Vol. 20
Spring has sprung… sort of. But spring campaigns are here at least, so we’re taking you behind the scenes of ours for USC. We’ll also have a look at the first Superbowl ad to reduce half the US population to tears simultaneously, as well as a short film celebration of forced consciousness expansion. And topping the bill, we’ve got an introduction to one of the most deservedly sought-after photographers around at the moment (who also just so happened to be behind the lens for our USC shoot…).
Cut Culture
Chow Chow Chow.
Superbowl ads can very quickly become a competition for who can spend the most money in the shortest period of time. It’s the most watched day of television of the year in the US, thus making it a bum-fight for brands seeking to distract the viewer’s attention for a fleeting moment from the game, the food or Rihanna - two of which Donald Trump loves, the other not so much apparently. And with ad time costing around $7million per 30 seconds, it’s easy for things degenerate into a loudest, most obnoxious voice wins situation. Yet amongst the bombast, bluster and Ben Stiller, the ad that really stole the show was… one about dog food. I know; we weren’t expecting that either. The Farmer’s Dog were able to create a genuinely emotionally provocative video capable of warming even the deepest cockles of the darkest hearts. While 2-minutes is typically quite long for an advert - especially if you’re counting in dog years - it doesn’t seem it when that 2-minutes has an entire lifetime crammed into it. And I’d just like to say collectively on behalf of everyone who’s watched it, thank Christ that dog didn’t die at the end, because that’s definitely where it felt like they were heading.
Bon Voyage.
Well, that got a bit emotional. So now for some slightly more uplifting mental sorbet: holidays. Although now that’s just making me think of when you have to put your pets in a kennel for a couple weeks, which is basically the dog equivalent of serving a 5-stretch in Wormwood Scrubs. Sorry, let’s actually lighten the mood now. Elliot Power has created this ad for the Bureau of Travel and Tourism, and it’s guaranteed to give you itchy feet - and not due to a dermatitis flair up. The video is essentially a 2-minute, fairly high-concept celebration of the joys of travel, along with all of its wondrous little idiosyncrasies that we feel so desperately compelled to convince ourselves are incredibly enjoyable - like going to see a painting that “isn’t even that cool”, for example. With it currently being about 2 degrees in London, I can say with a great deal of confidence that Mr. Power was preaching to the converted - but the work deserves its props nonetheless. Sold. Where we going? And if you’re wondering why you’ve never heard of the Bureau of Travel and Tourism, that’s because he made them up in order to give his creation a fallacious appearance of ersatz authority, which is a level of shithousery that simply must be admired.
BTS
The Home of the Original Icons just got a little more iconic.
USC’s Spring campaign is here - shot in Spring Studios, in Spring House, on Spring Place. Spring blooming Spring.
And to suit the seasonal campaign (that season was Spring, by the way), we wanted to create a light, ethereal airiness that would feel about a million miles away from the 6-month hibernation we’re just about to emerge from. And what says airy better than a parachute billowing in the breeze?
We used 4 lighting set-ups to reflect different times of the day (sunrise, golden hour, natural daylight and shards of light through a window) and to differentiate the looks from one another, but all ultimately coming back to the concept of showcasing iconic brands (such as Levi’s, CP Company, Dickies, Fred Perry, Converse, Vans and Lacoste) with a simple, effortless elegance.
But what you can’t see is that it can take an immense inelegnace behind the scenes to create the appearance of elegance on the screen. And by that we mean that what you can’t see is all of us waving the parachutes as if we were back in primary school in order to create that element of movement. Absolute murder on the arms.
Our 1-day to shoot this also turned out to be a strike day, so frankly it’s a relief that anyone was even able to turn up…
Check out some of the final stills and AV below - as well as a little bonus BTS content.
We don’t often like to double up from the same shoot in the same Cut Culture, but rules are made to be broken and it felt appropriate for this one because getting the right photographer was such an important part of this USC shoot. With the stripped-back set and the simplicity of the concept, we needed someone who we could be confident would execute the idea exactly how we wanted. That’s when we came across Olivia, who is a photographer and filmmaker whose work explores the themes of intimacy, beauty and the construction of black femininity in the arts and media (that’s what here website says). Plus, some of the work we saw in her portfolio matched the spring-like, airy feel we needed. And clearly we’re not the only fans, because her CV is properly mental - demonstrated by her having recently been included in this year’s British Fashion Council’s New Wave: Creatives List. To see more of Olivia’s work, head over to her website.