Bootleg Films Squirrel Away Chromecasts For Google

Chromecast, Google's clever little streaming device that allows people to watch YouTube and other SmartTV things on their less-smart tellies, finally launched properly in the UK in March. To promote it, Amsterdam's 72andSunny enlisted the help of brand-new London-based production company Bootleg Films to create a nutty (pun intended) online campaign featuring a cast of squirrels.

'Day of the Squirrel' cannily captures the spirit of sharable YouTube vids by showcasing a handful of endearing critters in some wonderfully homemade environments. Directed by Bootleg's Calle Åstrand and produced by Greg Jordan, the project not only saw the company have to produce the spot in a remarkably short space of time, but also create the masthead banner advertisement to accompany it.

We were thoroughly entertained by the bushy-tailed rodents, so grabbed a chance to chat to Greg Jordan about catching attention on YouTube, miniature set decoration and the art of squirrel wrangling.



First things first, are you worried that this spot will pidgeonhole you as 'squirrel wranglers'?

It is a worry, you direct a kid and everyone thinks you only do kid commercials. Squirrels are better than pidgeons at taking direction so if we're squirrelholed then there's not much we can do about that. I feel sorry for Framestore who did the post, apart from this film all they get to do now is films set in space after making Gravity.

How did you get involved in the Chromecast project?

We had a call from the agency 72andsunny saying "Got a great script about squirrels or something do you wanna do it". We said "Yeah OK, when is it shooting". They said "next week" we said "we'd better get a move on then" – it was actually pretty much like that.



Whose idea were the squirrels? Are cats/dogs/dramatic chipmunks passé now?

The idea came from the Creative Team at 72andsunny comprising of Micky Coyne, Gregg Clampffer, Carlos Font, Domingo De Villa and Juan Carlos Alonso – crazy names, crazy guys. They'd been playing with the idea for a while and at one point I think they had 1343 different squirrel scripts which they whittled down to 1. They did the affordability test (ask a production company if it can be made for £xxx) Then someone at Google hit the 'go' button to get the film and YouTube Masthead made within weeks to be ready for an April 1st launch. Cats are still cool………dogs/chipmunks/rabbits are all passé now, I'd be really surprised if they ever make a comeback after this.

How do you get squirrels to act? We're guessing peanut butter on tiny props.

Oh if it was only that simple. They eat anything, including the set which is really annoying and the trainer's finger so distraction is the only way. Peanut Butter was used, strategically placed, they can't get enough of the stuff, they eat it in their sleep.



Speaking of tiny props, how did you go about creating the miniature sets/dressing for the commercial?

The Production Designer Michelle Sotheren was given a budget which was in proportion to the size of the sets - tiny. Within a week she had gathered a team of fantastic 'fresh out of Art School' graduates who came up with some great ideas and literally put the sets together over 3 days. The idea was to make it feel like the squirrels themselves could have built the sets so a lot of the dressing came straight out the back of street bins and foraged from the woods.

How long was the shoot? How many hours of footage had to be shot to get something usable?

We'd have liked a couple of days, but in reality we had one day due to time and money. We did use 3 camera's pretty much on every shot. So we had around 24 hours of footage. Most of it was totally unusable and we pretty much knew on the spot which parts were usable. We had the editor on set to grab it, load it and start cutting it. He had an assembly by the time we wrapped.



The film is airing on YouTube as one of their skippable ads. Is it important to hook the audience in those first 5 seconds? How do you achieve that?

Yes, so important. So many brands try and push the hard sell up front, put the product branding in those first few seconds, hoping at the very least people will see their logo. For us we went a different way, we tried to make a spot the people will hopefully want to watch. Want to see what happens next. That doesn't feel like another ad, but maybe like the internet video they are about to watch. We hoped a talking squirrel might just cut through, and if you got to second 7, we're banking on you finishing it. It was also nice that this format allowed us to make the film any length. Giving our squirrel the chance to say what had to be said.

The spot appears to portray the type of content to be viewed through the Chromecast rather than the process of using the Chromecast itself. Was this a considered decision by Google? How do you make a spot that mirrors the type of content that spreads organically?

Yes. The idea works for us on two levels. It's championing the kind of films that are a hit on YouTube that, until recently, would have been impossible to watch on your television at home. It's also a metaphor for no matter what crazy thing you are into, whether it's squirrels, japanese fighting robots or cross-dressing albino chipmunks you can now watch your favourite content on your favourite screen at home. It's taking control of your broadcast, making it personal. That's why we have the revolutionary undertones and why the squirrel is so excited.



After squirrels, are there any other animals you'd like to work with?

We'd really like to work with beavers. The director Calle Astrand has done a commercial with a kid in a beaver costume but not real beavers.

What's up next for you?

Bootleg are pretty new to the scene so I'd be lying if I said we have Nike, a Guinness and Stella Artois scripts on the table. If you know anyone that needs something shooting give me a shout!