Canada’s TV spot awards fete the best and the brightest ­ Playback looks at the talent behind this year’s crop

In this report

– Palmer Jarvis’ evocative ad for Playland is a prime example of Vancouver’s guerrilla-style admaking at its best p. 22

– The winners montage: pix of the picks p. 26

– Preserving our TV advertising heritage p. 28

– A profile of Bessie-winning cinematographer Peter Hartmann p. 31

– Flashcut’s Bob Kennedy scoops the Bob Mann Award p. 32

– And the winner of the prestigious Spiess Award is BBDO’s Michael McLaughlin p. 33

– Allstars roundup p. 34

– Playback introduces ZapProof, a new feature on TV spots that stand out from the clutter p. 40

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If there is a maverick spirit that trickles down from Vancouver’s burgeoning independent film industry to commercial production, it pools around the feet of creators of the annual Playland campaign.

Ad agency Palmer Jarvis abides by the rule that a good idea can still be conveyed when there is no money to do it.

The firm has, for the third year, masterminded an award-winning television ad campaign for the Vancouver amusement park. And this year, the Silver Bessie winner is the ‘Barfcam’ spot, delivered to the client for a wretchedly small production budget of $50,000. (This year the Playland tv production budget drops to $20,000.)

Pretty much self-explanatory, the spot takes place in the upset stomach of a Playland roller-coaster rider. As nausea takes hold of him during the turbulent thrills and chills, the ‘camera’ sloshes about the chunky bits before it rushes up his esophagus, then back down when his worried friend says ‘Don’t barf, man,’ and then out again spectacularly when our hapless hero is unable to contain himself.

The camera, depicting the graceful arc of the half-digested matter, traces the trajectory to a group of innocent kids watching the ride. The aftermath is, as you can imagine, like totally gross.

Not everyone, to say the least, thought the spot was in good taste, with many complaints being generated from conservative viewers. But ‘Barfcam’ hit its 12- to 18-year-old target market with precision.

Chris Staples, senior vp and creative director at Palmer Jarvis, says ‘Barfcam’ is an example of the trend in Vancouver for commercial production to emulate the grunge-style, guerrilla-inspired tactics of independent filmmakers with no budgets.

‘Vancouver’s tv creative has been getting better despite shrinking budgets,’ he says. ‘Production budgets at Palmer Jarvis have been static or dropping for five years.’

Staples’ solution to the budgeting challenge has been to come up with ‘great, outrageous creative’ to which no aspiring (or hungry) production company can say no, even if the project is a money loser. In return for breaking even or losing money on the bare-bones job, the production company takes a gamble that the spot will gain industry recognition that will spin off into new work, add to the demo reel and promote its fresh directors.

Consider it a marketing expense, says Staples.

In ‘Barfcam,’ for example, Palmer Jarvis creative team Ian Grais and Alan Russell generated compelling storyboards that caught the corporate eye of Aviator Pictures, a local up-and-comer.

Michael Terry, executive producer at four-year-old Aviator, says the Playland television campaign jobs have the reputation of being good work that is creative and generates more work.

He adds: ‘We weren’t going to make any money on it but we were hoping for recognition.’

The ‘Barfcam’ spot ­ directed by Toronto-based David Straiton and shot by Vancouver-based Ron Williams (who rode the wooden coaster 13 times to get the take he needed) ­ has indeed sparked new work for Aviator, including recent spots for Mohawk Oil (Palmer Jarvis), BC Tel (bbdo) and Alcan (bbdo).

‘The idea for ‘Barfcam’ was simple, but the creative was strong and we didn’t need a lot of money to create the shot,’ says Terry. ‘You combine a great idea and good execution and you get some recognition.’

Editing and sound shared a fraction of the $50,000 ‘Barfcam’ production budget. Gary Shaw, a vp at Vancouver video finisher Post Haste, says the editing was ‘straightforward’ since the effects were all done in-camera. (The ‘mouth’ ­ complete with good orthodontics ­ was attached to the camera for the coaster ‘don’t-barf-man’ shot.)

Online editor Brian Wozenek handled the shading of the chunky bits in the stomach interior and the repositioning of the image.

Colin Weinmaster and Craig Zarazun of 15-year-old audio post house Wave Productions handled the sound engineering for ‘Barfcam.’ The trick was creating convincing ambient sound that married an echoing, cavernous stomach with sloshing contents, heaving and external carnival sounds.

‘What d’es it sound like to be in a guy’s esophagus,’ asks Weinmaster rhetorically.

Prior to its Silver Bessie, ‘Barfcam’ won three 1996 Applied Arts awards, two 1996 Studio Magazine awards, one 1996 Lotus Award (as part of the overall Playland campaign), and three 1997 Marketing Awards. It’s a finalist in tv Single category at the 1997 One Show.