No Image, Commercial Breaks

2011, HD Video, 16:9 aspect ratio

The No Image Commercials were originally conceived as a back-story for the girlfriend character (played by Busy Gangnes) in the No Image performance who mysteriously dies. The idea was to imagine this character as having a career as an actress and so she lives on in these commercial sequences. We drew from the narrative this idea that she committed suicide because she was tired of being a stay at home girlfriend. We wanted the commercials to reflect the sensibility of the stay-at-home mom.

We find that commercials targeting this demographic are very depressing. They speak to a solitary female and suggest all of the things that are lacking or need improvement in her life. You aren’t happy enough, your house smells bad, your hair doesn’t have enough bounce. We wanted to use the language and production value of high end commercials to promote these thoughts. To achieve this we worked with a team of directors, animators, photographers, stylists, and hair + makeup artists who were well versed in the language of commercials.

Artist/photographer Shinichi Maruyama and his team captured the high speed camera live action footage. Stylist Alice Bertay created a house wife inspired by typical Hassidic clothing. Co-director Jonathan Turner created all of the camera movement and 3d animation while co-director Alan Bibby assembled the pieces into the final composition and added the final coat of polish. Finally Busy Gangnes created the soundtrack, attempting to use the emotional effect of a new age sound aesthetic to pull at your heart strings and encourage the consumer to take the pill.

The Pharmaceutical Commercial references an amalgamation of commercials targeting everything from ant-depressants to Glade air fresheners. We were most interested in an existing commercial that presented a dilemma between the comfort of being inside and the dangerous, allergy-filled outside. Only a drug could help you bridge the gap. We thought this really connected with the depressed girlfriend character and her dilemma with her relationship. She was seemingly stuck inside and powerless to get out. The product the commercial is selling helps the consumer straddle that line in a state of harmony (or confinement). The room setting, designed by Shawn Maximo, incorporates objects from past, present and future Yemenwed projects. This helps to tie it further into the narrative taking place as viewers can see the similarity between the items on stage and in the commercial.

Credits:

Direction & Animation – Alan Bibby & Jonathan Turner
Production – Mitsu Hagiwara
Cinematography – Shinichi Maruyama
Editing – Andrew Borin
Styling – Alice Bertay
Hair – Damian Monzillo
Makeup – Agata Helena
Performance – Busy Gangnes
Choreography – Busy Gangnes & Gloria Maximo
Music – Busy Gangnes, Justin Simon & Timothy DeWit
CG Modeling – Shawn Maximo & Jonathan Turner
CG Animation – Jonathan Turner
Flame Artist – Russell Mack
Flower Animation & Modeling – Sean Capone
Production Assistance – Tomoya Hara, Yoshito Niikura, Satoshi Motoda & Kiriko Sano