Paul Middleditch // Plaza Films
TREATMENT
Paul Middleditch // Plaza Films
TREATMENT
HYUNDAI I30 This is a brilliantly odd and funny idea. It’s a wonderful visual interpretation of a classic metaphor – his head is literally somewhere else – miles away daydreaming/fantasizing about a ride in the i30. When we finally come to see the man’s body, we realize that the place his head is at, is a far better one than his body. What we have here is a fantastic balance of showcasing the car, a simply quirky idea and brilliant performance. The concept is totally surreal on one hand, whilst playing on the traditional car commercial.
TREATMENT
Paul Middleditch // Plaza Films
Story/Tone To make it really funny, we have to play the filmmaking classic and straight so that the fantastical juxtaposition of a weird and wonderful floating head feels unique and funny but almost kind of strangely normal. We must seduce the audience into the story thinking that they are watching just another straight car commercial. We open on beautiful sweeping car shots on a stunning coastal road before we see our guys, hanging together, carefree and happy. The more natural and credible it feels in the set up, the odder and funnier it will be. It should not feel like a fantasy sequence at all because that could make it tend towards cheesy. It needs to be clever, contemporary and slick. The first reveal of the ad is of course when we see the driver in fact has no body and is just a strange floating/driving head, doing all the same things that a bodied head would do. I imagine that the first time we see him, is a shot in the side mirror, having a great time with his buddies. We can only see his head, which is normal for this kind of shot – nothing weird. The reveal would be a shot from the front, through the windscreen – a three shot where the world all looks normal, except for the fact the driver is just a floating head, perfectly integrated into the world around him. Inside the car, everything suggests that his buddies are oblivious to this fact.
TREATMENT
Paul Middleditch // Plaza Films
What might make this even funnier is if there was a conversation taking place in the car – just something spontaneous and everyday – but I think it will make it more grounded than just having smiling heads in a car. It’s almost like a scene from a film - mates in a car, having a great time so I imagine their chat would be mucking around about sport, girls or something on the weekend. I’d love to play around with this during the audition – having the guys ad lib and come up with some naturally funny banter. The humour can be really pushed with observing and replicating the subtle gestures and mannerisms we make when we are driving, but all without a body. The audience are filling in the gaps so speak, interpreting the head movements to imagine his body. I think it’s funny that he leans gently into the corners as he rounds the bends. Perhaps he positions his head slightly into the breeze after the window is opened, hair blowing behind him. He could adjust the rear view mirror to see his friend in the back seat, having a great time – gestures that show natural engagement and enjoyment in driving the car. We are really pushing the surreal nature of the idea, whilst still making sense. To get us back to the office I thought it could be great if the guy in the back seat ruffles his hair and we hear him say “Terry… Terry”. Then we cut to the office and the same guy is saying “Are you there?” to the headless body. I think this will make a
TREATMENT
Paul Middleditch // Plaza Films
really funny and smooth transition back to reality. I imagine he sitting on an office chair that is close to the window so he can see the car, and he should be leaning his chin onto his hand. So when we come back, we just see the headless body and elbow resting on the chair in position as if the head was resting on it. The delivery of his line is vital to making the climax utterly hilarious. I think he should definitely say “Sorry, my head was somewhere else” just after his head had popped itself back onto his body. His performance should be absolutely dry and understated – played in a very nonchalant and witty way, suitably sheepish. When the meeting begins again, his head turns slowly around 180 degrees to get out of there again. The head then lands back into shot into the car and he’s back in the drivers seat. Perhaps his buddy says a line like “just left here mate” as if continuing the ride. The meeting room should be a middle level office – quite uninspired but shouldn’t feel as drab as “The Office”. There’s natural light from the window that he can see down to the carpark where the i30 is parked.
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Paul Middleditch // Plaza Films
The execution of the head… Clearly this is paramount to the success of this ad. I think we should play it as just the head (cut off at the chin) floating in the drivers seat. Everything else should be perfectly normal and natural so the head is exquisitely odd. The more “normal” it feels, the more we can push the humour so it’s absurd, but not ridiculous. It also ties in with the concept of “my head was somewhere else” When we are back in the office, as I said in story notes, the body should be sitting on his chair, elbow resting on the chair and hand as if a chin was resting on it. When his head comes back, it “pop’s” back on to his shoulder, as if it has come from behind his body, like a cat jumping onto a bench – seamless and quick. The actor has to just sit into the position, head coming up and over. These are clever sight gags, simply executed so you never see the effects but work really well. It’s like in the Pure Blonde ad I did with the guy plucking a dove from the air and opening the bottle – quick and funny.
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Paul Middleditch // Plaza Films
Technical notes The visual effects must be absolutely top notch for this to be funny. It has to feel seamless and absolutely real to make the most of the hilariously ludicrous concept. We would use a precision driver for the wide car shots and dress them in a colour that will match the colour of the seats. This way he will appear as a head and drive with hands hidden and so when shooting the wide shots we can move camera around so it looks like his head floating. In post we can add reflections of sky/clouds etc on the windscreen as we need. For the interiors, we’d shoot on a low loader and do two passes of each shot on a locked camera. The first pass would be of the natural action and dialogue and then we’d shoot exactly the same in anther pass, but this time with he actors ducked out of shot. This would allow us to get matching moving background plates avoiding the use of green screen. We would then cut out his body and replace the same background where his body would have been. To address the issue of the driver wearing a seatbelt, we can create a 3D seatbelt that will sit over the top. We can create some hand held motion and lens flare in post production to give it a dynamic that makes it look like it’s happening real time in camera. Any elements around his neck or chin will be cleaned up and replaced with 2D fix ups. It would be ideal if the actor had slightly longer hair around his collar so we don’t have to do too much cleaning up around the back of his head. It absolutely must look completely real, odd and amazing to leave the audience wondering how we did it. We don’t want it to look CG – no matte lines so it looks completely believable. In theory we should have our guy in a dark body suit that perfectly matches the colour of the fabric on the seat behind. TREATMENT
Paul Middleditch // Plaza Films
Visually It should be photographed in a beautifully slick way, with all the characteristics of a high-end car commercial. It must have a contemporary, sexy look – off the shoulder observed style with a bit of lens flare, dynamic angles and beautiful light. The car has to look fabulous in the wide sweeping shots and we also need to get some nice cutaways that reflect the great interior and exterior features. I’d work with a world class cinematographer who is experienced in shooting cars and comedy so we can create a really modern, slick look. There’s a section of coastal road south of Sydney that looks spectacular and would also be practical for the purpose of displaying the car
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Paul Middleditch // Plaza Films
Casting/Performance The casting of the lead guy particularly is very important. I imagine he’s good looking but not too good looking, in his late 20’s/early 30’s. He’s the kind of guy that makes you smile when you see him – has a cheekiness and boyishness about him, loves going out with his mates. He’s the guy in the office with the sense of humour and an easy going charisma. He’s kind of like a Labrador with his head in the breeze out the window - having the time of his life in his head, with his head. We must cast really great actors, particularly our lead, with great subtly funny facial expressions. His performance and body language should be absolutely real and natural. Those slight, imagined body (head) movements will make this hilarious as he sets himself up in the car for comfort and entertainment – opening the sunroof, adjusting the music etc. The delivery of his line at the end when he’s snapped back into reality has to be perfectly timed, dry and witty for the pun to come off as clever and smart. It would be great to audition the three guys together to get a feeling of how they interact naturally. We want it to feel easy and carefree so they can ad lib and fun have fun together. This is a fun car, somewhere to escape to and we want to feel like they’re having a riper of a time!
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Paul Middleditch // Plaza Films