A bass fish holding a press conference along with a profession fisherman for the 35th Annual Bassmaster Classic on ESPN. A bill for television service that literally bites, removing appendages from its owner. These are just a couple of examples of the humorous work from director Steve Miller of bicoastal/international @radical.media.
The ESPN package, comprising the spots “Shiny,” “Feather” and “Airplane,” were done via Fort Franklin, Boston. The ads are among Miller’s favorite recent spots. Though it was a challenge to work with live fish and low-tech in-camera executions–one of the restrictions of working with the scaly character was that it could only be out of the water for about forty seconds.
In “Shiny” and “Feather,” the fish explains to members of the media that in the upcoming competition his strategy to avoid being caught will include avoiding shiny and feathery lures. The fish’s mouth moves normally–slowly expanding and contracting–it wasn’t manipulated to correspond with the voiceover. For Miller, avoiding special effects as well as a cartoon-like voice adds to the humor. Instead, the impossible scenario features a fish speaking like a normal athlete might. “Everything around the absurdity is underplayed,” explains Miller. “You end up with a sensibility that is as sophisticated as it is idiotic. I love playing those tonalities against one another; it’s a very contemporary type of ‘smart funny.’ “
In “Airplane” another of the ESPN spots, the fish taunts a fisherman while both are traveling on a commercial airline. A flight attendant brings the professional fisherman, Gerald Swindle, a cup of coffee “from a gentleman in first class.” The fish who is sitting in first class looks behind his seat and across the aisle to the man in coach who is about to sip the hot beverage. “How’s the coffee? Are you sure it’s coffee?” the fish asks. “No you’re not sure now are you. Welcome to my world.”
The work Miller shot for Dish Network through Publicis & Hal Riney, Seattle, is equally absurd in its depiction of troublesome television services. In “Arm & Leg” a middle-aged couple is hosting a backyard barbeque. As the woman chats with her guests, she explains that the bandage around her arm is from her TV–which bites. “The bill, the customer service, it bites hard,” she says. Then her husband, with only one leg, hops over to join them; he is also missing an arm. “TV?” his guest inquires. “The bill was so high the sucker got my arm and my leg. Your TV doesn’t bite?” he asks. To which his friend responds, “No, we got a terrific deal from Dish Network, they treat us great.”
In another Dish spot, “Dinner,” a group of people seated around the dining room table notice a breeze, it’s the TV–it sucks. As things fly past the diners, friends explain the finer points of Dish Network to the homeowners.
Comedic Course
Miller gravitates to the comedic in part because of the great stories that can be told about human behavior. “I’m not big on things that don’t represent some sort of truth,” he says of what he looks for in a project. “I think that what I do better than anything else is just peel away anything false in a situation to try to make [it] so it becomes a recognizable moment — I think that is what tends to make you laugh–when you recognize something about yourself or your dad or your superintendent, when you see something that feels familiar to you and represents some sort of truth.”
“True Men” for the Volkswagen GTI out of DDB Berlin, captures common experiences with subtle humor and great visual. The spot looks like it was created from old home movies, and features little boys roughhousing, checking out girls, and looking at car magazines–typical guy stuff, but quite funny since all the boys seem to be under the age of eight. The spot is reaching out to “boys who were always men.” It closes with a red GTI spinning around to face the camera.
Miller was formerly part of the directing team LeMoine.Miller, with director Rick LeMoine, who recently joined Biscuit Filmsworks, Los Angeles. Miller says the split, which took place about two years ago, was a natural progression and it hasn’t impacted his style. In fact, he said he doesn’t feel like he has a particular style, relating that he “just focuses on recognizable moments that we all have and playing up the humorous aspect of that.”
Miller started out on the advertising side of the business as an art director for agencies like Cliff Freeman and Partners, New York, TBWA/Chiat/Day, New York, and Saatchi & Saatchi, London. After about ten years in the business, he and copywriter LeMoine began to freelance as a creative team. On a project for ESPN and NASCAR they were granted the opportunity to direct, which they did through @radical.media. They signed with the shop soon after. “It was just always more fun to be on a set or on location and in production,” he notes. “Production was where–and I don’t want to say something clichébut that’s where all the fun was, that’s where stuff came together and that’s where I felt like I wanted to be.”