Ah Corona, all the new experiences and nonsense you’ve brought into into our lives...
This is the first project I worked on that actually had to be done differently due to the pandemic. Cutters originally pitched for this project without my involvement. They actually left me out of the directors they had put up originally. The pitch failed as none of the directors’ were selected. A few months later, the London-based agency came back to Cutters Studios asking if they represented me. Now, I’m not sure how they had ever heard of me as the only directing work I had released at the time was for GQ but I think it may be through the Desigual job as the production company on that project was also from the UK. I’ll probably never know.
Anyways, I was really keen to do the job so I decided to prepare a quick director’s treatment deck. I only had a day so I got Mai, an intern to help me put it together. I did the writing as she worked on the design and then I made a reference film using footage from my recently completed Desigual job.
The treatment seemed to get a positive reaction from the agency but it over a month passed until we got a confirmation that the job would actually happen. The concept, aimed at the UK market was pretty simple, Japanese people stay active later in life and have a more healthy lifestyle, which includes apple cider vinegar. The idea was to infer the connection without making any health claims. We decided to showcase, confident, active and above all fashionable centenarians to present the brand.
The biggest challenge was time. Temporary Cutters Studios staff member Alex Dias was to be heavily involved as photographer and executive producer. The problem was that he was moving back to the UK and the moving date was not flexible for personal reasons. We therefore had to get it done before then, leaving us with less than a month of pre-production. The three biggest challenges were casting, styling and locations.
Casting was tricky for the obvious reason that we needed people above the age of a hundred who were healthy enough to be active in front of a camera. This proved to be an impossible task as the only ones we could find were either too far apart or were reticent to participate, as their families were understandably concerned for their wellbeing. Eventually, the client relented and we agreed to cast some slightly younger talent in their 90s instead.
There was a lot to consider for location. We wanted to find locations that were immediately recognizable as Japanese but without being too overused. We wanted to avoid Shibuya Crossing types of locations. Temples were also out of the question as the brand can not be associated with any religion. This is actually something I tend to forget since I mainly work with Japanese brands who seem to have fewer of these considerations.
Styling was also tricky. We wanted the cast to be dressed stylishly and modern but we wanted to stay away from the Hypebeast type of imagery. A lot of care had to be placed to strike the right balance of class and style.
Pictured here: Location, cast and styling coming together.
My goal was to shoot the ads like fashion films where the talent’s attitude and styling would do most of the talking. I wanted to make them appear effortlessly cool. I was pretty excited after the first meeting with the creatives as we seemed to be on the same wavelength. We didn’t want to be goofy or silly and we didn’t want to appear to be trying too hard either.
Now, to quote the agency producer on this project, everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. Less than a week before the shoot, the agency reaches out to us in a panic saying the client won’t approve the direction as they didn’t like the mood. They were hoping for it to be cheekier, a little bit goofier. The biggest problem really is that they weren’t confident the project was going to be a success. This being in the middle of the pandemic, neither the client nor the agency would be able to join us for the shoot and that made them understandably nervous. We had about 24 hours to turn around a new direction which in itself wasn’t so hard but the goal was more to win over the client. Luckily, we had been working on updated storyboards with a proper storyboard artist to replace my ridiculous boards. We asked her to make some slight modifications to the boards. That poor woman basically pulled two all-nighters in a row to deliver the boards on time but in they end they really impressed the clients.
Then, it felt like the sky fell on our heads when two employees at cutters tested positive for Covid-19. Now dear reader, you may be one of those strange people who believe that in a time of global pandemic, a modern company with the ability to work remotely would be doing everything it can to keep its employees safe and more broadly speaking, to help slow down the virus’ spread. That kind of thinking however, is not welcome in this company. Since we had all been forced back into the studio with regular work hours, whether we needed to be there or not, we found ourselves exposed and required to quarantine for 2 weeks. Yes, that meant The two producers and myself would be unable to be present at the shoot. This was particularly prescient since we were working with an elderly cast. Luckily, Alex had stayed away for a while and was still able to go.
