Was it your treatment that won the pitch?

It was a single bid because the job had a very quick turnaround.

How did you evolve the original brief?

The agency left it completely open. They just wrote the narrator’s
lines, so then I had the freedom to come up with the visuals.

It looks a huge production – was it?

These kinds of montage ads are always deceptive because the individual
scenes seem so self contained and simple, but then you find yourself with multiple locations changes, wardrobe changes, etc and your day suddenly runs away from you.
The budget wasn’t big, and there were two scripts, (the other is still in post) so we just tried to be smart and tried to make things feel bigger than they were.

Were there many set changes or was it shot on location?

All the scenes were shot on location in Cape Town. I think you just get
better production value for your bucks. All the times I’ve shot on set I just can’t seem to shake the feeling that it’s fake.

What were the most challenging aspects of the shoot and production?

Pre-prod was tough as there was very little time to pull everything together. The two ads each needed multiple locations, cast, wardrobe, production design etc. so it was a scramble to make it all happen.

Did everything you plan make the final edit?

Yes! It was a such a tight schedule that we could only really go out and
shoot what we thought the edit might be. There was no fat.

Anything that you would have done differently with hindsight?

It went pretty much to plan, but like any director will tell you, there
are always small details that one could have done a little differently.
But altogether the team is very happy.