SAN FRANCISCO - Phoenix Editorial (www.phoenixeditorial.com) completed editorial and effects work on two spots in the new campaign promoting Yahoo!'s revamped search engine. The :30 spot "Subway" and the :60 "Anthem," both out of agency Black Rocket and directed by David Frankham of Smuggler in LA, detail the personalized search options Yahoo! offers. Bob Frisk edited the "Subway" and "anthem" spots on an Avid Media Composer 9000.
"Subway" opens on a subway train filled with commuters carrying signs resemling a computer search bar, which reveal their random thoughts like resume tips and crab cake recipes. On the subways stairs, a commuter dashes for the idling subway but the doors close before he can make the train. His search bar reads: "NYC subway schedules."
"Anthem," opens on two commuters on an escalator. One commuter's search bar reads "cell phone rates" and the other's reads "personals." The spot then cuts to a series of humorous vignettes including a man breaking his golf club over his knee with a search bar reading "anger management."
In addition to the editorial work, Phoenix also handled the effects. To make the words within the physical search bars, visual effects supervisor Matt Silverman rotoscoped and motion tracked the physical props in each scene to isolate them so the blinking cursors could be inserted and the type on the search queries could be changed. He used a combination of Discreet Flint, Pinnacle Commotion and Adobe After Effects.
Stephan Sonnenfeld of Company 3 did the color correction; Ripe Sound's Andy Newell was the composer and the sound designer. The spots were mixed by Jay Shilliday of LA's Cresendo Studios.