Walker Zurich turns a bad hair day into a metaphor. Commuters are getting robbed every day by a nasty thief who steals your morning time. Those extra precious minutes that would have contributed to your grooming are snatched away, leaving you to run for the train and arrive to work disheveled. And it happens to everyone-- except the SYOSS girl of course. She looks fabulous as always. While this spot would have benefitted from a shorter edit (a 45 second version would have been more than enough) the technique is fun and the film looks great. Kudos to the DP.
Agency Walker Zurich Pius Walker: Creative Director Account Director: Cornelia Nünlist Writer: Roger Beckett Art Director: Stefanie Huber Strategy & Concepts: Catherine Elf CEO (Inhalt&Form): Dominik Stibal Creative Director (Inhalt&Form): Karin Estermann Project Manager (Inhalt&Form): Manuela Marty Marketing Manager (Henkel Beauty Care): Christian Volk Executive Producers (Cobblestone): Pieter Lony & Juri Wiesner Director of Photography (Cobblestone): Joachim Zuncke First Assistant Director (Cobblestone): Franziska Krentzien Director of Photography: Joachim Zuncke Lighting (Cobblestone): Philipp Gerhardt Styling: Imke Hille Hair/Make Up/Special Effects: Nadin Wagner Editor: Alex Kutka Compositing Artist: Sven Schönmann Postproduction Supervisor: Tanja Bruhn Sound design: Michael Krüger & Christopher Szillat Music: Lukas McNally & Tim Knapp
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Good insight, I have stared at the perfect hair girl during my morning commute (and Friday I was the perfect hair girl people stared at. Internet High five!)
The commute shots were rather amusing, the sudden astronaut was a nice touch, but as you say it could have been a little shorter.
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PermalinkThanks for posting! I'm all up for shortening things. Let's have a butchers and make it better. What scene to start with?
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PermalinkI'd cut out some of the gratuitous shots (astronaut shot, dog, extra shots of people running. The old guy with the white hair shows up in like three or four shots. The bicycle shot is distracting. I might lose two or three three seconds off the opening running shot. But the simpler answer is to cut an edit without some of the voice over at the end because it starts to belabor the point.
Heres what I'd keep:
VO: My daily commute is a thief. A burglar who steals away my precious time. A mugger who lies in wait for me. Waits until I’m half awake and then quite brazenly robs me of my morning. “Please no, not again,” I cry. But my commute is cruel. It shows no mercy, it steals my breakfast, my long hot shower, and that priceless me time I need to do my hair. Yes, it takes that, too. Heartless. I don’t want to arrive looking like this. I want to strive through the office with a mane of golden fire. I want to turn heads, raise heartbeats, taunt ex-lovers…I wanna be….her.
That's where I'd stop. That last sentence is your hero sentence. We're now at 51 seconds, which means you still have time for product/logo and letting the VO breathe. The part down below isn't necessary in my opinion. Besides, it starts veering into a female jealousy trope that seems old-fashioned.
There she is again. The mystery girl. With the perfect hair. Why is she spared her morning glory. Where is her head of shame? Look at us. Lost souls bound for bad hair central. What witchcraft sets her apart from us mere mortals?
I'd lose that paragraph and then I think it would be stronger, not to mention shorter.
What do you think?
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PermalinkI'd do a 60 not 45 though because I think it needs the rising crescendo (time) of crap morning before beautiful hair reveal.
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Permalink*sobs* But I love the astronaut!! It's so irreverent! Dangit!
I hear you on the possibilities of dropping lines at the end. It works perfectly with "I want to be... her" and then we see our gorgeous hair lady.
At the same time, I enjoy longer ads so I would want a 60 still. I don't think this would work as a 45.
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PermalinkThe part where I'd cut the VO would be at the 51 second mark. Figure an extra 3-5 for logo, etc, and you're only a fe extra shots away. So if you reaaaaalllly love the astronaut you can keep it. But conceptually-- astronauts wear helmets that are reflective, ergo you don't know how their hair looks. I'd rather keep the dog, at least you can see their hair.
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PermalinkThis banter about the ad is almost as good as the ad.
I really like the ad, it's very different for the genre and the quirky details like that ugly dog really make it visually entertaining.
Your discussion is interesting too because it made me look at the ad with new eyes. It's a really good insight, but now I also see the many good choices in execution. I like how dreary everyone's commute looks overall. And the sound is great!
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Permalink"very different for the genre" - yes! This! It blows the usual wavy hair shiny happy people shit away. I find that really refreshing. I am the target, since I have long hair, and they got me with that great hair envy insight. Good job. Might get something in Cannes if they had time to submit it.
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