Among those who learned from Giraud is HSI director Warren Kushner, who spent five years working as a second assistant cameraman with Giraud. As a new director, Kushner says he finds himself amazed when he reflects upon Giraud’s tireless work ethic and energy. "He was never too tired," reports Kushner. "I’ve never seen him late for a shoot; he was always early. I never saw him relax or need to take a break—never. And there was never an excuse [for a problem]. You just made it happen."
Despite being a tough taskmaster, Giraud was very loyal to his crew. As a result, the director worked with the same core group for many years. Kushner said that the crew thrived on the high energy and excitement of the shoots, noting that Giraud’s reward for a job well done was to be included on future jobs. Says Kushner, "The energy around Paul was so immense that he just drew all these incredible camera assistants and people that loved the work and the danger. Everyone around him was out for adventure. It felt like you were going to war and we loved it. Paul showed us a way of living that we’d all been searching for."
Freelance assistant director Bill Hoyt worked extensively with Giraud over the past four years, including on the fateful Nissan job. There were times, Hoyt recalls, that he turned down other jobs he’d been booked on, just to work with Giraud because it was a challenge. "I’ve been doing this for a number of years, and I want to get excited every now and then," says Hoyt.
"I know he got upset with me sometimes," Hoyt continues, "because I did things my way. He knew the way that he wanted to do things and, for most of the time, that’s the way I wanted to do things. But he’d always defer to me, always look at me and say, ‘Bill, what do you think?’ For that reason, I enjoyed working with him."
Owing to their shared experiences, Giraud’s team formed a tight bond. Although reserved in some respects, Giraud spoke often of his family. "We’d be out on a mountain, or somewhere else as remote as possible," says Kushner, "and start talking about Valerie and Adele. He’s out there at the end of the world, thinking about his family at home. It always made us all happy [to be] around him."
Sandwick says that he and Giraud frequently talked about their daughters, who are the same age. "It was a bond he and I shared that really changed our relationship to [that of] friends and partners," says Sandwick. "You know, over twelve years, you grow up together; that part of it was fun. And he was doing some of his best work now."
Among that work is a package of spots for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines via Arnold Communications, Boston, that broke early this year. Highly unique for the category, the spots ("World Can’t Come to You," "Voyager," "Big Difference" and "Not By You") are high-energy visuals set to Iggy Pop’s "Lust for Life."
Last summer, Giraud directed three spots for Aetna U.S. Healthcare via McKinney & Silver, Raleigh, N.C. The highly visual ads—"Home Plate," "Diner" and "Labor Day"—are vignettes showing people in need of healthcare advice, while graphics of a computer menu box convey the variety of information on Aetna’s web site. Agency VP/director of broadcast services Regina Brizzolara produced the Aetna job, and recalls a "phenomenally great" experience with Giraud. "He seemed so excited about the job. He seemed to immediately own the project," says Brizzolara. "I thought he had a ton of creative integrity. One of the things I really liked was that he needed to understand the ‘whys’ of things, because he didn’t want to do things creatively that didn’t make sense."
