The Iron Yuppie

What follows is what I like to call a complete fucking waste of time which, coincidentally, would probably be my dream job.

• "Big Day - 30 seconds" - Jetta VW Commercial
• "Big Day - 60 seconds" - Jetta VW Commercial

First, I’d like to say I consider this to be one of the greatest short films (calling it a commercial is almost an insult) I’ve ever seen. It is so dense and intricate that one can watch it a thousand times and be taken up and down the emotional and intellectual roller coaster every time.

But second, and most fascinating part to me, is the subtlety of editing resulting in the dramatic difference of character portrayal from the 30 to 60 second video. In the 30 second video (from now on Video A), you might walk away thinking that the interrupter (call him Ben) was unwelcome. The woman (call her Elaine) was going through her wedding to her fiancé (call him Carl) and seemed unphased until Ben showed up and then she knew it was on, ending with the fantastic double entendre “Fasten Your Seatbelts”.

In the 60 second (from now on Video B), there are the following additional clips:

• 16 - 18s: Elaine spins her ring and looks up and away, caught in thought
• 28 - 30s: Elaine’s father looks around at the window with trepidation
• 34 - 35s: Elaine pensively looks out the window and then abruptly turns away

The remainder of the piece is roughly the same. The amazing thing here is that with an additional six to seven seconds of footage, you now have Elaine portrayed as torn between the decision she’s made and the consequences of that decision. Absolutely incredible! I know that in some other life I was an editor… this stuff is too interesting for me to have nothing to do with the movie/television industry.

Oh and for the curious, I was reminded how amazing this short film was after hearing yesterday’s All Things Considered on the subject of the excellent composer, J. Ralph. You better believe I’m going buy the shit out of that guy’s discography here and here.

posted by Iron Yuppie  # 6/23/2005 05:12:00 PM