Space Chair
Encyclopedia
Space Chair is a British television and cinema
advertisement launched by Toshiba
in 2009 to promote its Regza SD LCD televisions. The 60-second piece, following the launch of an armchair into near space
attached to a weather balloon
, is the second in the "Projects" campaign, following on from Time Sculpture
. The launch, which reached 98268 feet (29,952.1 m), set a world record
for Highest High-Definition Television Commercial. Space Chair formed the cornerstone of a £3,000,000 advertising campaign
in late 2009 and early 2010. The campaign was handled by the advertising agency Grey London
. It was directed by Andy Amadeo, who co-scripted the commercial with Nils Leonard. Production was contracted to production company
Hungry Man, with additional assistance by JP Aerospace
. Post-production
was handled by The Mill
. Space Chair is a remake of the 2004 film "Escape Vehicle No. 6", by the artist Simon Faithfull
. Space Chair premiered on European and Japanese television on 16 November 2009.
across a bleak desert, the Sun low over a mountain range on the horizon. Electronic swells play on the soundtrack over the ambient noise; there is no speech. In the foreground is an armchair with orange upholstery. This cuts to an overhead shot taken from above the chair as a team of handlers release it, and then to a shot revealing the balloon the chair is attached to. A series of beeps from the GPS
tracker begins to sound as the chair rises from the ground, and a sequence of shots from on board the balloon rig show the contraption climbing higher and higher above the ground. A car races across the desert below, raising clouds of dust. As the altitude of the chair rises, the wind begins to whistle and the curvature of the Earth becomes apparent. The chair rises to the very edge of space, and the campaign strapline, "Armchair viewing, redefined" appears as the view withdraws to show the advertised product (an LCD television or a laptop, depending on the version) and the Toshiba logo. In the closing seconds of the piece, the camera cuts back to the chair as the balloon shatters with an audible pop and the chair begins to disintegrate as it falls to the ground.
engaged in the high definition optical disc format war
, in which it supported the HD DVD
format. In 2007, Toshiba made the decision to consolidate its European advertising ventures with a single advertising agency
, where previously it had split its £25,000,000 marketing budget between Lowe
, Saatchi & Saatchi
, Grey Global Group
, and Young & Rubicam
. In June 2007, Grey won the account with a pitch based around emphasising Toshiba's history in research and development, pushing the company's image as an "innovator in the field". The first television and cinema commercial from the partnership, Light, lighter, aired in January 2008, to a lukewarm reception.
The middling results of the campaign made Grey to reevaluate its approach, leading to a new "Projects" campaign, which would see advertisements "pushing the boundaries of what was possible." The first piece of the "Projects" campaign, titled Time Sculpture
, was released in late 2008. Time Sculpture broke a Guinness World Record for the highest number of moving image cameras ever in a film sequence, and went on to win a number of awards within the advertising community, including at the D&AD Awards, and the Midsummer Awards. In 2009, creative team
Nils Leonard and Andy Amadeo were assigned by Grey London to create the next entry in the "Projects" campaign.
, commissioned by Arts Catalyst in 2004 for the Artists' Airshow , made the film "Escape Vehicle No. 6". This film was later exhibited in Faithfull's solo show "Gravity Sucks" at the British Film Institute
in London.
Toshiba liked the idea of taking Faithfull's work, showing the launch of a chair into the upper atmosphere, and re-filming it in high-definition using Toshiba technology. Grey greenlit the project, granting Leonard and Amadeo a working budget of £3,000,000 for the campaign.
, for advice on how to film the ascent. Zambarloukos consulted with the specialist camera company Polecam, who advised that the only 1080i HD camera on the market which would be small, light, and robust enough was one developed by Toshiba itself, the Toshiba IK-HR1S. The IK-HR1S was not available to the general public, and was mostly used for military reconnaissance
or endoscopic surgery.
