Though Tom Cruise seems secure in his bankable star status for the time being, the box office sensation of the future might well come fully equipped with turbo-charged acceleration power and a shiny red paint job. For Team One Advertising, El Segundo, Calif., and client Lexus, the future, it seems, is now.
Team One’s new :30 "Warehouse" promotes the prominent role of Lexus automobiles in the new Steven Spielberg-directed feature Minority Report, a futuristic thriller set in 2054. The spot, directed by bicoastal Villains’ Phil Joanou and lensed by DP Jeff Cronenweth, is a cinematic combination of Joanou’s live-action footage and the CG effects work of Sight Effects, Venice, Calif. Though "Warehouse" is shot in the style of Minority Report, no actual footage from the film was used in making the spot.
"Warehouse" opens on three jet pack-equipped law enforcement officers—in the film they’re called pre-crime officers—who drop down from a futuristic-looking cityscape into a dark and foreboding warehouse. They’re outfitted with what presumably is the most sophisticated policing equipment that 2054 dollars can buy. Most noticeably, the men wear helmets that give them a computerized image scan, packed with data, of the terrain before them.
"Suspect’s in the vicinity," declares one officer.
"Send in the ‘bots," replies another, as flying ‘droid-like machines equipped with bright, sweeping searchlights enter the warehouse.
"We’ve got something," an officer intones evenly.
Just then the camera switches to three quick cuts focusing on a red Lexus of the future. We get a brief shot of the driver, silhouetted by a ‘bot’s spotlight. "We’ve got him," the lead officer boasts, as the camera zooms in tight to reveal the car’s Lexus logo.
Just then the Lexus is floored into a full-speed reverse, and it swings around a corner to make a frenzied escape. The guards, flying with their jet packs now, race after it in close pursuit. But the Lexus is simply too quick for the pre-crime officers, who are forced to make an aerial loop when the car just barely slips through a closing warehouse door.
The ad’s final shot is of the Lexus speeding away as the officers, clearly beaten, slow their chase. A mid-21st-century cityscape, complete with conical office towers and three-dimensional transportation arteries looms in the background.
"Catch the Lexus this summer, in the movie Minority Report," a voiceover intones to conclude the spot.
According to Team One executive producer/producer Jack Epsteen, Lexus was approached directly by Spielberg, who "respected the brand and wanted to use a futuristic Lexus model in his film." In fact, the movie makes heavy use of product placement, to create an overall impression of a future laden with omnipresent—and comically personalized—advertising. (Think talking holographic "salespeople" at The Gap, who know your name the minute you walk in the store.)
Enthusiastic about the opportunity to appear in a Spielberg film, Lexus brought in [auto designer] Harold Belker—who helped design the Batmobile for the first Batman feature—to create a luxury car circa 2054. The result was, in fact, two different automobiles: "The Maglev," capable of driving in three dimensions, and the "Off-System Vehicle," geared for traditional road navigation. "Lexus then got us involved and we helped negotiate the [broadcast] tie-in," continued Epsteen.
What the agency eventually created was a short, escape-scene scenario, featuring the "Off System" design. The concept was quickly approved by Spielberg, DreamWorks and Twentieth Century Fox in the fall of last year. Since the movie wasn’t slated to premiere until this summer, Epsteen said, Team One had ample time to search for the right director, and then—after hiring Joanou and shooting the live action—to allow Sight Effects to perfect the CG components of the spot.
Alan Barnett (co-visual effects supervisor with Adrian Hurley for Sight Effects) noted, " ‘Warehouse’ was an atypical commercial project for our company, in that we had the luxury of time. … We really had an opportunity to finesse things until we were completely satisfied."
Barnett and company created digital matte paintings for the opening and closing cityscape shots. They also digitally enhanced the pre-crime officers’ jet packs—compositing the flames and heat shimmers emanating from the flying devices. In addition, the airborne ‘bots—which chase the Lexus at the pre-crime officers’ behest—were a "complete CG creation," according to Barnett.
To shoot the live-action portion of "Warehouse," Joanou used an old aluminum-smelting factory in the East Los Angeles vicinity. "It was actually the same location Spielberg used for the Lexus factory in the film," remembered Joanou, "and it was a pretty intense place. … You could hear smelting still going on right next door."
Filming took place over the course of two nights, with the final night bleeding well into morning: Joanou indicated that filming the flying pre-crime officers was time consuming and difficult. "Throughout the history of cinema, ‘guys flying’ has always been a tough thing to pull off," he laughed.
"We flew our guys on wires, jerked them up and down against green screen, launched them, dropped them and then composited them against a background plate we’d shot the night before," Joanou continued, adding that "Warehouse" is probably the most complex special-effects commercial he’s helmed to date—mainly because of the jet-packed crime fighters.
Joanou also noted that Steven Spielberg’s wasn’t the only name that attracted him to the project: Joanou’s brother-in-law, Scott Frank, wrote the Minority Report screenplay.
"This spot was a real opportunity to work in an extremely cinematic and narrative-driven form," Joanou concluded.
