Thought provoking

Compiled by Christine Wong

The Skinny

Australia’s national newspaper, the Australian, needed a TV commercial to launch a new look. The market was Australia wide and aimed to position the Australian as the serious newspaper for thinking people.

The idea was to shoot well known Australian’s asking the viewer pointed questions directly to the camera. They ask: “When was the last time you were inspired? When did you stop asking questions? When did you discover you could influence others? When did you last read the Australian?”

The concept was developed by the Brand shop’s creative director Monty Noble and further enhanced by director Rodd Martin. The provocative approach was readily accepted by the client, who were very supportive during the entire production.

The Production

The director wanted a very graphic look and decided to use black and white with a classic high contrast look like the Hollywood film noir feature films of the 1950s. This involves much more then turning down the chroma in post. DP Peter Moss who has shot features in black and white was hired and he concentrated on strong compositions with contrasting lighting.

Normally 35mm would be the choice to obtain the film noir look, but due to budget constraints and the fact that long takes were required with people not used to being in front of a camera, so the team went for digital shooting.

The team decided to use the Red mainly due to the fact it had a full 35mm sensor and could use the highest quality prime lenses.

The Red allowed the agency to review the shooting on location via a HD monitor with the chroma turned to zero to simulate the final black and white look. The results surprised many, and after the final grade it is difficult to see how 35mm shooting could have given much visible difference. But it’s worth noting that a Red can’t simply substitute for 35mm, as careful attention must be paid to the lighting when shooting digital. Unlike 35mm, many things can’t be fixed in the grade. Peter Moss’s experience with both black and white and digital shooting is what made the end result so close to 35mm.

The talents were real people shot in their own familiar surroundings, including Australia’s most famous chef Tetsuya in the kitchen of his world renowned restaurant, wine maker James Halliday at his vineyard, Major General Peter Cosgrove at his home, Olympic swimming champion Grant Hackett by a pool and author/broadcaster Phillip Adams with his famous collection of Egyptian art.

James Halliday proved the most difficult shooting situation. Violent storms prevented us shooting with the beautiful Yarra Valley vineyard as the background so we shot inside the winery. The storm noise was a problem for sound and the rapidly changing exterior light – which helped illuminate the interior – meant many delays and constant re-lighting. Shooting took place over four days in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

The Post

The major challenge for post production was to craft the look the director and DP wanted. Engine’s Lee Sandiford worked closely with Peter Moss over a day grading the raw files. Pushing the contrast to extreme levels also involved extensive windowing to keep all elements of the scene within broadcast limits. Apart from the radical grading we wanted to rely on classic filmmaking without any post-production tricks, and let the talent “sell” the idea.

“Many in the industry have commented on how these spots stand out and dominate an ad break, thanks to their visual impact and simplicity. We got the look we wanted. The Red camera was considerably more economical then 35mm shooting with an overall saving of around US$40,000, and proved that it can be used successfully on ‘prestige’ productions. We couldn’t have hoped for a better result,” said producer Les Luxford.