ramsey@rbdc (Ramsey Dow) (08/14/90)
Here's a piece of classic TV advertising from the past (reprinted without permission from the Harvard Business Review): _____________________________________________________________________________ (Open on a futuristic but gritty scene, a monumental structure with the look of failed socialism) Big Brother (VO): (on huge TV screen) For today we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives. (Cut to shaved-headed automatons marching in lockstep as the omnipresent "Big Brother" harangues them over countless video screens) Big Brother (VO): We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology, where each worker may bloom, secure from the pests of contradictory and confusing truths. (Cut to a great hall where the automatons are sitting, row after row, listening to "Big Brother" on a huge screen) Big Brother (VO): Our Unification of Thought is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth. (Intercut sequences of a brightly clad young woman being pursued by sinister "Thought Police") Big Brother (VO): We are one people. With one will. One resolve. One cause. (Woman runs to the center of the great hall, her pursuers closing on her. She swings a heavy sledgehammer around and over her head like an Olympian and hurls it at the video image of Big Brother) Big Brother (VO): Our enemies shall talk themselves to death. And we will bury them with their own confusion. We shall prevail. (The screen explodes. The camera pans down rows of automatons) Anncr. (VO): On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh and you'll see why 1984 won't be like 1984. _____________________________________________________________________________ Brent Thomas/Lee Clow, art directors; Steve Hayden, writer Lee Clow, creative director; Richard O'Neill, producer Ridley Scott, director; Fairbanks Films, production company Chiat/Day, Inc. (Los Angeles), agency; Apple Computer, Inc., client -- "Nobody cries as the innocent die and | Ramsey Dow, starving undergraduate the guilty go free in this world ..." | UUCP: ...!gatech!kd4nc!rbdc!ramsey -Sick of It All, "World Full of Hate" | Internet: woodward@phs.bgsm.wfu.edu
bhall@pbs.org (Dark Star) (08/15/90)
In article <1990Aug13.190924.1116@rbdc>, ramsey@rbdc (Ramsey Dow) writes: > Here's a piece of classic TV advertising from the past (reprinted without > permission from the Harvard Business Review): > _____________________________________________________________________________ > > Anncr. (VO): On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh and > you'll see why 1984 won't be like 1984. > > _____________________________________________________________________________ By the way, does anyone have a copy of this ad on tape? I'd really like to have one. It is probably the most memorable commercial that was only played once. Bonus Question: What teams played in that SuperBowl? :-) Here is a traditional script format of the commerical that I found: APPLE COMPUTER'S "1984" MACINTOSH COMMERCIAL VIDEO: AUDIO: FADE IN: LONG MATTE SHOT - HIGH ANGLE: SFX THROUGHOUT: The inside of some futuristic Low rumbling, as of industrial complex. We see a massive machinery or translucent tube extending into ventilation equipment. a huge vertical shaft; people Ominous. appear to be moving through the tube. MUSIC THROUGHOUT: Reed horn droning, fading in and out, occasionally striking a note an octave above the drone. Mournful. SFX (WILD): Footsteps, marching. DISSOLVE TO: SPEAKER: (V.O.) LONG SHOT: "Today we celebrate the INT. TUBE - LOW ANGLE: first glorious Drably clothed workers march toward anniversary of the the camera. information purification CUT TO: MEDIUM SHOT: A young, fair woman, dressed in a white T-shirt and red shorts, carries a large hammer and runs down the corridor. directives! CUT TO: MS: The joyless grey faces of the workers as they march. Some wear We have created, for the breathing masks. first time CUT TO: MS: Helmeted, visored, uniformed troopers running down the hall. in all history, CUT TO: a garden of pure LS: Workers march past the camera. ideology, CUT TO: CLOSE UP: Workers' feet, marching in step. where each worker CUT TO: MS: Woman running. may bloom, CUT TO: LS: INT. AUDITORIUM - WIDE ANGLE The workers file in and take seats in the already-crowded auditorium. The Speaker's image, in extreme close-up, fills a large telescreen at the front of the room. Information displays clutter the periphery of the screen, including one which says DATE: 1.26.84. The Speaker is ugly, and wears very thick-lensed glasses. His words appear on the screen as he secure from the pests, speaks them. obeying CUT TO: LS: The young woman runs down the corridor. Further down the hall behind her, the storm troopers appear from around a corner, in pursuit. contradictory thoughts. CUT TO: MS: Trucking shot of the workers sitting, blank-faced, watching the Speaker's image, their faces lit Our unification of only by the light of the screen. thoughts is more powerful a INSERT: MS: LOW OBLIQUE ANGLE of the screen, with workers silhouetted in the foreground. weapon than any fleet BACK TO SHOT or army on Earth! We are one CUT TO: LS: Towards rear of auditorium; SLOW MOTION. The woman enters and runs up the center aisle, unnoticed by the workers. people, with one whim, one CUT TO: MS: Troopers running. resolve, one CUT TO: MS: Telescreen from center aisle, flanked by staring workers. cause! Our enemies shall CUT TO: MS: The woman has stopped running and now begins to spin, preparing to fling the hammer. talk themselves INSERT: MS: Troopers running to death BACK TO SHOT and we will CUT TO: CU: Telescreen bury them with their own confusion! CUT TO: MS: With a cry, the woman releases the hammer. CUT TO: MS: The hammer, tumbling end over end, flies through the air. We shall CUT TO: MS: Telescreen, as the hammer sails prevail!" in and smashes it. The Speaker's face disappears in a SFX: Explosion blinding white flash. CUT TO: MS: Telescreen, low oblique angle CUT TO: Reverse angle, trucking shot of workers staring at the screen in disbelief. SUPER: SLOW ROLL, black letters: On January 24th, ANNCR: Apple Computer will introduce "On January 24th, Macintosh. Apple Computer will And you'll see why 1984 introduce won't be line "1984." Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be DISSOLVE TO: like '1984.'" Apple logo on black background. FADE OUT. -- Bruce Hall Domain: bhall@pbs.org Public Broadcasting Service UUCP:...{uupsi,vrdxhq,csed-1,ida.org}!pbs!bhall Phone: 703/739-5048 "Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes" - Oscar Wilde
ralph@mtunq.ATT.COM (Ralph Brandi) (08/15/90)
In article <9876.26c835d1@pbs.org> bhall@pbs.org (Dark Star) writes: >By the way, does anyone have a copy of this ad on tape? I'd really like to >have one. It is probably the most memorable commercial that was only >played once. No, without question, the most memorable commercial that was only aired once was the "Daisy" commercial done for Lyndon Johnson in the 1964 presidential campaign. -- Ralph Brandi ralph@mtunq.att.com att!mtunq!ralph Work flows toward the competent until they are submerged.
chad@norge.enet.dec.com (Chad Leigh) (08/17/90)
>By the way, does anyone have a copy of this ad on tape? I'd really like to >have one. It is probably the most memorable commercial that was only >played once. It is my understanding that at the Apple/DEC alliance announcement in May they had an FX play much of this commercial in real-time video off of a VAX file server. I wasn't at the announcement itself -- did this happen? Chad chad@norge.enet.dec.com Vi elsker dette landet! -------------------------------------------------------------- DEC has its opinions, I have mine. --------------------------------------------------------------