Category Archives: Experiments in Advertising

‘No Escaping’ Paul Stevenson’s Advertising Experiment for Screen3

It’s a Small – and Quirky – World After All…and a Fun New Spec Commercial

Chime in if you’ve had your fill of spec commercials for novels… but writer/director Chamoun Issa‘s :90 second trailer for the Matt Beaumont novel, Small World, seemed novel to us. A comedic look on contemporary life in London, the book – and trailer – also tapped into our Anglophelia (insert inuendo-joke here).

Other people like this piece, too – it was a winner at this year’s first-ever BookVideo Awards.

Writer/Director: Chamoun Issa
Producer: Minta Townshend
DoP: Suzie Lavelle
Production Designer: Christopher Hone

Director Lanre Olabisi Offers a Pair of Spec Commercials for Yahoo! Personals and Monster.com

Director Lanre Olabisi sent us the following two spec spots, for Yahoo! and Monster.com. Unlike many website ads, these have the right sensibility for the web! We also applaud the creative teams for going out and shooting the spots, as opposed to sitting around talking about it, or lamenting the fact that they never got made.

monster.com

"Pimpin’ Aint Easy"

Director: Lanre Olabisi
Production Company: sugar|travelers
DP: Larry Hillier
Writer: Ella Nemcova
Producer: Lanre Olabisi & Gabriel Sedgwick

Lanre says: "Ella was a writer for Saatchi & Saatchi at the time and this was one of her favorite spots that was never produced. We met up and agreed to make it happen one day."

Yahoo! Personals

"A Better Way"

Lanre says: "It was a cool concept that James Murray had one day while we were brainstorming in NYC and we decided to shoot it. At first he was supposed to be up in a tree, but we thought that a fire escape would work much better."

‘Mr. Pop Up’ – an Ad We Actually WANT To See

Director/Writer/Editor: Adam Lieber
Art Director: Elmi Bardenhorst
Producer: Sally Newsom
DOP: Gary Shaw

Hallmark ‘Black Tear’ is a Dark and Beautiful Experiment in Advertising

Set in a primordial Gothic cemetery, this new Hallmark spec features a lone Victorian woman ghost who searches for the grave of her long-departed friend. "Black Tear" was conceived and directed by filmmaker Daniel Azarian, who set out to create a spot that had a dark and satiric edge complemented by an ethereal and beautiful look.

The inspiration for the spot is one of Azarian’s favorite illustrators, author Edward Gorey, well-known for his sinister yet oddly humorous pen and ink illustrations. "I did an original sketch of the character of the woman, and that is what I based the concept on," Azarian points out. "Her costume was designed and created from scratch in the style from the late Victorian era, but the hair, make-up and jewelry were stylized with a modern edge." Care was placed not to make the aesthetic too Gothic, as Azarian didn’t want to overshadow the product or the story. 

Tech Talk: The spot was shot on Super16mm and transferred to digital data via the Spirit CineData. In color correct, the highlights were blurred to give the spot a mystical quality. This worked out well, especially where the sun peeks out through the leaves, producing a mist-like effect.

Tear Talk: The "Black Tear" was very real. The make-up artist mixed glycerin with black eyeshadow to make a black liquid which was placed in an eyedropper. The actress held her head horizontal so the liquid could be placed close to her eye. One cue, she then tilted her head upright, in front of the pre-postioned camera, and the liquid naturally dropped. For safety reasons, the liquid was actually placed a small distance away from the actress’ eye, and the empty part was filled in digitally in post.

Agency: Underdog Entertainment, New York
Producer/Director: Daniel Azarian
Cinematographer: Milton Kam
Editorial: Namakula
Colorist: John Dowdel
VFX: Pure, New York
Score: Michael Damon

Time to Submit your Spec

Raging Artists is happy to announce that we have formalized the submission process for our Experiments in Advertising program. By visiting our Submit your Spec page, you can now do just that.

We’re looking for any non-commissioned branded content, and if we dig it, we’ll post it. Our goal is to expose this work to the ad community, the trades, and anyone interested in the art of advertising.

Thanks for participating, and we look forward to seeing your stuff!   

Spec Commercial Has ‘Fairies’ Fly Right for Bacardi

"I came up with the idea one night when a friend drug me out to see a burlesque show at the Forty Deuce," recalls director Walter May, who sent us his latest spec, Bacardi "Fairies", which uses sexy sprites to convey a message about responsible drinking. "There is always the obvious tie in with burlesque shows and alcohol, so I wanted to express that in a visually interesting way. I kept on trying to push my idea and ride the line of absurdity until I thought that I could make it more magical if the dancers were hot, sexy fairies that tried to save you from drinking and driving. I felt that the tag line would bring us back to reality in a mischievously fun way."

"The commercial was all shot on Super 35mm by DP Samuel Brownfiled in two shoot days," says May. "The first was a location bar shoot at the Highlands at Hollywood and Highland, where we shot the plates for our dancers. One week later, we shot the dancers on a green screen stage with bar footage as reference. I did a final/dailies transfer with Marshall Plante at the Syndicate. During the offline process, I designed the look of the fairies in Photoshop. I took the footage to Fast Cuts in Dallas for Smoke Editor Nick Mueth and Avid DS Editor Michael Jensen to composite."

Bacardi "Faries" (spec)

Director: Walter May
Production Company: Wild Plum
Executive Producer: Shelby Sexton
Head Of Production: Sandy Haddad