Employment agency Zona Jobs’ Grandmother commercial is such a simple but great idea playing on that good old excuse for not going to work. It does, however, look a complicated production. Was it?

It was a challenging production indeed. The two most complicated aspects were finding the right actress for the Grandmother role and the low budget which forced us to shoot the whole project in one and half days. The cemetery permit was for a very specific day and time, so we shot half a day there.

I agree it is a simple but great idea, these are the ideas that I like the most. At the same time it is tempting to add things to these simple ideas, so I think we’ve achieved a great balance between the story telling and what the film needed.

Were the effects done mainly in post?

The only FXs done in CGI are the falling piano and the bus accident. Everything else is real, live. The explosion, the gun shots… I co-directed with Federico Cueva, one of the most expert FX coordinators in South America, who made it all very easy and possible.

What was the original brief and how did you evolve it with your treatment?

The script is exactly as it was shot, even the sequence of events.
This case is not a typical one as the agency didn’t request a treatment. I have a great relationship with Javier Campopiano (VP Creative) and his team at Draft FCB Buenos Aires. We had many conversations about the script and spent many months thinking about the best way to do this project, so when we began shooting we knew exactly what we were going to do. And nothing was thrown away in the edit.

The casting is spot-on. How did you find Grandma?

We’d always known it was going to be a difficult casting, not only because of the role specs but also because we needed to find an elderly lady that could go through a long shoot like this one, exposing herself to the experiences we needed without being hurt or damaged! We were very lucky finding Delia, not only because she was perfect for the role but she’s also a beautiful person and a great actress.

Links:

Palermo Films