“Because we’re brothers, we’re not trying to prove ourselves over each other,” says Ben Dempsey, who along with his brother, Joe Dempsey, directs spots out of bicoastal Rock Fight in the U.S. and by Knucklehead in the U.K. “We don’t have a competitive relationship that you may see in other directing partnerships.”
Speaking with the Dempsey twins, who are based in London, it’s clear they have a harmonious relationship–each brother politely takes turns as they discuss their career and recent foray into the U.S. market.
So far, the pair has two U.S. spots, both for Nintendo via Leo Burnett USA, Chicago. One, “Unnatural Phenomenon,” was for TV, while the other, “Sad, Agonizing Tale of Bhuvan Ganguly,” was a cinema spot which promotes the Wi Fi capabilities of the Nintendo DS, a handheld game device.
The atmospheric “Bhuvan Ganguly” opens with a South Asian man pushing a cart down a desert road. The ad manages to be both intimate and grand, an effect achieved by cutting between close-ups of the man and wide shots of the stark environment. Exhausted by his journey, the man sits down and eats a banana. When he’s finished eating, he tosses the peel away. Cut to a car spinning out of control on a modern freeway that feels like it’s half a world away: it’s as if the car somehow slipped on the banana peel. The ad closes with the text, “For every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction,” and the voiceover, “Play who you want, when you want, where you want. The Nintendo Wi Fi Connection.”
Joe Dempsey says the spot had a tight schedule and a tight budget. “We had to think on our feet and be very resourceful with how we approached things,” he relates.
The spot was shot in Barcelona and locations outside of the city. The ad’s physical environment plays a key role, but the Dempseys saw right off that the heart of the project was going to be the hero. “We knew it was going to be a real challenge to find the character,” says Ben Dempsey. “It was a good opportunity to savor a character and be along side him.”
In order to find the right actor, the project’s casting director visited ethnic neighborhoods in Barcelona to take photos of potential participants. Eventually, the Dempseys found Talad Mahmud, a Pakistani man without an acting background, who was perfect for the part.
During the shoot the brothers had to go through a few layers to communicate with Mahmud since he didn’t speak Spanish or English. Because of the language gap, the Dempseys spent a lot of time with the actor before and during the shoot so Mahmud would feel comfortable on set. “We felt like we were able to tune into him as a real person and allow him to feel at ease and be himself in the role,” says Joe Dempsey, with Ben Dempsey adding, “we wanted him to draw something from his life rather than have him be anyone else.”
PlayStation 2’s “Prince of Persia,” which was produced via Rose Hackney Barber, London, out of TBWA/London, is another good example of the brothers’ cinematic work. The ad, created for the U.K. market, opens with an aerial shot showing a crane extended high over a city. Cut to a young guy running the length of the crane before attempting to leap through the air to another crane. He falls short and perilously plummets earthwards. A voiceover says, “We’d all take more risks if we could control time,” and right before the guy is about to crash, he ascends back upward in reverse-motion to the crane. The spot wraps up with images culled from Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.
The Dempseys say directing the VFX-heavy commercial was challenging. “We had done post stuff before, but not where the entire film relies on it,” relates Joe Dempsey. The spot required a realistic look even though the only live-action element was the actor’s jump. The brothers worked closely with Flame artist Jason Watts of Finish, London, who played a key role in crafting the spot. “He was invaluable in the job in terms of helping us understand what we could achieve,” says Ben Dempsey.
Despite the nature of the project, the Dempseys tried to capture as much as they could in-camera. “We basically avoided blue screen on that job,” says Ben Dempsey. “We really wanted to shoot as much of it in natural light as possible, so it’s not artificially lit. I think in a way that really helped because it keeps it quite photographic.”
Sharing Duties
How do the brothers divide their directing duties? “There’s no clear division between what [either one of us],” says Joe Dempsey. “The process tends to be pretty natural.”
Ben Dempsey adds,” We definitely have our different strengths.” He points out that even though both brothers work with the actors, his brother has more of a drama background to draw on. “I tend to be more quick on the technical side,” say Ben Dempsey.
The Dempseys attended Central St. Martin’s College of Art and Design in London, where they studied graphic design, with Ben focused more on animation while Joe specialized in photography. The pair collaborated on a graduation show that used Joe’s photomontages as environments for a photo-real animation piece. They went on to work for MTV and eventually they started doing title sequences for films. On one project, Last Dance, directed by Bruce Beresford, the brothers collaborated with their father, a graphic designer, to create the film’s titles. “We shot the whole front sequence,” says Ben Dempsey. “It was a good opportunity because it was like shooting a whole separate piece.”
The brothers then shifted to music videos, where they further honed their skills, both noting that clips were the area in which they were able to develop their approach to directing and were able to create a look for their work.
Do the brothers plan to collaborate indefinitely? “We’ve worked together for ten years,” says Ben Dempsey. “There’s no reason at the moment to change our working relationship because it works well.”
