Vol. 8

We’re back with another volume of Cut Culture. This month, we’re highlighting some moving moving pictures, featuring some choreographed soaring and an animation designed to get you off your arse. And, as usual, we’ll give you an exclusive view of one of our recent shoots (with more shoes than you’d know how to deal with) and an intro to some of the stand-out talent in our network.

Cut Culture

Floaters.

It’s difficult to see fields of wheat without immediately conjuring up images of a certain former Prime Minister frolicking with her chums during her, ahem, rebellious youth. However, putting those connotations to the side, Burberry have recently released this masterpiece. And following a period in which many people have rediscovered that the British countryside needn’t be the stuff of summer holiday horror shows, it feels particularly relevant. Burberry re-linked up with directing team Megaforce and choreographers (La) Horde - who previously produced their most recent Christmas ad - to create this wonderfully poetic and peaceful depiction of dancers gliding weightlessly through this green and pleasant land. Explaining the thinking behind the campaign, Megaforce said, “For this film, we had the idea to celebrate the joy of being free, the love for nature, and the strength of the collective.” And mission accomplished. It also ties in perfectly with Burberry’s heritage as a quintessentially British brand. Because, no, it isn’t just for football hooligans. Get you a brand who can do both.

Just DIY It.

B&Q must be livid that Nike already nabbed the ‘Just Do It’ slogan. The sentiment behind it really is ideal when it comes to all things DIY. In fact, 66% of the slogan is contained in that very acronym. Oh well, c’est la vie, and all that. However, embracing the spirit of getting off one’s backside and solving a problem runs deep through B&Q’s new ‘Later Means Never’ ad. And, more than that, it highlights the incredibly gratifying experience of, say, managing to put up some shelves without having to get a handyman in. Created by Uncommon and directed by Sam Gainsborough, the ad takes a very different approach to what we have seen previously from B&Q in their ‘Build a Life’ campaign, placing an emphasis on storytelling, and telling that story through beautifully animated stop motion. This was the preferred medium because, according to Gainsborough, “DIY is all about getting your hands dirty, and hand-crafted stop motion has an innate roughness to it that is in keeping with this ethos.” In the story, we’re introduced to Nigel, who’s in a bit of a slump, and showed how, with the encouragement of his family (plus a bit of help from his local B&Q), he’s able to not just transform his home, but also his life. It’s the minutia and attention to detail that’ll likely go unnoticed that make this ad what it is, though - including set design modelled on B&Q’s interiors range replicated in miniature form. Between the atmospheric cracking of the plaster, dripping of the paint, and unravelling of wallpaper, this is definitely enough to make you feel ashamed for having a mental breakdown last time you tried to build some basic flat-pack furniture.

BTS

Shoeaholics.

So many shoes, so little time. 24 set-ups in 24-hours in 1 set house. Pfft, never in doubt. And just like that, we helped launch Shoeaholics’ ‘Do Your Thing’ campaign.

We enlisted Jack Bowden as director for this one due to his impenetrable track record of launching campaigns across the globe for some of the biggest brands in fashion (you may remember him from last month’s Cut Culture).

Other than the slight logistical challenges involved when wrangling a colossal number of shoes and keeping them in pristine condition, shooting went as smoothly as could be. Whether that was out of good planning, good luck, or sheer necessity, we’ll leave up to your imagination. Intense? Maybe a bit. But hard work is good for the soul, right? Now we sound like a B&Q ad.

We created a number of stills for social and digital, as well as a series of 12 films involving 6 different scenarios, each one offering a slightly different nod to the brand proposition of meeting the varied needs of ‘suburban CEOs’. That sounds quite serious, but this was a fun one, particularly with the bold, poppy, colourful, vibrant, confident art direction (if we do say so ourselves). Because that new shoe feeling really is something else. Just watch out for puddles.

Radar

Dora Miller - Set Designer & Art Director

Meet Dora Miller. She’s an up and coming art director and set designer who always brings a unique perspective to a brief and a distinctive style to her work. And we should know - she spent a week creating a music studio set from scratch for our shoot for Puma with Young T & Bugsey. She creates hyper-real, often dreamlike environments from nothing and has a knack for making the background the most noteworthy part of a shoot, which takes some doing.

Head over to Dora’s Instagram to check out more of her work.