D&AD

James Spence, Red Bee Media Creative Director and member of the TV & Cinema Crafts Jury, on why a commercial for Virgin Media was worthy of a D&AD Yellow Pencil.

Virgin Media wanted to raise awareness of their new hi-tech mobile phone handsets. RKCR/Y&R creative team Paul Angus and Ted Heath, came up with an idea with a difference.

‘We wanted to do something a bit different from the rest the mobile phone market, something with a real sense of Hollywood scale,’ says Angus.

In the commercial, a young man steps on a train.  When he takes out his mobile phone, he’s transported to his friends, a gig, the cinema and into a computer game – all to a Mazzy Star soundtrack.

Director Sam Brown wanted to shoot the ad using as few special effects as possible.  Transitions between scenes were made ‘in camera’ rather than using lots of effects.

The shoot took place over a period of nine days in East Berlin. Four sets were built to the exact dimensions of the train carriage and their contents exactly mirrored the interior of the carriage.  Over 10,000 cubic litres of water were used to re-create the rain.

The roles took over 4 weeks to cast. Over 500 people across Europe were checked out for the girlfriend.  The young man in the commercial was an unknown German student who was a friend of one hopeful actor.

‘Judging the Craft Awards category is tricky,’ says Spence. Although an ad might be beautifully edited, ‘if the rest of it is garbage then, as the man said, ‘you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig,’’ he adds.

So, thankfully, no porcine No. 7 necessary for this piece of work, ‘Yes it’s a simple idea. But the craft has made it gorgeous,’ says Spence.  ‘5 Nominations and a Yellow Pencil at the Toughest Award Show in The World – congratulations to everyone involved.’