The agency and client were very understanding but that added a whole layer of stress for us. We hired an additional production manager to replace our producers on set and I would be directing remotely. We planned on having a three-way call with Matt (who else?) and Alex. I would also be on a call with the agency in the UK simultaneously.
This turned out to be the most stressful shoot I’ve ever been on.
On the day of the shoot, we still didn’t have approved outfits and the stylist was fighting against every single direction from us. It got pretty racist at some point. I believe he said something about stupid foreigners with their big noses and bad taste, so that was nice. Less nice however was the fact that we wasted 2 hours on the first day of the shoot discussing the styling. By the time we started shooting, the light had completely changed and we had to reset our setup completely, thus wasting even more time.
We were about 3 hours behind schedule, on a daytime shoot and here I was, in my room, head spinning and drenched in cold sweats. I started vomiting profusely in my waste basket between takes. I’d just like you dear reader, to be aware of this. The agency was also very stressed as it was obvious we would be unable to shoot everything within the remaining daytime. This is where Matt and the gaffer Arata really shined. They really had not planned for this but managed to light night for day with their limited equipment. In spite of all this, the clients were very picky about each take and slowed us down even more. Wrap was scheduled for 5pm but we ended up going until 10:30 meaning the entire crew would be asking for overtime pay.
This was lit night for day.
The second day was easier. We only had one cast member so it was a lot less stressful. Still, there was a lot of times when it seemed like we were making no progress at all and were unable to get the people on set move faster.
Once in post, I really endeavored to make up for our lack of preparation during the shoot. Post-production is definitely my specialty and I saw this as a last chance to make the clients leave this project with a nice impression. The attitude with the creatives was very positive throughout even though we ended up making a ton of versions of each edits. This was Mai’s first time as an assistant and she still required a lot of support. This project turned out to be like a crash course for her and she came out much better in the end. She got better and faster and started being able to work with more autonomy. She also never complained even though we often wound up working until 3 or 4 in the morning since our clients were in the UK. She was also indispensable when we recorded the voice over as she managed to establish really good communication with the talent.
The music was probably the most complicated part of the post. The original direction from the creatives was interesting but I think it was ultimately too ambitious for this client and we ended up with a kind of big band track which I actually quite liked.
This is one of the very rare projects where we didn’t do the color, mix and finish at Cutters. The agency wanted to be present and so they worked in London instead. Management at Cutters was unhappy about this but in a way I was relieved. I don’t get much respect as a director here and so I’m afraid I would have only received a minimum amount of time and resources to get it done as other’s work invariably get priority over mine.
The agency also made a longer film that showcased images from all three of our films as well as still from the campaign.
What went wrong:
Well, mostly everything. COVID meant I was unable to be present on set. We did not have a first AD on set to make sure things are moving on schedule and we wasted a lot of time with the crew just sitting around. We were mostly ill prepared and everything was pretty last minute, especially the styling. We also tried to cram too much in two days. We did these things to save money but ultimately, we ended up losing money due to overtime.
What went right:
Well ultimately, I think it looks pretty fucking good, if I may say so myself. The project really shined in contrast to all the dark and gloomy videos Cutters puts out or the generally depressing tone of advertising in the unprecedented times of 2020. I think the client and agency creatives were happy in the end and I feel we succeeded in salvaging that relationship. They have told me that they will try to do another campaign this year and would love to work with me again. The project was also picked up the advertising publication Campaign and got very positive reviews. Even Cutters Chicago published it on their networks, which is not something they do very often. Mai also managed to become a very good assistant during this time and would prove very helpful in future projects. Ultimately, the agency was able to upsell the project and we were able to make a decent margin of profit on the project.
What I learned:
It pays to be prepared. Like, it’s good to be able to adapt, roll with the punches and solve problems on the fly, but if we had been more prepared, we would have been able to really make the most out of our time on set. I learned that cutting corners doesn’t always work out and sometimes end up costing more time and money in the end. It doesn’t matter if a job has a small budget. If you take it on as a director or as a production company, you have to do it right. It was also really nice to work with really talented creatives and it felt like we worked together to elevate the project.
In the end, I just like this one and I’m happy to have it on my reel.