For the balloon and its associated rig, the team contacted American independent space program JP Aerospace
, who had done similar work for the Discovery Channel
and National Geographic. With the commercial airtime
already purchased, no-one willing to insure
the project due to the high risks, and JP Aerospace's own warning that the balloon rigs could come down in unreachable areas as far as 600 miles (965.6 km) away, the team requested that three additional rigs be made as backups.
in Nevada
, United States
, it would fall under the purview of the Federal Aviation Administration
, whose regulations stipulated that the entire craft weigh no more than 4 pounds (1.8 kg), in case of collisions with aircraft
. This weight restriction meant that the cameras couldn't be equipped to transmit footage back to base, so the rig had to be hardy enough to survive re-entering
at over Mach 1
and striking the ground. To accomplish this, the rig was equipped with a lightweight parachute, and the equipment racks and camera boom were designed to collapse on impact, reducing damage to the cameras. The weight restriction also meant that a model chair had to be used in place of an actual armchair. The model, constructed of hollowed balsa wood and lightweight fabric, was designed by special effects company Artem for around £2,500.
The rigs were launched on the weekend of 26 September 2009, twelve miles (12 miles (19.3 km)) northeast of Gerlach, Nevada
. Set-up began two hours before sunrise, with a crew of twelve from JP Aerospace assembling the 900 MHz antennae which would track the GPS signal
from the rigs, inflating the balloons under canvas covers, and performing checks on the equipment. Each rig was equipped with two cameras, and each camera was equipped with different lenses and set at different angles to capture 512 GB of unique footage each.
Two launches were scheduled for the first day. Each launch required someone to pull a canvas rip panel, releasing the balloon, while four people guided the chair and camera rig across the ground to a position underneath the rising balloon. The first rig partially collapsed on take-off, but it remained intact enough to rise for over 82 minutes, reaching a height of 98,268 ft before the balloon shattered and the rig fell for around half an hour before hitting ground. At one point during the ascent, telemetry from the rig recorded a temperature of -60 °F before the air became too thin to dissipate heat effectively and the temperature rose again. The cameras on both of the first two rigs were offline, but usable footage was recovered from the second launch, albeit slightly overexposed. Two additional launches were made the following day, with the fourth re-capturing footage unrecoverable from previous launches. Despite the four balloons reaching heights of
98268 feet (29,952.1 m), 93000 feet (28,346.4 m), 94000 feet (28,651.2 m) and 82000 feet (24,993.6 m) all of the rigs and cameras were recovered within twelve miles (12 miles (19.3 km)) of the launch site. The launch reaching 98,268 ft set a new world record for Highest High-Definition Television Commercial. In all, 16 hours of footage were recorded and handed to The Mill
for post production. Knowing that many viewers would suspect the piece was constructed from computer-generated imagery
, imperfections such as the supporting wires and spots of lens dust were left in to lend an air of authenticity.
such as Twitter
and Facebook
. The site allowed consumers to make guesses as to where the launched chairs would land, with the winner receiving a 46 inch Regza SV Series LCD TV. Additional content, including a making-of documentary, was made available at a dedicated section of the Toshiba UK website.
Space Chair premiered on European and Japanese television on 16 November 2009, promoting Toshiba's Regza SD LCD televisions. This initial burst lasted three weeks. After a break of several months, additional advertising space was purchased in February, using a slightly re-cut version of Space Chair to promote Toshiba's Satellite T laptop computers. The campaign received mixed reactions; while it received more than half a million hits
online within days of its launch, the lack of up-front credit given to Simon Faithfull's previous work caused some controversy in media circles. Noel Bussey of Campaign magazine said of Space Chair: "The idea, execution, astounding shots of Earth and the 'making of' video are all superb." However, Damon Collins, executive creative director
at Young & Rubicam
was less impressed with the piece, commenting: "I salute the clients and team for trying something different, [...] but, if pushed, the result still reminded me a little of a Sony ad from about ten years ago where the guy fell from the sky in his armchair." Toshiba, however, were fairly satisfied with the campaign, and entered talks with JP Aerospace about the possibility of shooting another commercial in the same vein in 2010.
