times can you tell people you care for the homeless and the sick and the needy?” Roberts related.
Seeking to break through the clutter as well as disarm those with preconceived negative notions about organized religion, Smith Roberts chose to create a light, humorous viral. “It was a way past the barriers and a way to show these people the church is not really what they thought it was,” Roberts said.
Additionally, the agency whipped up Wondercafe.ca, the site on which the viral debuted. Containing videos and forums, Wondercafe.ca serves as a place for people who are curious about the United Church to explore it without having to actually set foot in a church.
Young was immediately sold on the non-preachy viral and threw herself into the project, going as far as to concoct a rather complex backstory for the E-Z Answer Squirrel. According to Young, a man had actually hit the squirrel while backing out of his driveway. Consumed with guilt, the man took the squirrel in and nursed it back to health. In the process, he realized this squirrel had a gift for answering questions with “Yes” and “No” nuts and built a stage in his garage for the animal to indulge his passion. The man was so dedicated to the squirrel that he began to neglect his wife, causing her to say, “You love that squirrel more than you love me!”
Why develop such an involved narrative? “It just helped me tell the story,” Young said laughing. “It helped me put it all into context and explain myself and where I was coming from to the agency.”
The creative team at Smith Roberts appreciated Young’s backstory as well as her ability to cast solid performers. Prior to becoming a director, Young had worked as a casting director. “That benefited us a lot because we were very limited in budget, so we didn’t have a large talent pool to draw from, and she managed to bring in people I think really gave us the feel that we wanted,” Roberts praised.
Real feel
“They were more real people,” Young said, noting, “It was important for them to come across as real, so it almost worked to our benefit to have had non-professional actors who didn’t overthink everything.”
While the human actors do their jobs well, the real star of the spot is the squirrel. Trained squirrels aren’t so easy to come by. Beyond about 10 weeks of age, they aren’t gentle, so Untitled found an animal trainer, Jim Lovisek, who came upon a two-week old orphan squirrel and reared him to eight weeks.
Lovisek’s tender loving care and training turned the squirrel dubbed E-Z into quite a fine thespian. “He did what we needed him to do in remarkably less time and less takes than we ever thought it would be,” Roberts said. The video was shot in just one 12-hour day. Young and her crew, which included DP Simon Mestel, shot on 35mm film at locations in and around a downtown Toronto community center.
Rigged acorns
E-Z’s scenes were filmed in just two hours in a room at the community center, where a stage was built for him. Nutella and peanut butter spread on the backs of dangling acorns motivated the squirrel to reach for the “Yes” and “No” nuts.
Ross Birchall of Bijou, Toronto, cut the viral, and Bonspiel Music, Toronto, produced the groovy blaxploitation-style track that accompanies it. “We had written it into the script that the music had some feeling of Shaft, blaxpoitation feel. We had no idea why,” Roberts laughed, “but it felt right.”
The viral struck a chord with the Canadian media. It was the subject of stories on the country’s major television outlets, including the CBC network. And the viral will soon return to TV–albeit it in shorter form. According to Roberts, it is being cut down into a 30-second PSA through which E-Z will be soon be imparting his wisdom over the Canadian airwaves.
The United Church of Canada piece is the latest endeavor that has caused Young’s stock to rise as a director. Back in October, she was one of a handful of directors singled out as up-and-coming helmers in the fall edition of SHOOT’s Directors Series. Young broke into the spot directorial ranks a little more than a year ago.
Director Rodney Passé Joins Eleanor For U.S. Representation
Director Rodney Passé has come aboard the U.S. roster of production company Eleanor for representation spanning commercials, branded content and music videos.
His films include the heartwarming Li of Photos and Perserverancia, Son My Gente. Of the former, he shared, “I wanted to show these intimate, human moments. Photography is sentimental. You’re capturing a memory to keep it forever. I wanted to focus on the human connections between families, between friends, between lovers. I wanted to focus on the sentimental moments we want to capture forever.”
Unfolding a story told in precious coming of age moments, Passé invites audiences to flip through a cinematic memory book. The elevated visual language of enables audiences to delve into the glowing excitement of new parents.
The aforementioned Perserverancia, Son Mi Gente--an immersive photographic exploration of women’s boxing in Cuba--pulls audiences into Passé’s unique weaving of striking imagery and textured, layered soundscapes. Passé creates a lyrical visual symphony, flashing between photographs of the boxers to the rhythm of his resounding sonic world. Havana itself is a main character in this film--the cityscape, the bustling streets, the passersby, the churches that surround them.
“I draw inspiration from my mentor, [filmmaker] Khalil Joseph,” said Passé. “I always ask artists for stems. It’s transformed how I build a visual and sonic language. Working with stems, you have your vocals, you have your instruments, you have all the soundscapes and you can build your own soundscape. And it’ll still be in the same sonic tune, even if you’re incorporating different soundscapes.”
Passé’s distinct directorial... Read More