This Is What We Australi-Are
VIDEO:
We open on a photograph of a 7 year old boy in t-shirt and shorts who is kicking a soccer ball in the backyard of a farm property. The focus shifts between the boy in the foreground and the garden in the background. There is a subtle and slow zoom and pan which gives the footage a sense of motion. This technique continues throughout the spot.
AUDIO:
Original music by Adrian Elton
VO: (young boy)
We’re young.
SUPER:
We’re young
VIDEO:
A photograph of a young man with a backpack, back to camera, looking out across a breathtaking rocky outcrop standing tall among mountainous native terrain.
VO: (20-something woman)
And free
SUPER:
And free
VIDEO:
A 3D animated flag billows. The flag design is based on the Australian flag but in between the Southern Cross stars are the words, “This Is What We Australi-ARE”.
VO: (30-something woman)
This is what we Australi-Are.
VIDEO:
We cut to a photograph of a young woman wearing a hard hat and holding a clipboard, standing in front of electricity generating windmills at a wind farm.
VO: (30-something woman)
We’re clean and green
SUPER:
Clean & green
VIDEO:
A photograph of an Aussie larikin jumping in the air in front of a street sign which has a kangaroo icon on it, denoting that kangaroos are in the area. He holds his hands up in front of him like kangaroo paws.
VO: (Aussie bloke)
We’re down to earth
SUPER:
Down to earth
VIDEO:
We cut to a photograph of an elderly woman doing tai chi on the beach in the foreground with the lapping waves and headland in the background.
VO: (older woman)
And healthy.
SUPER:
And healthy
VIDEO:
Cut to a photograph of an engineer in hi-vis gear surveying a building site. A huge yellow digger sits on a pile of rubble in the background.
VO: (Aussie bloke)
You might say we’re ground breaking
SUPER:
Down to earth
VIDEO:
Cut to a photograph of football fans in the foreground, expressing their bewilderment, mouths agape as they watch the action on the field below. The crowd cascades and blurs in the background.
VO: (20-something male)
And outspoken.
SUPER:
Outspoken
VIDEO:
We cut to a photograph of a racially diverse group of university students taking a shot of themselves with a ‘happy-snap’ camera. They are in the foreground, standing in front of the classical architecture of a university building in the background.
VO: (early 20-something woman)
We’re diverse.
SUPER:
Diverse
VIDEO:
We cut to a photograph of a protester wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the aboriginal flag and holding a megaphone in the foreground. A crowd of protestors holding reconciliation banners and flags march behind him in the background.
VO: (teenage boy)
We’re sorry.
SUPER:
We’re sorry
VIDEO:
We cut back to the 3D animated flag billowing. But this time the words in between the Southern Cross stars read, “This Is What We Australi-AREN’T”.
VO: (30-something woman)
And this is what we Australi-Aren’t!
VIDEO:
We cut to a photograph of a sober-faced farmer in the foreground who manages a courageous smile in the midst of the drought-stricken land.
VO: (farmer’s wife)
Victims.
SUPER:
Victims
VIDEO:
We cut to a photograph of a 20-something Asian business woman, standing with arms folded and smiling confidently. In the background taking call on mobile on steps of supreme court or lobby of city skyscraper.
VO: (business woman)
An old boys club
SUPER:
Old boys club
VIDEO:
We cut to a photograph of a young woman at the G20 Summit, defiantly blowing bubbles in the foreground, while riot police stand ominously in the background with helmets and shields.
VO:
We’re not scared.
SUPER:
Not scared
VIDEO:
We cut to a photograph of a young but obnoxious looking Aussie B-boy come hip hop MC standing in the foreground, shadowed by a gargantuan Hummer and wall of graffiti in the background.
VO: (20-something female)
And we’re definitely not American.
SUPER:
Not American
VIDEO:
We cut to a photograph of a Koori woman who is smiling warmly in the foreground, set against the beautiful landscape and vegetation of Arnhem Land in the background.
VO: (20-something male)
Colorblind
SUPER:
Colourblind
VIDEO:
We cut to a shot of a young Afghani girl wearing a traditional head scarf, smiling innocently in the foreground. Behind her, in the background, is the sinking ship filled with desperate refugees that was at the centre of the ‘children overboard’ scandal.
VO: (20-something female)
Or gullible.
