2015 Superbowl Commercials [many embeds]

Don't wanna detract from the <ahem> message, but I'll bet my first few hundred burgers from McDonalds and its early rivals were free from antibiotics, steroids, and added hormones.

 

Definitely.

 

I still say that weather can be worse, especially if your budget forces you to shoot locally. In the early 90's, I was directing multiple outdoor shoots for a lengthy project in the Summer, that ran into delays, pushing the remaining work into the fall. I figured we were still safe shooting the final cover for this national magazine in October, in the upper Midwest.

Bad weather, overcast skies and rain continued to delay the shoot, until the last straw, we got 30 inches of snow on Halloween, (when often we're lucky to have a white Christmas). But I didn't have any choice, there were no practical alternatives (editorial budgets being what they are), we shoveled the snow off the grass! We did an artistic spray-paint job on the grass, (to help the later retouching).

I had actors in Summer wardrobe, t-shirts and shorts in 10 or 20 degree weather (when normal highs were in the 40's or 50's), and warm blankets at the ready. Luckily their red cheeks and noses looked like sun burn, but I had to ask them to hold their breath while shooting. I had heaters on the set, but they were too loud, no one could hear my direction, so I had to turn them off. Needless to say, those shots required a lot of retouching, and the stripping-in of blue sky with great clouds. It was very early in my career so at least it was a good learning experience.

But I have to admit that I haven't worked with Depends.

 

Weather can be an absolute nightmare in filmmaking. In the "making of" Mercedes piece above, one producer mentions that they found a perfect forest location for the driving shots... only it rained for 3 straight days. But on the 4th day, the sky finally cleared and they had a perfect kind of "mist" in the air, looking even better than the location had looked several months before when they first found it. So sometimes miracles can happen.

 

Note that they not only matched the lighting style of the early 1970s, they even got the tinny audio to sound exactly right for the dialogue. That's a beautiful job, above and beyond the concept, the sets, and the writing.

That was the spot GoDaddy tried to pitch. I thought it was tasteless and mean to the point that I think they crossed the line somehow. But the main reason I didn't post it here is because I really, really hate the company.

 

This is nearly as funny...

 

I'm already going to hell so it doesn't matter, but I looked that one up and laughed

 

Nice ad, but it kind of falls apart at the end with the plug. Wrong voice, wrong tone. Up to then it's great.

 

Ooh. Nationwide just killed a kid.

 

And this depicts a typical day on the SH Forum...

 

Meanwhile, god help us, Walter White from Breaking Bad is up to his old tricks...



I laughed my ass off on this one.

 

Neeson is a hooot

 

I also liked the esurance commercial shown earlier featuring the woman who slid her van around a school bus and stopped just short of some kids.

 

The most depressing series of ads ever.

 

Was the chick Lindsay Lohan?

Also for the cost of the commercial, did the toenail fungus one really get their money worth?

 

Haven't seen the Mercedes ad yet - and I have been watching although I am doing some work at the same time. About 9 minutes to go.

 

Is this the greatest story ever told or an episode of Miami Vice?

 

OK - there we go.

 

I know there was speculation about that, but why spend the bucks? Disney can release a trailer online and there will be millions of hits within minutes. It will get coverage on every network for FREE, and not in the crowded arena shared by the dozens of Superbowl spots. It might result in the biggest viral spot ever. In fact, they should make it downloadable on iTunes, they could make a few bucks just with the trailer.

 

Brenda Lee and Victoria's Secret

 

Yeah, that one popped up towards the end. I thought I had changed the channel.

 

That one didn't actually air, did it?

The biggest surprise of the night for me (well, besides some of the plays in the actual game). Cranston is so great, his subtle acting made this hysterical beyond just the premise (which was pretty darn good).

My usual favorites are the Doritos ads, but they only had one really good one this year IMO:

 

The Nissan commercial with Cats In the Cradle playing over slow-motion images of car crashes was insensitive at best considering Chapin died in a car accident. I'm surprised no one at Nissan or the ad agency caught that.

 

Probably go with Breaking Bad commercial.

I used to love Go-Daddy's commercials and now their lame as sh**....