The spot plays like a documentary, making it the fitting vehicle to help promote the upcoming DoubleTake Documentary Film Festival (DDFF). Titled "India," the :30 shows us a typical day on the Ganges River, a.k.a. "the holy river," where people bathe, wash clothes, dump garbage—and get their drinking water. In a couple of scenes, we see a dog at the river’s edge, chewing on the remains of a decaying animal carcass.
While hardly appetizing, this real life scenario hits home in a perversely delicious manner, piquing our curiosity and registering on a gut, as well as cerebral, level. The tagline that appears on screen ties it all together: "How much reality can you handle?" To find out, suggests the end title card, visit the DDFF (produced "in association with the Center for Documentary Studies"), May 3-6, in Durham, N.C.
"India" is one of four DDFF TV spots directed and shot by Tim Bieber of Mr. Big Film, Chicago, for Raleigh, N.C., ad agency McKinney & Silver. Kate Zimmer served as executive producer for Mr. Big. The commercial was lensed on location in Varanasi, India.
"The spots are meant to be documentaries in their own right," related McKinney & Silver art director Dino Valentini. "We wanted each execution to be as true and have as much integrity as documentary itself. Once we started looking for possible concepts, we found that life is truly more interesting than anything we could possibly create for these spots. Hopefully, the buzz they generate will get people talking about documentary and attending the festival."
Another ad in the campaign similarly provides a stark documentary-style look at a restaurant kitchen. Black-and-white security camera-type footage shows a short order cook preparing a dish in a skillet. Some of the entrée falls to the floor. He scoops the food up and places it on the serving dish for the waiter to bring to an unsuspecting customer. Again, how much reality can you take?
The agency team consisted of creative director David Baldwin, art director Valentini, copywriter Kim Nguyn and producer Cynthia Dionne.
"India" was cut by Michael Elliot of bicoastal Mad River Post. Assistant editor was Zena Sfeir. Producing for Mad River was Haley Speight. Transfer artist was John Dowdell of Tape House Editorial, New York. Audio mixer was Kevin Howlett at Kamen Entertainment Group, New York.
Bicoastal Elias Associates did the music, with a team of creative director Alex Lasarenko, composer Jimmy Haun and producer Andy Solomon.
The DDFF is billed as being the largest documentary film festival in North America. The campaign for the fest was earlier referenced in SHOOT, but at the time the spots’ content wasn’t publicly known. The previous mention came in the context of Mad River’s virtual editing setup, based on the Rosedit videoconferencing system (SHOOT, 2/16, p. 1). McKinney & Silver’s Dionne collaborated with various Mad River editors—both in person and virtually—on the DDFF package. She told SHOOT in February, "I was able to work with different editors on both coasts while being in New York [at Mad River]. Everything is in real time, and represents such a convenience factor. One minute, I’m talking to an editor in Los Angeles, giving him input and notes; the next minute, he’s incorporating them into a rough cut, which I see immediately [on a monitor]. There’s a real give-and-take as I see how he’s interpreted what we’ve told him, and then offer feedback. It’s an amazingly productive working environment."