Television advertisement
A television advertisement or television commercial, often just commercial, advert, ad, or ad-film – is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization that conveys a message, typically one intended to market a product...
advertisement launched by Toshiba
Toshiba
is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
in 2009 to promote its Regza SD LCD televisions. The 60-second piece, following the launch of an armchair into near space
Near space
Near space is the region of Earth's atmosphere that lies between 65,000 and 325,000–350,000 feet above sea level, encompassing the stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere. A more understandable definition would be above where a commercial airliner flies but below the realm of an orbiting...
attached to a weather balloon
Weather balloon
A weather or sounding balloon is a balloon which carries instruments aloft to send back information on atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity and wind speed by means of a small, expendable measuring device called a radiosonde...
, is the second in the "Projects" campaign, following on from Time Sculpture
Time Sculpture
Time Sculpture is a British television and cinema advertisement launched in 2008 to promote Toshiba's high-definition television upscaling technology in the United Kingdom...
. The launch, which reached 98268 feet (29,952.1 m), set a world record
World record
A world record is usually the best global performance ever recorded and verified in a specific skill or sport. The book Guinness World Records collates and publishes notable records of all types, from first and best to worst human achievements, to extremes in the natural world and beyond...
for Highest High-Definition Television Commercial. Space Chair formed the cornerstone of a £3,000,000 advertising campaign
Advertising campaign
An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication...
in late 2009 and early 2010. The campaign was handled by the advertising agency Grey London
Grey Global Group
Grey Group is a global advertising and marketing agency, whose slogan is providing solutions - with headquarters in New York City, and 432 offices in 96 countries, operating in 154 cities — organized into four geographical units: North America; Europe, Middle East & Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin...
. It was directed by Andy Amadeo, who co-scripted the commercial with Nils Leonard. Production was contracted to production company
Production company
A production company provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.- Tasks and functions :...
Hungry Man, with additional assistance by JP Aerospace
JP Aerospace
JP Aerospace is a volunteer-based organization dedicated to achieving affordable access to space. They have been hired by the U.S. Air Force to provide concepts to allow rapid launch of battlefield communication and monitoring systems....
. Post-production
Post-production
Post-production is part of filmmaking and the video production process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, advertising, audio recordings, photography, and digital art...
was handled by The Mill
The Mill (post-production)
The Mill is a post-production and visual effects company launched in 1990 with offices in London, New York and Los Angeles.The Mill's Film special effects subsidiary, Mill Film, won an Oscar for its work on the film Gladiator. The Mill was the first UK-based post-production company to set up...
. Space Chair is a remake of the 2004 film "Escape Vehicle No. 6", by the artist Simon Faithfull
Simon Faithfull
Simon Faithfull is an English artist based in Berlin and London. His work has been widely exhibited in both international solo and group exhibitions, including The British Film Institute Gallery, London; Haus am Waldsee, Berlin; CRAC Alsace, France, Stills, Edinburgh; and the 52nd Venice Biennale...
. Space Chair premiered on European and Japanese television on 16 November 2009.
Synopsis
The piece opens with a panning shotPanning (camera)
In photography, panning refers to the horizontal movement or rotation of a still or video camera, or the scanning of a subject horizontally on video or a display device...
across a bleak desert, the Sun low over a mountain range on the horizon. Electronic swells play on the soundtrack over the ambient noise; there is no speech. In the foreground is an armchair with orange upholstery. This cuts to an overhead shot taken from above the chair as a team of handlers release it, and then to a shot revealing the balloon the chair is attached to. A series of beeps from the GPS
Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
tracker begins to sound as the chair rises from the ground, and a sequence of shots from on board the balloon rig show the contraption climbing higher and higher above the ground. A car races across the desert below, raising clouds of dust. As the altitude of the chair rises, the wind begins to whistle and the curvature of the Earth becomes apparent. The chair rises to the very edge of space, and the campaign strapline, "Armchair viewing, redefined" appears as the view withdraws to show the advertised product (an LCD television or a laptop, depending on the version) and the Toshiba logo. In the closing seconds of the piece, the camera cuts back to the chair as the balloon shatters with an audible pop and the chair begins to disintegrate as it falls to the ground.
