While it’s part of a campaign that debuted and continues to run during games in the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s “March Madness” basketball tournament, the TV spot “Ambidextrous” out of Young & Rubicam, San Francisco, for client the NCAA offers a genuine method and rationale to its storyline madness.
We open on a young athletic woman dribbling a basketball, first with two hands, then with one as the other hand starts writing out mathematical formulas on a chalkboard.
This high-level dual tasking then extends to a male gymnast who’s tautly suspended in mid-air with one hand clenched to a metal ring, the other pouring chemicals into a beaker in a science laboratory.
Next, a young woman tennis player balances a ball on her racket while her other hand is mapping out computer-aided design diagrams and structures.
Finally we have a male soccer player who’s balancing the ball all over his body while he delivers a virtuoso performance on a violin.
All the while a voiceover relates, “There are over 400,000 NCAA student athletes and just about all of us will be going pro in something other than sports.”
Directed by Grady Hall of Venice, Calif.-based Motion Theory, “Ambidextrous” is a perfect balance of athletics and academics as well as live action (shot by DP Jeff Cronenweth) and visual effects (from the team at Motion Theory).
The Y&R San Francisco team included executive creative directors Scott Larson and Brad Berg, associate creative director/art director Hilary Wolfe, copywriter Brandon Reif and exec producer Debra Trotz.
Motion Theory art director Rob Resella and VFX supervisor Bryan Godwin led the design and visual effects efforts, while 1.1 VFX’s Danny Yoon supervised the compositing.
Editor was Colin Woods of String in Los Angeles.
Disney Pledges $15 million In L.A. Fire Aid As More Celebs Learn They’ve Lost Their Homes
The Pacific Palisades wildfires torched the home of "This Is Us" star Milo Ventimiglia, perhaps most poignantly destroying the father-to-be's newly installed crib.
CBS cameras caught the actor walking through his charred house for the first time, standing in what was once his kitchen and looking at a neighborhood in ruin. "Your heart just breaks."
He and his pregnant wife, Jarah Mariano, evacuated Tuesday with their dog and they watched on security cameras as the flames ripped through the house, destroying everything, including a new crib.
"There's a kind of shock moment where you're going, 'Oh, this is real. This is happening.' What good is it to continue watching?' And then at a certain point we just turned it off, like 'What good is it to continue watching?'"
Firefighters sought to make gains Friday during a respite in the heavy winds that fanned the flames as numerous groups pledged aid to help victims and rebuild, including a $15 million donation pledge from the Walt Disney Co.
More stars learn their homes are gone
While seeing the remains of his home, Ventimiglia was struck by a connection to his "This Is Us" character, Jack Pearson, who died after inhaling smoke in a house fire. "It's not lost on me life imitating art."
Mandy Moore, who played Ventimiglia's wife on "This Is Us," nearly lost her home in the Eaton fire, which scorched large areas of the Altadena neighborhood. She said Thursday that part of her house is standing but is unlivable, and her husband lost his music studio and all his instruments.
Mel Gibson's home is "completely gone," his publicist Alan Nierob confirmed Friday. The Oscar winner revealed the loss of his home earlier Friday while appearing on Joe Rogan's... Read More