By Elina Shatkin, September 30, 2003
Click 3x recently produced two new national spots for Cleveland agency Wyse Advertising and its client Federal-Mogul promoting Champion Spark Plugs and Anco Wiper Blades. The studio managed virtually the entire production for each project, providing live action production, special effects shooting, visual effects production, computer animation and motion graphics. It also involved and oversaw the work of its strategic partners, Tall Girl Editorial, Arf & Co., Marshall Grupp Sound Design and Sound Lounge.
The first spot introduces Champion Wire Sets through their use in various makes of race cars. The visuals consist of heavily textured NASCAR footage featuring Champion endorsers Dale Earnhardt Jr., John Andretti, Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart. "They all trust Champion Spark Plugs," reads the graphics, "because they all have the same destination."
All of the NASCAR racing footage derived from stock sources. At Click 3x's behest, Tall Girl editor Dana Boll cut an electrifying montage that featured, in sequence, each of the four drivers and their cars, and ends with a finish line
. Click 3x's compositors manipulated the footage, giving it a gritty texture and colorizing it with a red hue that relates to the product and provides a strikingly unique look.
Additional insert shots were captured by Click 3x director Peter Corbett on a special effects shooting stage at Arf & Company. A real NASCAR vehicle was brought in for the shoot as well as an actor standing in for one of the professional drivers. Corbett captured details of the car as well as close up footage of Champion decals on the car and patches on the driver's uniform. Click 3x designers, meanwhile, produced the graphics, creating titles that animate through the frame dynamically, mimicking the movement of cars speeding along the track.
The Anco spot presented a very different but equally large scale challenge. In a telling demonstration of Anco's new Hydra-Clear wiper blades, the commercial opens with view of a windshield that has been turned into a smeary mess by heavy rain and ineffective wiper blades. After a graphic demonstration of the new product, the focus returns to the windshield, which—now fitted with Anco blades—offers a clear view of children exiting a school bus.
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