Seen and noted

I couldn't help noticing that the guest comments from Sam Walker,Mother London, came back with some very relevant questions that i suspect were asked by SHOTS, so if you're reading this Pat, sorry about nicking your questions .... beamo.

Where did the idea come from?

The Animals packages are about observing how different people do things differently so we wanted to do something about the way people behave that wasn’t contrived or set up. Many ads feature ‘real’ people but they’re almost always actors. We wanted to create something that would challenge people, take effort, and ultimately be a collective rewarding experience. This was about creating and capturing genuine emotion and experience.


There's something quite reality TV meets art installation about the whole thing - what inspired it?

People keep mentioning the whole reality TV thing and to be honest, that never even crossed our mind. Our intention was to create an event in which the public could participate and interact. The art side of it was much more where our heads were at – the best works of art are the ones where normal people are as excited by it as the art establishment. Anthony Gormley’s Angel of the North for example is loved by everyone and is such a magnificent spectacle within a public landscape. Ultimately, this is an event media ad as opposed to a genuine art installation done purely for art’s sake but we do feel that we managed to achieve and push what is expected from a traditional advertising campaign.


It's a refreshing and much more honest way of presenting people and an idea. What do you think that added and how do you think people will react?

The way we shot it was of huge importance to us. It featured real people and all we did was record how they were reacting. The whole idea lives or dies on the credibility of the footage. We knew that if we manipulated the situation and cast actors the entire project would crumble very quickly – the integrity of the project is its reality. It is also a very democratic approach to advertising; we just wanted to document what was happening and the journey people were going on. We had two master 35mm cameras leading the shooting but there were also six other HD cameras given to the different people within the different groups to try and capture their own unique perspectives. The idea was to have many different takes on the same event, again to show how different people approach the same experience. TV exposure will feature one launch ad and four 30s ads for each of the animal groups, while the internet will provide a forum for the rest of the participants footage and photographs.



Were you ever worried about what would happen?

Yes, I think everyone was a least a little bit worried particularly before we actually got out to Spain. Nobody really knew what was going to happen which in many ways was the beauty of the project. Until the inflatables were erected on the first day of shooting we didn’t know how they would sit within the landscape and we had no idea how people would react to working hard and to the actual spectacle of the installation. Weirdly though, when the process got under way, everyone became much more relaxed – the inflatables looked as we had hoped and the people involved reacted better than we could have hoped for. As long as the actual event went as planned all that was left to do was to document it as well as possible.


It's a brave concept - how was it to sell to the client?

Strangely no, because the basic idea behind this was to simply create a situation where we could observe and understand humanity, Orange bought into it very easily. It’s perfect for their brand values and to actually achieve genuine emotions within an ad context was a perfect fit.

Any funny incidents or problems while shooting?

There were lots of incidents while shooting but what was great about this project was that as long as we managed to get the inflatables up how we intended within the landscape everything else just added to the drama and spectacle. Nothing was off limits for filming, the strength of this film is its honesty. Everyone signed release forms, everyone from the director, to the creatives, to the clients, to the cast, to the catering staff, to the drivers, to the helicopter pilot – we didn’t want to hide anything. While we were out in Spain, we had to change locations the day before the shoot, the helicopter broke down, the wind got up making the balloons difficult to manage, the water level dropped after we had set the huge platform in place, vans got stuck in the mud, generators overheated and balloons ripped and had to be repaired – all things that on any normal shoot would be seen as problems but in this case were simply filmed and helped make for more dramatic, more authentic footage.



Where was it shot and how long did it take to shoot?

The location for the Orange Project was a remote area of Spain about an hour and a half from Malaga. The idea of the installation was to take an already beautiful landscape and add to it rather than dominate it. It had to look complementary which was partly why the balloons had to be opaque – we wanted the viewer to sense the people and scenery through the surface of the Animal. We also wanted people to feel like they had to travel a distance before they actually got to the location to make them feel like what they were doing was unusual and would take a joint effort from everyone involved.

The actual event took place over three days, shooting from before dawn (5am) to dusk and beyond (11pm). They were long days but the experience and footage was worth it.


Click here to view it on the main page.