Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/22819
to prep the shoot and three weeks of post to accomplish 67 VFX shots for The Mission, the first spot in the campaign.With a schedule as aggressive as this, everyone needed to hold hands and be on the same page from the very beginning.” For The MissionWade flies over Miami with a jetpack, lands on a moving but rider-less motorcycle, skims under a jackknifed tanker truck and crashes through a glass wall.“We prevized this spot exten- sively, working with Noam, Animal Logic and the client in terms of what needed to be achieved creatively and also with the production department leads — production design, stunt coordinators, etc. — to know what could or couldn’t be achieved and visualizing some of the more technical se- quences,” Blaney reports. “This meant that, going into the shoot, everyone knew what to expect and how the various sequences would ultimately cut together.We were adjusting the previz right up until the day before the shoot, reacting to comments, feedback and logistical realities.” Even performance-driven, dialogue spots benefit from early involvement by post vendors, although Blaney doesn’t want to hang over an editor’s shoulder.“There are certain editors who are great at cutting comedy, performance and dialogue,” he notes.“I definitely encourage and support the director-editor relationship here as well, as long as there is collaboration between all involved. “We recently finished work on an ESPN Monday Night Football campaign with director Tom Kuntz. He often works with editor Gavin Cutler of [New York City’s] Mackenzie Cutler. I ap- preciate that working relationship and know their collaboration con- tributes significantly to making the best film. I also think it’s important to give the editor and director the opportunity and space to craft the spot and present it to the agency.” Although tight schedules may require an editor to be on set dur- ing production, Blaney believes most editors would rather not be there.“I think they prefer to look at the film with an objective eye. There are lots of conversations that happen on a shoot and having an editor look at the footage without that background gives them the freedom they need to create the best work,” he says. Overall, Blaney believes the agency/post house relationship works well when “you involve everyone as early as possible and are upfront and straightforward” so everyone knows what the job re- quires.“When you work together to find the best creative solution, you inevitably have success. It’s a formula based upon communica- tion that works.” BURFORD ADVERTISING Doug Burford, president of Burford Advertising/Richmond (www.burfordadvertising.com), concedes that his 40-year-old, fam- ily-run agency “doesn’t operate like other agencies do.”The com- pany doesn’t hire vendors based on reels or bids, relying instead on we write a script, which is still subject to change as we go into pro- duction,” Burford explains. Richmond-based charity Childsavers was having trouble driving people to the organization’s Website to learn more about who they are, what they do and how to donate. Burford built on his concept of a campaign showing true stories of abused, neglected and aban- doned children — each spot ending with a cliffhanger.To find out what happened to the youngsters, viewers would have to go to www.childsavers.org. “We shot four spots with 35 scenes in different locations in Vir- ginia in one day,” he recalls. Jack Hartmann of Richmond’s Studio 108, a full-service production, editorial and audio company, directed with Graham Copeland serving as DP. “Post is so important.We may develop a look or logo or anima- tion, but we don’t supply storyboards for the editors,” says Burford. “We let them go, and they come back with something better than we envisioned every time! We let them do what they do best; we don’t micromanage.” He followed that methodology for the Childsavers spots, outlin- ing “what we were thinking, but not sitting in on editorial.They un- derstood what we were trying to achieve so we let them run with it and use their creativity to get the pacing down and tell the stories.” Graham Copeland edited the spots at Studio 108. He manipu- lated the color grading to reflect the mood of each vignette as the child’s story unfolded, starting with a desaturated color palette as the child’s plight was revealed and transitioning to warmer tones as his or her situation took a turn for the better. Studio 108 also han- dled audio post in its Digidesign Pro Tools 8 suite. Viewers who are intrigued by the TV spots for the charity and visit the Website see a reprise of the :30 commercial plus a transi- tion to a new :30 segment that shows how the child was rescued. “They started to air a few weeks ago and so far the results have been incredible: People are going to the Website and spending a lot of time there — it’s off the chart,” Burford reports. “We use this same process for 15 different accounts,” he empha- Wieden & Kennedy’s “Dominate Another Day” campaign for Nike. sizes.“We probably have the best results with direct-response ad- vertising in the country, but the same technique works for retail ser- vices and other clients.” www.postmagazine.com January 2011 • Post 33 Childsavers: Burford Advertising called on Studio 108 to shoot and post spots promoting this Richmond-based charity. the agency’s own experience “knowing who can best produce the creative vision we’re looking for.We’ll tell them what the client is prepared to spend, and if [the production company] agrees, we be- come one with the production house.” Spot creative is developed very collaboratively with “everyone at the agency involved with the account and everyone in the produc- tion crew. Sitting in a big room, we’re open to all the ‘what ifs.’Then