Bicoastal Rabbit director Kevin Fitzgerald mashes-up racing and rock in a surprisingly musical new :30 for Lexus titled “Music Track,” out of Team One, El Segundo, CA. The spot, which hosted a variety of technical challenges, features the nimble new 2011 IS speeding through a drum-lined racetrack, creating an auto-generated drum solo.
“Music Track” opens on a cleanly lit row of snare and bass drums. The scene cuts to an Ultrasonic Blue IS that quickly peels from 0 to ticket-speed, aiming directly at the line of drums. A voiceover declares, “306 horsepower… ” The car runs over the first set, generating a tune, then to another, making even more tire-tapping music. The IS comes screeching to a halt and the voiceover concludes, “Wield precision.” The Lexus logo closes out the spot.
Director Kevin Fitzgerald and his production team faced a multitude of technical challenges when shooting this spot. First, devising a pressure-activated pedal to trigger the drums with the vehicle’s wheels, then analyzing how to place the drums in order to compose the music they were looking for, and finally the challenge of precisely driving the course. Fitzgerald notes, “The placement of the drums was a mathematical thing—it literally broke down into fractions of a second.” With a combination of expertly timed musical beats and meticulous driving skills, Fitzgerald wields fierce precision with the new Lexus IS.
About Rabbit
Throughout literature, folklore and pop culture, the Rabbit is famed as a trickster, an upstart, a lovable rogue. It is also a new model for a production company. With a talent pool extending from Manhattan to Hollywood to Silicon Valley, Rabbit defies easy categorization. Except for its mischievous nature, of course.
Credits:
Client: Lexus
Title: “Music Track” :30
Airdate: Currently airing
Production Company: Rabbit, Bicoastal
Director: Kevin Fitzgerald
DP: Neil Shapiro
Line Producer: Jon Ronbeck
Exec. Producers: Douglas Howell, Joby Barnhart
Advertising Agency: Team One, El Segundo, CA
Agency Producer: Leah Bohl
Account Director: Trinh Chu
Group Creative Director: Craig Crawford
Chief Creative Officer: Chris Graves
Copywriter: Molly Grubbs
Editorial Company: Butcher Edit, Santa Monica, CA
Editor: Dave Henegar
Senior Editorial Producer: Rob Van
Music & Sound Design- Ellias Arts
###