"Our challenge was to find stock imagery that was as compelling as Marcus' amazing, high-caliber original footage," says Brad White, co-creative director of the spot with Leigh Saunder. "There was a real disparity between the visual elements and we wanted to create composites that weren't crap. Some stock was bad half-inch dub while others was 20-year-old footage that looked like it was shot yesterday."

Account executive Jocelyn Shearer of Getty Images scoured archives for stock shots of worldwide locales showcasing unique, diverse and visually appealing scenes that dovetailed into Nortel's message of delivering its new high-speed Internet services globally. The spot required that graphic billboards bearing Nortel's message could be digitally superimposed on various urban and Third World scenes, so each shot had to be selected for its potential compatibility with billboard placement.

With a cover version of the Beatles' song "Come Together" playing as background music, Nortel "What do you want the Internet to be?" billboards were superimposed by Craig Price of Click Three X upon a collage of images, including 11 licensed Getty images: the Golden Gate Bridge, a junk sailing through the Hong Kong harbor, a building under construction, an aerial view of Times Square, a descending skydiver, the reflection of a flying airliner, an aerial view of skyscrapers and a busy intersection, elevated trains passing through Chicago, buildings in Los Angeles, and a country field filled with bales of hay.

In one sequence, a live-action shot of an Asian woman shows her turning her head upwards to look at a stock image. "Marcus is a master at making such transitions look seamless," says White.

With their surplus of stock and original shots, the agency was able to create a second commercial without shooting any new footage. The first spot used about one-third stock footage while the second spot used 50 percent stock footage. Nispel himself was also able to draw upon his own supply of stock.

Adam Lobel of Red Car (now a freelancer), who edited the original spot, says each stock shot was pre-edited and composited before

Nispel shot any original footage, which guided the director on what and how to shoot. The success of the original spot led to the superimposed billboard message being translated into several languages, easy to accomplish for the composited shots but less easy for the live-action shots.

"As clients' markets become globalized, the growing need for global images has increased the volume of negotiations for stock," notes White. "Relying heavily on North American images tends to alienate overseas audiences."

While White acknowledges the use of stock footage can save time and money, he is not thrilled that the emergence of virtual reality has cut down on the need for location shooting. "The Internet is making it less easy for us to travel. In many cases, we no longer need to go to the Caribbean in January to shoot original footage -- which is a bit depressing."