FCB Worldwide, Southfield, Gives New Meaning To Solar-Powered Transportation.
By Kathy DeSalvo
A few years ago, a lauded Jeep spot "Snow Covered," out of Bozell Worldwide (now FCB Worldwide, Southfield, Mich.), featured an unseen Jeep—created in CG by Digital Domain, Venice, Calif.—burrowing under layers of snow, stopping and turning at a stop sign poking above the snow’s surface. (Directed by Eric Saarinen of Plum Productions, Santa Monica, "Snow Covered" won the Cannes International Advertising Festival’s Grand Prix honor in ’94.)
Now, going to the other end of nature’s spectrum is a new Jeep spot out of FCB Worldwide. Meant to launch the 2001 Jeep model, the ad continues to emphasize the brand’s ruggedness and its ability to withstand the elements.
Helmed by director/cameraman Danny Ruhlmann of bicoastal Piper Productions, the :30 "Sunset" opens on an African location with a panoramic wide shot of the huge, hazy setting sun—a golden half-circle against the orange sky and plain. The scene is calm and silent, save for the faint sounds of nature. On the horizon, a giraffe is silhouetted against the fiery half-sun.
Another distant silhouette—a Jeep—enters the frame on the left, its engine’s hum barely disturbing the quiet. But the Jeep travels only a short distance before it stops—its driver presumably not wanting to bother the animal in its path. As another giraffe wanders into frame from the right, the Jeep goes in reverse. After backing up a bit, it proceeds forward again but takes a slight detour: driving over the half-sunken sun. After the vehicle completes its trek over the sun, to continue its drive off the screen, the text appears: "Jeep. There’s Only One."
FCB executive VP/chief creative officer Bill Morden related that the concept behind "Sunset" hearkens back to the core idea behind the Jeep brand. "Because of the competition out there, every year we try to figure a way to bring Jeep to life, to do it uniquely … and to separate ourselves from all the Jeep-like commercials for all the SUVs. The ongoing question [regarding advertising] that we ask ourselves is, ‘Can only Jeep do this spot?’ " Besides Morden, the agency creative team comprised creative director/copywriter Mike Stocker, art director Robin Chrumka and producer Mary Kondrat.
From a conceptual standpoint, "Sunrise" offered more than a unique and creative way to convey Jeep’s power and its four-wheel-drive leadership role, said Morden. It also illustrated the bigger idea of the brand intersecting with nature. "When the Jeep encounters the giraffes on the savannah … it’s more than willing to yield to them in their habitat … to go around them and leave them alone, and we’re all together in harmony. That’s what we found to be uniquely Jeep in that concept."
The Australian-based Ruhlmann made his directorial debut on "Sunset" following a career as a DP. According to Morden, Ruhlmann brought an "absolute excitement and dedication" to the project. "We’re not afraid to use other people," said Morden, "particularly if we feel the concept is so strong; it’s kind of hard to screw that up. One reason we like Danny is that he has a great eye [in terms of] designing frames. And as simple as it is, there’s a lot in there that he’s brought to the party."
Ruhlmann related that the strong idea made it quite easy for him to visualize the spot. "From my point of view, the idea was so strong that it was a matter of executing it, rather than helping to mold it."
The commercial was shot in South Africa at Lindberg Lodge, Wolmaransstad, located three hours outside Johannesburg; production services were supplied by Africa Film Services, Capetown. According to Piper executive producer Nick Hippisley-Coxe, who line-produced the job, the location was recommended to him as a non-predatory-game area. He related that they had originally wanted to use the Serengeti Plain, but decided that the wild lions would have restricted their freedom to shoot.
During the five-day filming, Ruhlmann shot a number of sunrises and sunsets. The job’s biggest challenge, he said, was the giraffes. "We needed to be patient," reported Ruhlmann. "We had animals that were relatively well behaved and we managed to get them into the area where we were shooting. We sat there in the long grass for days at a time, waiting for them to react and create some kind of personality and interaction with the car that we were visualizing behind them." This paid off in one sequence in the final version, where the second giraffe appears to be watching the car as it drives over the sun.
Ruhlmann said they filmed the Jeep driving over a mound simulating the sun, having constructed the mound out of dirt from an adjacent diamond mine. "We were lucky to find the diamond mine," he noted. "It was tricky to find areas we could shoot the car in; we needed something almost like a studio environment. We couldn’t shoot the car with any foreground long grass. We shot the car driving over the mound in such a way that we felt we’d be able to position it [appropriately] in the frame. The other tricky thing was just to find the angles [and match them with the angles] that we were shooting everything else at."
Everything in the spot—skies, sun, car, grassy foreground, giraffes—was shot separately as a live-action element. These were then composited together in the post process, which was done at London-based The Mill. The end result is a compelling commercial, said Morden. "If you watch it enough, you’ll see things in there that are so cool," he added. "For instance, how the suspension is articulated on the Jeep as it gets up onto the sun. And as it goes down onto the ground again, if you watch the Jeep action, it pitches and yaws a little bit. Just those little nuances … there are enough real things in the spot, that there’s a certain amount of suspended disbelief. We look at it as being so almost believable that you forget they had to use a computer to do it."
Angelina Jolie To Receive Gothams Performer Tribute For “Marie”
The Gotham Film & Media Institute has announced that Academy Award®-winner Angelina Jolie will receive the Performer Tribute for her performance as Maria Callas in Pablo Larrain’s upcoming film Maria, at the 34th edition of The Gothams, taking place on Monday, December 2, at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. The tribute will honor Jolie’s rendition of legendary opera singer Callas.
“Like the legendary figure she portrays, Angelina Jolie transcends mere performance to craft something extraordinary. Her interpretation captures both Maria Callas’ complexity as an artist and the cultural resonance that defines an icon,” said Jeffrey Sharp, executive director of The Gotham. “We are thrilled to celebrate what is truly one of Ms. Jolie’s career-defining performances in the final installment of Pablo Larrain’s magnificent trilogy.”
Maria follows Callas, one of the most iconic performers of the 20th century, as she retreats to Paris after a glamorous and tumultuous life in the public eye. The film reimagines the legendary soprano in her final days as the diva reckons with her identity and life. Written by Steven Knight, with cinematography by Ed Lachman and costumes by Massimo Cantini Parrini, Maria has Jolie joined by a star-studded cast including Alba Rohrwacher (Hungry Hearts, Happy As Lazzaro), Pierfrancesco Favino (Padrenostro, Adagio), Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog, Dolemite Is My Name), and Valeria Golino (For Your Love, The Beautiful Game). Marie premiered to critical acclaim at the Venice Film Festival and Jolie’s performance continues to stun audiences at the New York Film Festival, London Film Festival and the AFI Fest. Maria will be in... Read More