Rushes complete brilliant new commercial for Bootleg

Title: Bootleg
Client: Clarks
Length: 40 secs
Agency: St Lukes
Agency Producer: Jo Charlesworth
Production Company: Blink
Director: Dougal Wilson
Producer: Alice Rowbotham
Film Editor: Speade
Facility: Rushes
Rushes Producer: Vittorio Giannini
Creality: Marcus Timpson
Inferno: Matt Jackson
3D: Jonathan Privett, Hayden Jones & Angela Noble
Air Date: 17th July 2003

Rushes have just completed the post production on a brilliant new commercial for Bootleg - Clarks’ pre-teen and school shoes brand. This cheeky and amusing commercial shows how kids are always getting one up on their parents. If you buy a pair of Bootleg shoes you have the chance to buy a pencil case with a hidden compartment for five pounds. In this commercial, the kids make the most of the opportunities that this presents.

As a young boy is sitting watching TV in his mess-strewn bedroom his father sternly points out that it needs a good tidy. The son turns to him slowly and with a smug expression on his face he opens a pencil case (which comes free with the shoes), to reveal a photograph of his father dressed as a woman. The boy’s room is soon immaculate thanks to his father’s efforts.

In the next scene a little girl is perched on a chair opposite her parents, who are sitting very formally on the sofa opposite her. Her request for a cat is turned down until she opens her pencil case in which there is a notebook entitled, ‘Mummy’s Secrets.’ The room is soon filled with a wonderful assortment of cats, adorning every part of the furniture.

During a school lunch one little boy has a table to himself and is waited on by three dinner ladies, his pencil case sitting ominously on the table. Once they have filled his glass and ensured that he has everything he needs he gestures for them to leave him in a superior fashion - he clearly has the upper hand.

The denouement of the commercial shows an art competition in which all the entries are amazing, with the notable exception of one. First prize goes to a stick horse and as the teacher claps over enthusiastically the winner smirks knowingly.

Rushes says: “Director Dougal Wilson and Creative Tim Collins at St Lukes wanted this ad to have the feeling of a 1970's secret agent film. James Bond's arch villain Colonel Blofeld was our reference. C-Reality was used to achieve this look by creating second passes and distinctive grades for each sequence. Inferno was then used to combine these passes. To add to the 70's feel Inferno was used in the demo sequence to create split screens highlighting the shoes and the pencil case. Rushes 3D created wire frames for the shoes and a photorealistic pencil case with its contents that neatly pull out - a glowing arrow highlighting the secret compartment.

Perhaps the most hilarious scene involves the parents’ front room being overrun by an army of cats. To achieve this effect Matt Jackson composited several plates of cats shot in different positions. The cats were predominantly shot live action but some models were also used. Jackson animated these model cats to show them creating havoc by tearing up the sofa, pulling down the lamp and climbing up the curtains.

The Inspector Clouseau style music adds a fitting finishing touch.”