Your favorite ads

Filip Plesha · June 14, 2006

I've notice that a lot of people like ads, but mostly for the humour, and they consider a "good" ad, a funny one

But since members of this forum are more "artistic" people, let's discuss ads from

a cinematic angle.

What's your top 3 TV/cinema ads (feel free to mention more than 3)

in terms of cinematography, editing, music, art direction etc. ?

Please briefly explain why that specific ad is great to you.

If you can't think of 3 , two or one will do

June 14, 2006

http://www.beam.tv/beamreels/reel_player.p...file=RMXFVdsJRG

Adam Frisch FSF · June 14, 2006

There are many. Ivan Zacharias who directed the ad Hoyte linked to is a brilliant director - he hasn't done a bad one yet. Check him out at:

http://www.stink.tv

Top British director Peter Thwaites at Gorgeous did this beautifully dark ad for Audi

a couple of years ago - it's still a reference piece. Can't remember the DP's name, but I think he's a Czech

guy:

http://www.adamfrisch.com/Audi.mov

Another solid director is American Noam Murro at Biscuit Filmworks. His Got Milk? ad was shot by

Stefan Czapsky, ASC:

http://www.adamfrisch.com/gotmilk.mov

Another good, moody ad from Noam is this one (don't know the DP):

http://www.tonypetersenfilm.de/filme/prod_olympus_baby.mov

The cinematography in this Samsonite ad blew me away when I firts saw it. It was shot by french DP

Stéphane Vallée:

http://www.adamfrisch.com/samsonite.mov

Another french DP, David Ungaro (who I used to share agent with a couple of years ago), shot this beautiful reference piece De Beers ad:

http://www.david-ungaro.com/visuel_fixe.asp?img_id=3#

And generally, if you feel like getting depressed at how good their work is, try these french DP's out at their agent's website. Especially look at Patrick Duroux, AFC - annoyingly good, sigh.......

http://www.cosmicparis.com/

This Smirnoff ad was shot by LA-based fellow Swede, Carl Nilsson, FSF for director Fredrik Bond. Very nicely lit.

http://www.marshallstreet.co.uk/movie_page...mov&spot_id=364

Another LA-based Swede, Crille Forsberg, FSF lit this low-light natural spot for Jake Scott at RSA:

http://www.boardsmag.com/screeningroom/commercials/2331/

There are, of course, millions of ad's that are nicely lit. Unfortunately the nature of commercials often preclude darker ideas, hence the abundance of over-lit, bright, cheery ads that tend to grate you. But as I've said in some threads before - ultimaltely your work as a DP is reliant on the basic idea and its execution. A good ad that's not spectacularly lit will get you further than a bad ad lit brilliantly, so quality counts.

Stuart McCammon · June 14, 2006

Given the zillions of well-lit, diffused, coiffed ads there are, give me any Budweiser ad ever produced and I will be ecstatically happy, thank you very much)

The best, though, has to be the Budweiser ad with the chick from Meatloaf's "Paradise By The Dashboard Light" video.

June 14, 2006

Not a favourite ad, but certainly a popular and overplayed one over here:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=CFLBvLxLJMI&search=hovis%20

Directed by Ridley Scott, photographed I believe by Brian Tufano, please correct me if I'm wrong.

John Holland · June 14, 2006

Not a favourite ad, but certainly a popular and overplayed one over here:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=CFLBvLxLJMI&search=hovis%20

Directed by Ridley Scott, photographed I believe by Brian Tufano, please correct me if I'm wrong.

Idont think Mr Tufano shot that , not sure , but more like Frank Tidy or Derek Van Lint . :blink: john holland.

Andy_Alderslade · June 14, 2006

I have fond childhood memories of the 'Nicole' car adverts i think directed by Michael Seresin.

Wendell_Greene · June 14, 2006

A few that come to mind:

Nike "Freestyle" - directed by Paul Hunter- Hip hop symphony on the hardwood

Sony Playstation -"War" & "Duel". directed/dp'd by Keith Rose - great cinematography. "War" calls to mind the scene in "Platoon" when Sgt Elias is killed. Whereas "Duel" pays homage to the rain soaked wooden Katana beating Tom Cruise gets in "The Last Samurai"

Peugeout -"Toys" Directed by Phillipe Andre, DP David Ungaro.

VW- "Pink Moon" Dayton and Faris directed this and Lance Acord was the DP. Great day for night photography and the perfect blending of music [Nick Drake] with visuals

Adidas -"Hello Tomorrow" - director Spike Jonze - DP: Ellen Kuras. This spot comes as close to capturing the seamless transitions of someone's dreams as anything I've seen.

Anything by Noam Murro [starbucks "Glen" and Got Milk's "Birthday"] Charles Stone III [budweiser's Wassup!] Brian Beletic and Craig Gillespie and David Fincher.

Max Jacoby · June 14, 2006

Tim

That is a pretty corny commercial by Messrs Scott and Tufano or whoever shot it...

One of my favourties is Chris Cunningham's for Orange Photo messaging. It uses flo-mo (which is a really overdone effect ) in a really new and creative way by taking long exposures that blur the movement in an otherwise frozen space. The music by Add (N) to (X) also helps. You can find it on the RSA films website.

June 14, 2006

Tim

That is a pretty corny commercial by Messrs Scott and Tufano or whoever shot it...

HIDEOUS, isn't it?

I'm pretty sure Tufano shot it, I remember reading in a Sight and Sound special on him five years ago. He did a bit of work with Scott (shot the screen tests for ALIEN among other things) and was a premiere commericals DP in the 70s/80s.

Maybe we can dig up some of the Ken Loach and Mike Leigh McDonalds commercials too! ;)

The "vision" of British cinema...

