Creating evocative narratives using the vast archives of Getty Images is becoming AlmapBBDO's stock in trade.
Getty's stock video footage provides the raw material for the Brazilian agency's new "85 Seconds" ad, which incorporates 105 clips of people doing all sorts of activities to tell a boy-meets/loses/reunites-with-girl story that spans decades of the characters' lives. Directors Joao Simi and Marcos Kotlhar and copywriter Sophie Schoenburg sifted through 4,000 videos and worked for four months on the project, a promotional piece designed to highlight the diversity and scope of Getty's image bank, which contains video footage with a combined running time of approximately two years.
"85 Seconds" is thematically and stylistically similar to "From Love to Bingo," last year's award-wining visual feast from the same client-agency team. That ad used 873 still photos to convey the story of a life in 60 seconds. The follow-up is easily equal to its lauded predecessor, and perhaps even outpaces it to some degree. Both films achieve a poignant universality by using images of different people to portray the same characters at different points in their lives. This makes the narratives seem less about strangers and more like shared experiences in which it's easy to see ourselves. Most movies are about other people—their stories. "From Love" and "85 Seconds" could be our stories, too.
Running 15 still clips per second gave "From Love" its own special flow, but the video in "85 Seconds" perhaps better captures the rush of time—the inexorable progression of years, of chances lost—and if we're lucky, recaptured. Seemingly small moments take on deeper meaning within the broader context of the film. Note the early footage of the kids dragging luggage across a yard and the later scene of a business-suited couple racing through an airport with wheeled cases in tow. Innocence is lost as life's baggage accumulates; what was once a game is now the harried pace of adulthood.
The above-and-below split-screen of their separate travails and misadventures play with time and space via a detour into the hippie-era 1960s. It's an unexpected move that adds a dimension of timelessness. The finale shows men and women rushing into each other's arms, finding the comfort and connection we all crave. This closing sequence doesn't feel clichéd because it speaks to such a basic human need, and its length, a full quarter of the video, underscores the primal importance of such bonding.
Ultimately, both "85 Seconds" and "From Love to Bingo" transcend their promotional missions, which enhances their value as advertisements. They offer superior branded content and profoundly moving pictures.
CREDITS
Client: Getty Images
Agency: AlmapBBDO, Brazil
General Creative Directors: Marcello Serpa, Luiz Sanches
Creative Directors: André Kassu, Marcos Medeiros, Renato Simões, Bruno Prosperi
Creatives: Marcos Kotlhar, Sophie Schoenburg
Agency Producers: Vera Jacinto, Rafael Motta, Charles Nobili
Production Company: ZOLA
Directors: João Simi, Marcos Kotlhar
Head of Art: Gustavo Vockos
Research: Marcos Kotlhar, João Simi, Procuradoria de Filmes, Beto Araújo, Sacha Bastos, Gustavo Vockos
Motion: Marcos Kotlhar, João Simi, Daniel Lemos, Rafael França
Music: Satélite
Music Producer: Kito Siqueira, Roberto Coelho
Editor: Beto Araújo, Sacha Bastos
Executive Producer: Jimmy Palma
Post Production: CLAN vfx
Project Manager: Markinhos Fagundes, Claudio Costa
Production: Amelinha Lobo, Pedro Bueno
Account Supervisor: Cristina Chacon, Tássia Massumi Nishida
Media: Paulo Camossa, Patricia Moreton
Advertiser's Supervisor: Renata Simões