Tourism Australia today launched “Transformation”, a new advertising campaign being rolled out in 22 countries around the world. Baz Luhrmann, known for his movies Moulin Rouge and William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, was responsible for the television and cinema commercials set in New York, Shanghai and Western Australia.
Original music for the New York commercial, Billabong, was composed by Sydney composer and song writer Elliott Wheeler, from sound and music boutique Nylon Studios.
The music for the New York spot was composed and recorded within a 48 hour timeframe in early September. Film directors Baz Luhrmann and Bruce Hunt called Nylon Studios on a Friday night a month before the launch, asking for a demo to be completed by the following Monday. Elliott composed two pieces on the Saturday before recording them with a string ensemble from Sydney Symphony Orchestra on the Sunday morning.
Once the creative team had chosen one of the tracks further work included the addition of multiple layers of piano tracks to create a a signature sound for the main piano melody, and careful sound engineering and mix by Wayne Connolly. Encouraged by warm response to the soundtrack, Wheeler has written an extended version with lyrics recorded by Abby Dobson from Sydney band Leonardo’s Bride.
“We wanted to use strings, but not on such a scale that we’d be dictating to the audience what they were meant to feel, so in the end we went with a much smaller chamber ensemble. We put a lot of energy into finding a balance between the intimacy expressed in the dialogue, and the grandness seen in the cinematography.”
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Gorilla? Really? That saddens me.
Depends on what it was up against, I guess. Not the best, IMHO, but without checking the shortlist I can't possibly say if it deserved it.
:)
Other nominations are listed as:
Title: Here Come The Girls
Agency: Mother
Client: Boots
Title: Space
Agency: Beattie McGuinness Bungay
Client: Coors Brewers
Title: Tan Hong Ming
Agency: Leo Burnett Advertising
Client: Petronas Nasional Berhad
Title: Wind
Agency: Paranoid US
Client: Epuron
Wind was a heck of a lot better, IMHO, and should have won.
Didn't 'Wind' win a Cannes Lion? Nice ad regardless. I couldn't find the others online (recall seeing the Boots one by Mother) but when I do, I'll make a final decision.
Gorilla better? It caught the imagination of the general UK public (let me say: it was emailed, talked about, made front page news - it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't debate it in Parliament, it's not as if they have other, more pressing matters to discuss) so perhaps that swayed the jury?
Who knows? These things throw up some surprises sometimes, other times not. :)
Yes, I believe it has done the award show circuit for the past year already. I thought we had that Boots spot here in the archive, but...I guess not. All the ads are viewable on the D&AD site, if you did want to check it out.
And to your point, I suppose that's true - can't deny that. I guess I just never got why it was supposed to be "all that and a packet of crisps". ;) I'm going to hold up the personal preference card now and walk away. :)
Personal preference comes into it, without a doubt. Feel free to hold that card up and be proud.
I didn't really like Gorilla myself; it was different in some ways (the guilty pleasure of listening to Phil Collins aligned to the guilty pleasure of eating chocolate), but in other ways it really annoyed me. Mainly because it caused a whole new generation of people in my office to start playing Phil Collins' records loudly and that I could have done without.
For that reason alone, I unofficially declare 'Wind' the winner based on statistical research and a thorough discussion of the technical merits of the ads.
That'll show those D&AD people! :)
hahah! You know, I think there have been a few instances where a card like that would come in handy. Perhaps I should go off and create one...and figure out a way to make it billable time. ;)
I suppose for the air drumming aspect of the spot, I just didn't get the whole bit - usually the air drumming for that song comes in at a specific point - not throughout the whole thing, so maybe that's why the connection failed to be as strong for me.
I also need to add Dire Straits to the ironic 80's tunes list that people under 20 in my office love to play.
If I ever go mad with a gun, let this post be a testament to my reasons :)
P.S. I hate guns.
I thought gorilla wasn't about guilty pleasure at all, but "the joy" of just going stark raving mad with the airdrums, which all hetrosexual males* seem to do when that song comes on be they Phil Collins fans or not.
Some songs just do that to people.
(* wild guess, since the girls around here failed to get it. I'm more of an air piano gal myself. Never drums.)
I'm guessing that something so abstract (compared to the product it's selling) is going to mean different things to different people. And yes, why is it always heterosexual men (usually in tops that are too tight for their beer belly) doing it?
Someone do the research, we need to know!
I guess it's because
womenmodels just look silly when they try to drum, like in the wonderbra gorilla spoof.You're forgetting the Robert Palmer Addicted to Love video. Who care if they couldn't play (incidentally, I knew the 'drummer' in that video).
I tend to air-guitar, but occasionally, I've air-drummed. (Once in a blue moon, I'll air-piano). You need to note that I actually play guitar, so it's easy to air guitar. And, I took piano lessons for a short while (my brother was the classical pianist in the family).
I found that I tend to air-drum to Phil Collins a lot more than most other drummers. I don't know why that is. (I saw him play with Genesis, when Peter Gabriel was still the lead singer, at the Tower Theatre [the show was recorded for an album], back in the mid to late seventies).
It's a Phil Collins thing. Everyone (who's ever air drummed) does it to Phil. I used to work with a guy who was a drummer, and his akilles heel would be if I sang this:
"So no one told you life was gonna be this way"
him: *clap clap clapclap!*
me:"Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's D.O.A.!"
It's like that looney tunes tune-thing, you simply can not not do the clapping thing if you have any drumming genes in you.
(lets see if he comes to this thread to kick my ass now. hehe)
You must be selective though. It’s okay to air-drum to Phil Collins as long as it’s to, say, his work on Eno’s Another Green World, or Gabriel-era Genesis, or perhaps (at a push) Peter Gabriel’s third album. It’s not okay to have anything to do with Collins post-genesis, particularly that terrible eighties gated drum sound. That’s that sorted out then. ;)