Background
The second half of the 2000s saw electronics conglomerate ToshibaToshiba
is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
engaged in the high definition optical disc format war
High definition optical disc format war
A format war took place between the Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD optical disc standards for storing high definition video and audio.These standards emerged between 2000 and 2002 and attracted both the mutual and exclusive support of major consumer electronics manufacturers, personal computer...
, in which it supported the HD DVD
HD DVD
HD DVD is a discontinued high-density optical disc format for storing data and high-definition video.Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the standard DVD format...
format. In 2007, Toshiba made the decision to consolidate its European advertising ventures with a single advertising agency
Advertising agency
An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services...
, where previously it had split its £25,000,000 marketing budget between Lowe
Lowe
Lowe is a common surname in English. See List of people with surname Lowe.Lowe may also refer to:- Other uses :* Lowe Alpine, an American outdoor equipment manufacturer and supplier* Löwe Automobil, a German car-part manufacturer...
, Saatchi & Saatchi
Saatchi & Saatchi
Saatchi & Saatchi is a global advertising agency network with 140 offices in 80 countries and over 6,500 staff. It was founded in London in 1970 but now headquartered in New York. The parent company of the agency group was known as Saatchi & Saatchi PLC from 1976 to 1994, was listed on the London...
, Grey Global Group
Grey Global Group
Grey Group is a global advertising and marketing agency, whose slogan is providing solutions - with headquarters in New York City, and 432 offices in 96 countries, operating in 154 cities — organized into four geographical units: North America; Europe, Middle East & Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin...
, and Young & Rubicam
Young & Rubicam
Y&R is a marketing and communications company specializing in advertising, digital and social media, sales promotion, direct marketing and brand identity consulting.-History:...
. In June 2007, Grey won the account with a pitch based around emphasising Toshiba's history in research and development, pushing the company's image as an "innovator in the field". The first television and cinema commercial from the partnership, Light, lighter, aired in January 2008, to a lukewarm reception.
The middling results of the campaign made Grey to reevaluate its approach, leading to a new "Projects" campaign, which would see advertisements "pushing the boundaries of what was possible." The first piece of the "Projects" campaign, titled Time Sculpture
Time Sculpture
Time Sculpture is a British television and cinema advertisement launched in 2008 to promote Toshiba's high-definition television upscaling technology in the United Kingdom...
, was released in late 2008. Time Sculpture broke a Guinness World Record for the highest number of moving image cameras ever in a film sequence, and went on to win a number of awards within the advertising community, including at the D&AD Awards, and the Midsummer Awards. In 2009, creative team
Creative Director
A creative director is a position often found within the graphic design, film, music, fashion, advertising, media or entertainment industries, but may be useful in other creative organizations such as web development and software development firms as well....
Nils Leonard and Andy Amadeo were assigned by Grey London to create the next entry in the "Projects" campaign.
Artistic concept ("Escape Vehicle No. 6")
Artist Simon FaithfullSimon Faithfull
Simon Faithfull is an English artist based in Berlin and London. His work has been widely exhibited in both international solo and group exhibitions, including The British Film Institute Gallery, London; Haus am Waldsee, Berlin; CRAC Alsace, France, Stills, Edinburgh; and the 52nd Venice Biennale...
, commissioned by Arts Catalyst in 2004 for the Artists' Airshow , made the film "Escape Vehicle No. 6". This film was later exhibited in Faithfull's solo show "Gravity Sucks" at the British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
in London.
Toshiba liked the idea of taking Faithfull's work, showing the launch of a chair into the upper atmosphere, and re-filming it in high-definition using Toshiba technology. Grey greenlit the project, granting Leonard and Amadeo a working budget of £3,000,000 for the campaign.
