Commercials

COI – Food Standards Campaign

I did quite a few campaigns for the COI and this one was particularly interesting.

It is a reboot of a previous ad they did which showed bacteria showing up as a red stain under certain light. In the previous version this had been added afterwards, but I wanted to do it in camera.

We did a few tests to establish whether this was possible, then during a two day shoot we used red Day-Glo paint to represent bacteria and filmed under strong ultra violet lights to make it glow. The effect makes for quite unsettling viewing.

COI – Identity Theft Campaign

Another spot for the COI which has proved very effective, was this to promote secure identity.

We had to create a mirror image of the person who has stolen the subjects identity. We considered a digital imposition, but I love doing things in camera wherever possible, so opted to build two sets for different shops and connect them via what is apparently a mirror on the wall.

Actors had to choreograph their actions to match each other precisely, rather like the scene in Duck Soup with Groucho Marks. Then after the edit, we added dust and imperfections digitally to make the mirror look like glass, when there was in fact only a void.

Lovely challenging day.

COI – 5 a Day Campaign

We had four delightful little scripts to complete for this campaign and had a four day shoot in locations across London to achieve them.

We were very lucky to find the little lad who appears in three of them. The original idea was to have a different cast in each, but once we had him, it was an obvious move to give the spots more of an identity by making him and( by extension his family) a central character.

The entire campaign featured as finalists in the ‘Film 4 Directors Cut’ competition and generated a special mention from David Puttnam, who was one of the judges.

Starburst for Grey

I won this on the basis of a drawing I did that expressed my vision for the effect as being like the victims had their heads being swirled around briefly in a washing machine. Didn’t quite end up like that, but it’s close.

A two day shoot in and around Kingston Upon Thames, post effects done by MPC, music for ‘Dance’ composed by Richard Drummie of Go West fame.

Test Commercials

These test ads were produced to get me into commercials.

I got the scripts from the bottom drawer of a senior copywriter at JWT, then planned and shot a total of five spots on HD cameras borrowed from Panavision over two days in five different locations including JWT’s offices in Knightsbridge. Was a busy couple of days.

JWT were overjoyed at the results and tried to sell all of them to their clients. Personally I was amazed Kellogg’s didn’t take the Crunchy Nut one as it is better and funnier than any of their actual campaigns.

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