SUPER:
Gullible
VIDEO:
We cut back to the 3D animated flag billowing. This time round the words in between the Southern Cross stars read, “Australia what are you voting for?”.
VO: (30-something woman)
Australia, what are you voting for?
VIDEO:
We cut to a black end screen with the Getup! logo and white authorisation text.
VO: (voiced by Paul Andersen)
Written and authorised by Paul Andersen and Adrian Elton, Melbourne.
Growing up, I was never politically inclined. Reading newspapers was something that my dad did. And “politics” was something that the clan elders mulled over at family get togethers.
So when film director, Paul Andersen, approached me to see whether I was keen to join forces, so we could enter a competition that GetUp were running to create a political TV ad ‘by the people, for the people’, I politely declined.
Notwithstanding the fact that I’d already developed a campaign for the Australian Democrats a few years prior, what the hell did I know about politics?
Of course, a few seconds after declining, I thought to myself, “but if I was going to write something, what angle would I take?”
A few moments later I called Paul back with a hare brained idea about all the things that we ‘Australi-Are’ and all the things that we ‘Australi-Aren’t’.
The essence of this thought became the backbone of our entry, and carried us through the various rounds of the competition, right through to the point where Paul and I were awarded the winning gong at a special ceremony at the Sydney Opera House, presided over by a judge of industry luminaries, including Margaret Pomeranz.
The win was followed by a mass of media interest which included radio interviews with ABC’s Radio National and SBS. We were subsequently flown to Adelaide for a media launch with the TVC being screened nationally in cinemas and across South Australia in the lead up to the 2007 federal election.
From a production perspective, the idea of separating the photographic foreground elements from the background and then shifting the focus between the planes was something that occurred to me as a way of working around the fact that we didn’t have a budget that would cover the sourcing, shooting or inclusion of actual footage. It seemed an effective way of creating some visual pace that would have been missing by just featuring the images in their static state. It was a technique that was replicated across many TV ads over the course the the next few years.
The ad also featured an original soundtrack that was based on a classical guitar piece that I composed a few years earlier while holidaying in the hilly rainforest surrounding Cairns. It was a thrill to finally bring it to life, which included calling upon the surpreme talents of Melbourne cellist, Sharon Leibowitz.
Client
Agency
Adrian Elton Creative*
Script To Screen
Items
TVC
Role
Script Concept
Script Writing
Graphic Design
Art Direction
Audio Production
Credits
Paul Andersen
Director
Studio Coop
Editing
Marco Damiano
Flag Animation
Sharon Leibowitz
Cello
Growing up, I was never politically inclined. Reading newspapers was something that my dad did. And “politics” was something that the clan elders mulled over at family get togethers.
So when film director, Paul Andersen, approached me to see whether I was keen to join forces, so we could enter a competition that GetUp were running to create a political TV ad ‘by the people, for the people’, I politely declined.
Notwithstanding the fact that I’d already developed a campaign for the Australian Democrats a few years prior, what the hell did I know about politics?
Of course, a few seconds after declining, I thought to myself, “but if I was going to write something, what angle would I take?”
A few moments later I called Paul back with a hare brained idea about all the things that we ‘Australi-Are’ and all the things that we ‘Australi-Aren’t’.
The essence of this thought became the backbone of our entry, and carried us through the various rounds of the competition, right through to the point where Paul and I were awarded the winning gong at a special ceremony at the Sydney Opera House, presided over by a judge of industry luminaries, including Margaret Pomeranz.
The win was followed by a mass of media interest which included radio interviews with ABC’s Radio National and SBS. We were subsequently flown to Adelaide for a media launch with the TVC being screened nationally in cinemas and across South Australia in the lead up to the 2007 federal election.
From a production perspective, the idea of separating the photographic foreground elements from the background and then shifting the focus between the planes was something that occurred to me as a way of working around the fact that we didn’t have a budget that would cover the sourcing, shooting or inclusion of actual footage. It seemed an effective way of creating some visual pace that would have been missing by just featuring the images in their static state. It was a technique that was replicated across many TV ads over the course the the next few years.
The ad also featured an original soundtrack that was based on a classical guitar piece that I composed a few years earlier while holidaying in the hilly rainforest surrounding Cairns. It was a thrill to finally bring it to life, which included calling upon the surpreme talents of Melbourne cellist, Sharon Leibowitz.