Pre-production
After gaining approval for Space Chair, the team approached director of photography Haris Zambarloukos, known for his work on Enduring Love and Mamma Mia!Mamma Mia! (film)
Mamma Mia! is a 2008 musical/romantic comedy film adapted from the 1999 West End/2001 Broadway musical of the same name, based on the songs of successful pop group ABBA, with additional music composed by ABBA member Benny Andersson...
, for advice on how to film the ascent. Zambarloukos consulted with the specialist camera company Polecam, who advised that the only 1080i HD camera on the market which would be small, light, and robust enough was one developed by Toshiba itself, the Toshiba IK-HR1S. The IK-HR1S was not available to the general public, and was mostly used for military reconnaissance
Aerial reconnaissance
Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance that is conducted using unmanned aerial vehicles or reconnaissance aircraft. Their roles are to collect imagery intelligence, signals intelligence and measurement and signature intelligence...
or endoscopic surgery.
For the balloon and its associated rig, the team contacted American independent space program JP Aerospace
JP Aerospace
JP Aerospace is a volunteer-based organization dedicated to achieving affordable access to space. They have been hired by the U.S. Air Force to provide concepts to allow rapid launch of battlefield communication and monitoring systems....
, who had done similar work for the Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
and National Geographic. With the commercial airtime
Airtime
Airtime is a free and open source radio management application for remote broadcast automation , and program exchange between radio stations.-History:...
already purchased, no-one willing to insure
Insurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
the project due to the high risks, and JP Aerospace's own warning that the balloon rigs could come down in unreachable areas as far as 600 miles (965.6 km) away, the team requested that three additional rigs be made as backups.
Production
JP Aerospace faced several obstacles in the construction of the balloon rigs. The pre-purchasing of the commercial airtime left only four months for production, where normally the company would spend over a year assembling components. Since the shoot was to take place in the Black Rock DesertBlack Rock Desert
The Black Rock Desert is an arid region in the northern Nevada section of the Great Basin with a lakebed that is a dry remnant of Pleistocene Lake Lahontan...
in Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, it would fall under the purview of the Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
, whose regulations stipulated that the entire craft weigh no more than 4 pounds (1.8 kg), in case of collisions with aircraft
Foreign object damage
Foreign Object Debris is a substance, debris or article alien to a vehicle or system which would potentially cause damage.Foreign Object Damage is any damage attributed to a foreign object that can be expressed in physical or economic terms that may or may not degrade the product's required...
. This weight restriction meant that the cameras couldn't be equipped to transmit footage back to base, so the rig had to be hardy enough to survive re-entering
Re-Entry
"Re-Entry" was the second album released by UK R&B / Hip Hop collective Big Brovaz. After the album was delayed in May 2006, the band finally release the follow-up to "Nu Flow" on 9 April 2007...
at over Mach 1
Mach 1
Mach 1 can refer to:* The speed of sound* M.A.C.H. 1, a comic strip* Mach 1, a novel by Allen Adler* Mach 1 Racing, a former NASCAR team...
and striking the ground. To accomplish this, the rig was equipped with a lightweight parachute, and the equipment racks and camera boom were designed to collapse on impact, reducing damage to the cameras. The weight restriction also meant that a model chair had to be used in place of an actual armchair. The model, constructed of hollowed balsa wood and lightweight fabric, was designed by special effects company Artem for around £2,500.
The rigs were launched on the weekend of 26 September 2009, twelve miles (12 miles (19.3 km)) northeast of Gerlach, Nevada
Gerlach-Empire, Nevada
Gerlach-Empire is a census-designated place in Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The combined population was 499 at the 2000 census. A former company town for United States Gypsum Corporation, Empire was once home to more than 750 people. It is part of the Reno–Sparks Metropolitan...
. Set-up began two hours before sunrise, with a crew of twelve from JP Aerospace assembling the 900 MHz antennae which would track the GPS signal
Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
from the rigs, inflating the balloons under canvas covers, and performing checks on the equipment. Each rig was equipped with two cameras, and each camera was equipped with different lenses and set at different angles to capture 512 GB of unique footage each.
