There’s nothing like a near-death experience to put things into perspective. That’s what director Christian Loubek learned while shooting a spot in the new Saab campaign for Lowe, New York, via bicoastal Anonymous Content. “On one of the location scouts I asked to drive my producer Pete Vitale’s sporty BMW,” explains Loubek. “Minutes later I drove it right into another car.It was terrible all the way around and looked like a scene from CHiPs. When I came to, Pete was acting like Erik Estrada pulling people out of burning vehicles and such. Luckily, everyone was alright.
“The car accident had an immediate effect on the set,” he continues. “It infused a 50mph blast of perspective right into the shoot. Suddenly, all those little prickly details seemed a little less prickly. [Art director] Simon Bowden and [copywriter] Mark Ronquillo, who were lovely to work with from the start, would come up and begin with a rationale behind something and I’d interrupt: ‘Sure, as long as no one dies, let’s try it.’ The incident contributed to what was already a collaborative environment and created spots that I am very proud of.”
The launch spot in the Saab campaign is titled “Lost.” It opens on successive images of people as they’re coming to the realization that the assorted things they possess are not so unique. First we see a woman searching for her house in a community where all the homes are identical; then an office worker is seen wandering aimlessly through a sea of office cubicles; a woman trying on a dress realizes that several other women in the dress shop share her taste, and finally, a confused man stands at the airport luggage carousel watching as an endless array of black suitcases–all the same size and shape–parade past him. The images are accompanied by a hauntingly cheerful muzak-type melody that plays over them.
The images continue to come, with the woman still hoping to find her home and the businessman trying to locate his cube. A voiceover begins to explain: “In a world of sameness, you can still maintain your identity.” Just then, the opening chords of a very recognizable song from The Who begin to play as a man in a parking structure filled with identical black cars watches a standout vehicle, a sleek silver Saab convertible, gracefully zigzags its way out of the sea of identical autos. As the car pulls out of the man’s sight, the words to that classic Who song are heard: “I’m free, I’m free.”
The Saab package, which also includes “Baggage Claim” and “Dressing Room,” are the perfect showcase for Loubek’s directorial skill set. They feature the stunning cinematography he brings to all of his work as well as a high concept and imagery that stays with the viewer long after the screen has faded to black. “My natural tendencies are to veer towards, clean, considered and print-quality work, and I think those adjectives can be used to describe ‘Lost’.”
INDIE ROOTS
The affable director’s story begins in Seattle, where he “was lucky enough to have friends who were involved in film.” That close proximity to the industry provided the then teenaged Loubek with the opportunity to work on sets at a very early age. “I was interested in photography from as far back as I can remember,” he says. “And watching over the shoulders of some very talented cinematographers was an invaluable experience for me.”
Loubek’s real-world education continued outside of film school, on the sets of various independent “no budget” films that afforded him the chance to serve as a cinematographer himself. “It was great,” he remembers. “I got to live many places and do many things and that eventually led to my directing commercials around 2000.”
By 2002, Loubek was ensconced at bicoastal HKM Productions and gaining international attention for his work as director/DP on “Turbo”–a Volkswagen Turbo S spot out of Arnold Worldwide, Boston. The :60 made enough of a splash around the world to land Loubek in the 2002 Saatchi & Saatchi’s New Directors Showcase, which is presented during the Cannes International Advertising Festival.
Today, Loubek might best be known for the car spots–including commercials for Volkswagen, Citroen and Saab–which meld metal and chrome into mesmerizing visuals. However, his reel also includes Tillamook’s “Beigeland,” out of agency Four Stories, Portland, Ore., a skin cancer PSA for the Association of American Dermatologists (“Beach”) and a McVities Biscuits (“Crumbs”), both out of Publicis, New York, as well as a Sprint campaign out of Publicis & Hal Riney, San Francisco, among other offerings.
“I didn’t set out to direct commercials, I sort of fell into it and I’m glad I did,” he explains. “Viewers are smart, smarter than we sometimes give them credit for. You have to make interesting commercials that become more interesting on multiple viewings to really get their attention and keep it. I love that challenge.”
Loubek may have stumbled into the ad arena but now that he’s there, he sees endless possibilities. “As technology advances, there is opportunity for increasingly sophisticated approaches to advertising,” he theorizes. “One of my first directing assignments was an interactive CD-Rom that played like a video catalog for Eddie Bauer. I also worked with Digital Kitchen [Seattle and Chicago] to do the opening credits for Six Feet Under,” he relates. “Those kinds of projects are interesting because they get you thinking in terms of how you might present something filmatically. I’d love to do more stuff in that direction in the future. Also, Anonymous Content’s feature film division is blowing up right now and that offers me a great introduction to movies. The challenge now is finding the right material. That’s definitely the next step.”
