British-born director Sam Cadman began his career directing the popular renegade TV series Trigger Happy TV, with comedian (and co-director) Dom Joly. Typical of the show’s irreverent spirit is a skit featuring a man screaming obnoxiously into a cell phone that’s quite literally the size of a small child. Obnoxious guy does this while standing among a now understandably annoyed audience on hand for a school musical.
Beyond helping to establish him as a comedy director, Trigger Happy TV underscored Cadman’s affinity and talent for working with real people and hidden cameras. On the advertising front, Cadman took home a Silver PR Lion at Cannes in 2013 for Virgin Atlantic’s “Upper Class Bench,” via Y&R New York. Set in a pedestrian park near the Flatiron Building in New York, the project was part live-performance and part-interactive experience featuring actors and real people. The latter sit on a bench and suddenly find themselves being catered to as if a passenger on Virgin Atlantic, replete with on-screen and live entertainment, food and libation. Another Cadman-helmed trademark hidden camera campaign was for Febreze (Grey NY), which garnered much media praise and won a Silver and Bronze Lion at Cannes in 2011.
Cadman has been recognized as well for his expertise as a performance director with scripted material. His pointedly underplayed spot for Sprint, “The Man” from TBWA\Chiat\Day New York, was honored at the 2006 AICP Show in both the “Talent/Performance” and “Dialogue/Monologue” categories. “The Man” was produced by Tool of North America, Cadman’s ad roost before he joined Station Film in 2009. Station remains his home for commercials and branded content today.
Cadman’s other notable work includes the “Cluster Bomb” spot in PlayStation’s “Dude, Get Your Own” campaign, illustrating the irresistibleness of PlayStation via two men on a plane–one who has no choice but to acquiesce to the other’s oblivious enthusiasm about his PlayStation. And in Samsung’s subtly comedic “Rocket Surgeon,” Cadman casts a cocky alpha male (literally, a rocket surgeon), who we see impressing the ladies until he gets stumped trying to find a simple feature on a refrigerator.
SHOOT: What is it that draws you to hidden camera and real people vs. scripted material and actors?
Cadman: I’m literally addicted to the absolute authenticity of any “performance” from an unsuspecting member of the public. Seriously, it’s utterly compelling. When real people are reacting with genuine spontaneity, you can see the truth in their eyes and it kind of tickles your soul.
SHOOT: What are the main challenges?
Cadman: Staying small, keeping the production as invisible as possible and making sure the innocence of the “mark” isn’t compromised.
SHOOT: Typically, when clients come to you for this kind of work, what are their goals, and how are they different from a client who comes to you with, for example, a more traditional comedy script?
Cadman: Clients are always after the authenticity, the genuine reaction of a real person because if it’s unquestionably true, it’s therefore undeniable. Two actors sitting at a table gushing about how great a product is simply doesn’t have the clout it used to, for whatever reason it feels dated, lazy even. I also think the inherent spontaneity of a live situation plays to the strengths of any decent comic, they buzz off the live energy, which lifts everything.
SHOOT: In an era of DIY content, will there be more of a shift to doing ads with real people using hidden camera? Or are you seeing this happen now?
Cadman: Featuring real people has certainly grown in popularity. Ironically, it’s how I got my break 14 years ago, doing pranks in the public with my TV show Trigger Happy TV. This allowed me to be become a “proper” director, shooting on 35mm film, with proper actors–which I also love. But the truth is in a world of social media, where content is viewed on your phone, real events have a unique kind of electricity, plus in practical terms we always generate a wealth of content, which for any multi-platform campaign can be a lot of bang for your buck.
SHOOT: Logistically, what are the main challenges to shooting this way? Are there a lot of happy (improvisational) accidents?
Cadman: I think you’re always hoping for happy accidents whatever the style of your shoot, and especially with comedy. Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols described rock & roll as not knowing what’s going to happen next, that’s what a rock star oozes, it’s compelling, it makes you feel alive and in the best moments of “real people” that’s what you get.
SHOOT: Your Silver Lion-winning Virgin Atlantic “Park Bench” project was part experiential, part stunt, part scripted. How did that evolve – i.e., was all that material in the original brief or did you develop it with the agency and client together?
Cadman: We had one very cold NY day to try and get as many people as possible to encounter the Virgin Atlantic Experience. We had 200 extras in all kinds of costume hidden ‘round the corner, ready to go at a moment’s notice. We had actual Virgin Atlantic staff to guide each member of public through their “flight”–and we spent a solid week getting everyone as rehearsed and prepared as possible. There were lots of ideas that we tried throughout this time, computer games created, different movie styles considered for reenactment, dance routines, classical music, Village People, everything. Right up until the night before the shoot we were all trying to make sure we had the best ideas possible. Having a horse being ridden down 5th Avenue by an English dandy was a personal highlight.
SHOOT: How is this type of advertising more effective in engaging consumers? Is shareability through social media a factor?
Cadman: I think authenticity is appealing to all consumers, and when you work with real people you get this in bucket loads.
I’m shooting my first short in the new year; it’s scripted, an adaptation of a children’s story and I’m really excited to be working with a cast of kids–they’ve the same honesty, they live in the moment like so many of the public I’ve pranked or surreptitiously filmed. And it’s that moment of truth I’m always after; it’s at the source of everything, I don’t know why but I think we’re all attracted to it, like a moth to a flame.
