Time for comfort food

A young woman takes a leisurely stroll. She

suddenly stops dead in her tracks and lets out a bloodcurdling scream before scampering in the opposite direction. No, she hasn’t found a mangled corpse, but instead a grounded orange maple leaf, a telltale sign that fall is approaching. ‘Leaf,’ from Toronto’s Silverhammer, is effective because of one simple fact: Any winter-loathing Canadian can relate. The message is that ‘summer is only here for a limited time,’ so your days of enjoying a bucket of KFC in the haven of your backyard are numbered too. As if you

needed reminding.

associate account exec: Erica Ainsworth

production house: Avion Films

CMT’s new country fans

The average country music fan drives a rusty pickup with a rifle rack, right? Not according to Country Music Television, which maintains the genre has fans as diverse as the globe. This spot, created by Zig, neatly delivers the message. A couple of blokes in India calmly strum their sitars. Then one of them picks a few chords of ‘Duelling Banjos.’ With a subtle nod of the head (the acting in this commercial is superb), his pal agrees to join him. They pick up the tempo and bystanders bop along, proving that anyone can get into country.

creative director: Elspeth Lynn

production house: Radke Films

$13,000 House party

Produced in-house at CHUM Television, ‘House Party’ is designed to convince young people that drinking and driving is not a good idea and that they can take steps to avoid it and still be considered ‘cool.’ The spot opens on a middle-aged couple who have returned home only to find partiers crashed

everywhere. They walk into their son’s room and notice the jumble of car keys hanging from his wrist, at which point they realize he’s done a good thing. Remarkably,

‘House Party’ was shot on film for a budget of just $13,000.

producer/writer/director: Gord McWatters

editor/sound design: Daragh Sankey