Filip Plesha · June 15, 2006

I guess it's my turn

My two favorites are:

1. Peugeot 407 Toys (the first one with "Can you trust me" song).

I like the colors somehow, it feels very warm due to plasticky colors of the toy cars, plus it was graded very colorfull anyway.

2. Levi's engineered jeans, twisted to fit

This is my all time favorite. It reminds me of something, but I just can't put my finger on it.

It just feels so Levi's.

I like the early morning light progression. It starts as night, then blue predawn light, then it sort of lightens up, specially in the longer version where it was graded a bit differently.

It has these quick cuts, very shalow focus, handheld camera.

I've seen the making of featurette. The plates/dailies look so different from what we saw on TV.

Also, once I've asked about how was this ad shot (format), and in the featurette the camera

is shown, so it sort of answers my question. But just to be sure I'll ask you guys here:

is that Arri 535?

http://ww1.pureupload.com/public/5440/camera.jpg

Edited June 15, 2006 by Filip Plesha

John Allardice · June 15, 2006

HIDEOUS, isn't it?

I'm pretty sure Tufano shot it, I remember reading in a Sight and Sound special on him five years ago. He did a bit of work with Scott (shot the screen tests for ALIEN among other things) and was a premiere commericals DP in the 70s/80s.

Maybe we can dig up some of the Ken Loach and Mike Leigh McDonalds commercials too! ;)

The "vision" of British cinema...

Heathans...you see these spots as cheesy or corny, but at the time (30 years ago, remember that) they were fresh, evocative, nostalgic and gorgeous.

There was maybe 3 or 4 guys in the world doing ad work that actually looked as if they cared about the work. The Scotts, Alan Parker & Hugh Hudson were the apex of the industry then. Jeezus, the Scotts are still up there 3 decades later.

Max Jacoby · June 15, 2006

But just to be sure I'll ask you guys here:
is that Arri 535?

Yep.

Keith Mottram · June 15, 2006

Adds are evil. But okay in my youth, when believe it or not I was even shallower than I am now, I worshiped one particular advert- 'Unexpected' by Tony Kaye. I even wrote an essay on it for art school. It was and still is in my opinion the ultimate commercial, it bordered on art, one a shitload of awards and is in MOMA's permanent collection! It also created the modern concept of TK grading and had a velvet underground soundtrack, plus a falling grand piano and a BMW skidding on ball bearings in the California desert. Tony Kaye then went on to make a series of scintilating adverts for Volvo before getting kicked out of his edit suite on American History X and disapearing up his amazingly tallented rectum. He also shot all of these as well I believe and I for one cannot wait to see his next piece of work as Snowblind his last film (2002) disapeared without a trace...

Keith

June 15, 2006

Heathans...you see these spots as cheesy or corny, but at the time (30 years ago, remember that) they were fresh, evocative, nostalgic and gorgeous.
There was maybe 3 or 4 guys in the world doing ad work that actually looked as if they cared about the work. The Scotts, Alan Parker & Hugh Hudson were the apex of the industry then. Jeezus, the Scotts are still up there 3 decades later.

They were tedious, empty and all about form. Even Ronnie Barker ripped that Hovis ad apart with a hilarious spoof when it was released! Take away the nice lighting and overzealous art direction and it's just as soulless as any 50s soap commercial. Exploitative romantic faux social realist garbage- it was filmed in Dorset for God's sakes! Adam Frisch and I have debated this one for ages and I still don't rate any of it. That whole movement set the rot in and we'll never fully recover.

Adds are evil. But okay in my youth, when believe it or not I was even shallower than I am now, I worshiped one particular advert- 'Unexpected' by Tony Kaye. I even wrote an essay on it for art school. It was and still is in my opinion the ultimate commercial, it bordered on art, one a shitload of awards and is in MOMA's permanent collection! It also created the modern concept of TK grading and had a velvet underground soundtrack, plus a falling grand piano and a BMW skidding on ball bearings in the California desert. Tony Kaye then went on to make a series of scintilating adverts for Volvo before getting kicked out of his edit suite on American History X and disapearing up his amazingly tallented rectum. He also shot all of these as well I believe and I for one cannot wait to see his next piece of work as Snowblind his last film (2002) disapeared without a trace...

Keith

i love the electric fire ad he did with the mouse, cat and dog. Shame about the car ad with the little girl. That really was evil.

Filip Plesha · June 15, 2006

Well the purpuse of ads is to rip off someone, unless we are talking about some human rights ads or something like that, so in their essence there is nothing soulfull and humane about them anyway, so

what you can do is concentrate on the form, the attractive lighting, the cutting, the style etc.

It is a game, it is filmmakers one oportunity to do whatever crazy thing they want to without having to think about the story etc.

Making movies seems to me like such a restraining thing for a cinematographer, because the cinematography always serves the story. You can't make a movie around lighting, colors etc. You make it around story.

But in commercials and music videos you can do that, you can make a story around lighting, textures and colors.

Plus when you are watching a movie, even if you are pushing some wierd cinematographic look, people get distracted by the actual story, so they don't notice it that much

John Carreon · June 17, 2006

http://www.bravia-advert.com/

A commercial for Sony's new TV monitors I believe...simple and haunting...

I think the visuals and the music are great. Someone just had a cool idea and ran with it...or bounced I should say...(ha ha ha I am witty...sorry)

John

Adam Frisch FSF · June 17, 2006

I must come to the slight defense of advertisements here. There seems to be a general consensus that ads have no cultural value, no redeeming values, are soulless and lack substance. I agree most of them fit this bill, but just like anything else in this world, when they're good, when they transcend and connect, then I think they possess a cultural value that is just as valuable as any other "art".