Moore Kingston Smith and David Reviews: weekly update from ad world
It’s heartening to finally see the first examples of quarantine films which don’t look like quarantine films, as production companies begin to discover ways of getting stuff made without being unduly affected by the constraints of lockdown.
The single best example yet landed in the DAVID REVIEWS inbox on Friday. It’s a film advertising a fund-raising initiative called the Together Cup which will raise money for various NHS charities. It was made by a collective of directors – known as Homestudio – hastily convened by film production company MindsEye in response to the current logistical difficulties.
Unlike almost every other piece of advertising to emerge from lockdown, Homestudio’s debut film doesn’t self-knowingly reference a homemade motif, opting instead to make the best film possible under the circumstances without making the viewer aware of the constraints.
It is a breath of fresh air and, while the outcome is not spectacular, it demonstrates what can be achieved by operating within ‘the art of the possible’.
It is even more remarkable when you consider how swiftly it was put together. Agency Dark Horses, who also had to be at the top of their game, needed the film to be ready forty-eight hours after commissioning it. MindsEye were able to meet this ambitious target by drawing on the skillsets and resources of several different directors and then pulling together the contributions of each. It’s an ingenious solution to the current difficulties.
Find out more here.
Last week also saw a very effective variation of the ‘empty streets’ motif in the form of a promo for a new Rolling Stones song. As septuagenarians, Mick Jagger and the boys will have been taking a keen interest in the dangers of Covid-19 and self-isolating as though their lives depend on it… because they do. So, it’s perhaps unsurprising that the Stones were one of the first high-profile bands to release a quarantine-themed song.
Director Joe Connor of Rogue Films was given the daunting task of constructing a suitable video to accompany the song, and he came up with an ingenious idea to bring together footage of empty streets shot in London and elsewhere without reproducing the recurring clichés of this trope. Simply by using a fisheye effect, he has ensured that the promo has both a distinctive look that differentiates itself from all the other ‘empty streets’ films, and a visual vernacular which suits the song. It helped ‘Living in a Ghost Town’ gain a significant profile, with most of the major national newspapers giving the song and its promo helpful coverage.
Find out more here.
Another solution to lockdown which is currently being touted, is to find a territory where the restrictions are less onerous. Iceland has been promoting itself as one possibility. Crews of up to twenty personnel are currently allowed to shoot there and, on 4 May, that restriction will be extended to allow fifty personnel. If the director is unable to make it to Iceland, they can always use Skype or Zoom to shoot remotely. While such solutions are far from ideal, if they are used imaginatively, they provide the advertising industry with an opportunity to get stuff made.
It’s all about the art of the possible.