Search for a seasoned kids director and in effect you're rounding up the usual suspects: Tapestry Productions' André Marcell, tag team's Kevin Dole, eo's Dennis Gallegos, Danny Boyle of Cognito, Bob Ebel of Ebel Productions and Ernie Mosteller. All have experience as teachers, casting directors, visual effects artists or parents. Each is faced with the task of delivering a natural performance from unpredictable talent for an unforgiving audience: kids.

"If you're working with babies up to five years old, you don't know what you're going to get until the day of the shoot," says Marcell on wavering performance levels from casting through

production. "So when you work with

kids that young you always want to have a back-up. When you're dealing with babies you want to have two back-ups."

"When you get a younger kid to the set, you have to make sure they're comfortable with you and that they trust you. This is true for kids of all ages. You really have to feel like you're at their level."

"You can't simply tell a kid to do a line or an action and expect it to happen," agrees Mosteller. "You have to become another one of the kids on the set, and really work to get the action you want. I find that the more I participate, the better my results."

Nothing screams comfortable like a good fart joke, or a round of "Tickle Toes." They are proven fail-safes when it comes to communicating with children. "If you like being with kids and they sense it, they'll have a good time with you," says Boyle who casts according to energy level and attentiveness.

Making a child, particularly an infant comfortable extends beyond humming a lullaby. According to Gallegos, the process is an appeal to the child's senses. "When I work with small children and infants, I make it a rule to never wear any kind of fragrance that could be foreign to them," says the commercial director.

"I put Johnson's baby powder all over my body and then I bring a little bottle of Johnson & Johnson lotion and I make sure I have it on my hands." The familiar scent assists Gallegos in the transfer of the infant from the parent's arms to the set. "The only way to get that response from a child is to be a surrogate parent to them."

Establishing a relationship with the child and parent is an integral part of interaction for the former teacher and casting director who recently crossed

over into commercial directing. Gallegos traveled the country in search of fresh young faces for the last two Welch's campaigns featuring bright, articulate children delivering an unusual amount of copy.

You might remember the little boy Travis from the initial Welch's campaign. The precocious Texan held his own while listing the merits of grape juice. The

torch was then passed to a young girl from Pennsylvania who at the age of four and a half, read to Gallegos from The Wall Street Journal. This year, Gallegos directs Welch's newest spokesperson, Isla, described as a kinder, gentler version

of her predecessors.

"One of the specific directions the agency gave me this time around was that they wanted the reading to feel as real as possible," says Gallegos. "She didn't need to be selling the product."

"There seems to be a belief that children can carry a heavier load of copy," adds Gallegos when asked about trends in kids advertising. "Suddenly copy is very adult-like and you have to find a child that can articulate those words." One of the difficult tasks facing today's directors is finding intelligent children that can make the copy sound as if it's their own.

An over-rehearsed child is the kiss of death. Many of the directors told Boards they would rather work with a less experienced child than one who has been coached by mom and dad prior to callbacks. "That's death for a performance," says Mosteller. "I don't care if a kid misses a line a hundred times if the one time he gets it right it sounds natural, real and unrehearsed."

Bob Ebel shoots kids for adult products. In many cases they are encouraged to ad-lib to convey a natural approach. "We look for memorable performances. Adults connect to kids because of their honesty," explains Ebel.

In a spot for Trigon Blue Cross for The Martin Agency, a little boy and girl discuss eating vegetables to stay healthy. Carrots and greens top the list until the little girl suggests "Spanish" instead of "spinach." Frustrated the boy responds, "Spanish is como estas. That's not something you eat." The spot closes with an off-the-cuff remark from the boy. Looking into the camera he says nonchalantly, "We're trying to do business here." Noted for its simplicity, the spot is featured at the MoMA as part of the AICP's 1998 show.

Honest and simple inspired Marcell to shoot real kids in New York's East Village for Duncan yo-yos. "They were like the Oldsmobile of yo-yos and they wanted to do something that was groundbreaking," recalls the director. Capitalizing on the method peculiar to yo-yoing, Marcell invited the hipsters to "give him the finger." The approach was daring, honest and appealing to teen viewers.

Whether communicating with kids on set or sending a message to kids at home, commercial directors are aware that kids are savvy and can spot a phony a mile away. This premise not only governs the copy but wardrobe and set design. "I can't tell you how many times in my career I've had to talk an art director or a wardrobe stylist out of putting a kid in clothes that were cool in the '60s, '70s or '80s," remarks Mosteller. Keeping up with the latest trends is half the fun for the director. "You have to be current. [Kids] know when adults are not with it and they know when they're being talked down to or fooled. If you're not with their program, they'll spot you immediately."

"So much is based on kids nowadays because they are the consumers," says Boyle. "They tell mom what to buy. There's a huge market for kids' work. It's a really sophisticated market and having done a lot of kids' work I think a lot of clients are giving kids a fair shake."

While working on a Sega campaign through Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Berlin, Boyle adopted a slick logo in which the letters ran together to read: Welcome to the next level. "The kids figured out what it said but the adults didn't get it."

"The fact that we make commercials that are very fast-paced is partly catering to the biology of children," says Dole, suggesting that kids are able to process more information faster than adults.

One of the major changes in advertising to reflect the fast-paced entertainment is the use of CGI. Technology has made CGI affordable for what are traditionally low-budget commercials. With it, directors can bring toys to life. "CGI is used a great deal now because it's very compelling for kids. It's 3D looking and it's in CGI that you can have action figures like Max Steel jumping off buildings and doing all kinds of things under his own power," explains Dole.

Advertisers are allowed up to 10 seconds of such fantasy sequences in a 30-second spot, which means that the average commercial need not be composed completely of product shots.

Dole developed his own electronic digital imaging system, the Digicam, to assist him in shooting small toys at high speeds. "There are a lot of toys that are so small and so fast like Hot Wheels, that a 35mm Arriflex with a probe lens on the front (to make the toy look big and dramatic) amounts to about 35 pounds of iron you have to move at a scale equivalent of 600 miles an hour. You just can't do it."

Adapting a scientific camera that weighs about four pounds, Dole was able to produce an output that looks remarkably like film; so much so that client Mattel has opted to do all of its Max Steel ads in Digicam.

This process may prove advantageous for Dole, who must compete to shoot toy commercials with shrinking budgets. "I'd say the biggest challenge facing the toy industry right now is making commercials as good as or better than we have been while accommodating the tremendous push from advertisers to reduce the cost in production," says Dole referencing a report in which the agency of a major toy manufacturer pledged to produce commercials for a meager $80,000.

"Cutting budgets and talk of shooting toy commercials on videotape is a big problem," responds Boyle. "It means you're starting to sacrifice the whole look of it. There are reasons kids like Sesame StreetÉbecause it's well done."

Webfiles>

eo Productions> www.eoproductions.com

Ebel Productions> www.ebelproductions.com

Cognito Films> www.cognitofilms.com

Tapestry Productions> www.tapestryproductions.com

N Ur Eye Films> www.nureye.com