Two launches were scheduled for the first day. Each launch required someone to pull a canvas rip panel, releasing the balloon, while four people guided the chair and camera rig across the ground to a position underneath the rising balloon. The first rig partially collapsed on take-off, but it remained intact enough to rise for over 82 minutes, reaching a height of 98,268 ft before the balloon shattered and the rig fell for around half an hour before hitting ground. At one point during the ascent, telemetry from the rig recorded a temperature of -60 °F before the air became too thin to dissipate heat effectively and the temperature rose again. The cameras on both of the first two rigs were offline, but usable footage was recovered from the second launch, albeit slightly overexposed. Two additional launches were made the following day, with the fourth re-capturing footage unrecoverable from previous launches. Despite the four balloons reaching heights of
98268 feet (29,952.1 m), 93000 feet (28,346.4 m), 94000 feet (28,651.2 m) and 82000 feet (24,993.6 m) all of the rigs and cameras were recovered within twelve miles (12 miles (19.3 km)) of the launch site. The launch reaching 98,268 ft set a new world record for Highest High-Definition Television Commercial. In all, 16 hours of footage were recorded and handed to The Mill
The Mill (post-production)
The Mill is a post-production and visual effects company launched in 1990 with offices in London, New York and Los Angeles.The Mill's Film special effects subsidiary, Mill Film, won an Oscar for its work on the film Gladiator. The Mill was the first UK-based post-production company to set up...
for post production. Knowing that many viewers would suspect the piece was constructed from computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
, imperfections such as the supporting wires and spots of lens dust were left in to lend an air of authenticity.
Release and reception
Grey London began work on the creation of an online presence for the campaign during production. An interactive website, "wherewillitland.com" was launched and promoted through social networking websitesSocial network service
A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service consists of a representation of each user , his/her social...
such as Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
and Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
. The site allowed consumers to make guesses as to where the launched chairs would land, with the winner receiving a 46 inch Regza SV Series LCD TV. Additional content, including a making-of documentary, was made available at a dedicated section of the Toshiba UK website.
Space Chair premiered on European and Japanese television on 16 November 2009, promoting Toshiba's Regza SD LCD televisions. This initial burst lasted three weeks. After a break of several months, additional advertising space was purchased in February, using a slightly re-cut version of Space Chair to promote Toshiba's Satellite T laptop computers. The campaign received mixed reactions; while it received more than half a million hits
Hit (internet)
A hit is a request to a web server for a file . When a web page is uploaded from a server the number of "hits" or "page hits" is equal to the number of files requested. Therefore, one page load does not always equal one hit because often pages are made up of other images and other files which stack...
online within days of its launch, the lack of up-front credit given to Simon Faithfull's previous work caused some controversy in media circles. Noel Bussey of Campaign magazine said of Space Chair: "The idea, execution, astounding shots of Earth and the 'making of' video are all superb." However, Damon Collins, executive creative director
Creative Director
A creative director is a position often found within the graphic design, film, music, fashion, advertising, media or entertainment industries, but may be useful in other creative organizations such as web development and software development firms as well....
at Young & Rubicam
Young & Rubicam
Y&R is a marketing and communications company specializing in advertising, digital and social media, sales promotion, direct marketing and brand identity consulting.-History:...
was less impressed with the piece, commenting: "I salute the clients and team for trying something different, [...] but, if pushed, the result still reminded me a little of a Sony ad from about ten years ago where the guy fell from the sky in his armchair." Toshiba, however, were fairly satisfied with the campaign, and entered talks with JP Aerospace about the possibility of shooting another commercial in the same vein in 2010.
External links
- First version of the commercial, promoting the Regza LCD television
- Second version of the commercial, promoting the Satellite laptop
- Escape vehicle no 6, the art project on which Space Chair was based
- Space Chair (Toshiba) verses Escape Vehicle No 6 (Simon Faithfull), YouTube comparison of Space Chair and Escape Vehicle on same screen