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 , set a world record for Highest High-Definition Television Commercial. Space Chair premiered on European and Japanese television on 16 November 2009.
Synopsis
The piece opens with a panning shot 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.
Production
Background
In latter part of the 2000s, Toshiba were engaged in the high definition optical disc format war, in which it supported the HD DVD format. In 2007, Toshiba decided 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 mediocre campaign made Grey to reevaluate its approach, and lead to a plan for advertisements "pushing the boundaries of what was possible."; the first of which was Time Sculpture, was released in late 2008. Time Sculpture broke a Guinness World Record for the highest number of moving image cameras in a film sequence, and subsequently won a number of advertising industry awards, and the Midsummer Awards.
Artistic concept ("Escape Vehicle No. 6") Artist Simon Faithfull, commissioned by The 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. A working budget of £3,000,000 was given for the campaign.
Pre-production
Director of photography Haris Zambarloukos, known for his work on Enduring Love and Mamma Mia!, was asked for advice on how to film the ascent. Zambarloukos consulted with the specialist camera company Polecam, who advised that the only 1080i HD camera 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, JP Aerospace, who had done similar work for the Discovery Channel and National Geographic Channel, were contracted. With the commercial airtime (broadcasting) already purchased, no-one willing to insure the project due to the high risks. Three back-up rigs were available as JP Aerospace considered the balloon rigs could come down in areas up away,