Josh Taft, who’s repped for commercials by bicoastal Satellite Films, has shot spots in many exotic locales, but his trip to Angel Falls remains his favorite. It was there that he shot the Energizer E2 spot "Basejumper" via DDB Chicago. (Taft also directed "Merry Go Round" and "Football" for the battery maker.) The ad shows Steve Barlia, a professional basejumper, going over a waterfall in an effort to promote Energizer’s new, longer-lasting battery. Barlia had to jump off the top of the 3,000-foot falls and paraglide to a landing.
"It took a lot of discipline, thought-processing and focusing on realizing that every time I asked Steve to jump, a lot of danger was implied," says Taft. "We had to be sure that there were no technical problems, and a lot of organization had to be done beforehand; not only to make sure that he would be safe, but to make sure that all of the crew would be safe as well."
Taft and his crew flew to the falls from Caracas, Venezuela, then took a prop plane into the middle of the jungle. From there, Jeeps brought them to the Amazon River, and then, they had to canoe five miles to camp. To reach the top of the Angel Falls, they helicoptered 20 minutes daily and landed on the mountaintop.
"Steve actually did four jumps," recalls Taft, "and [first] we sat there for four days waiting for the right opportunity because of the weather. It had to be just perfect—no wind—because the landing [area] was a postage-stamp-sized spot in the middle of the jungle."
Taft admits that the shoot was a challenge. "We were working with a Venezuelan military crew with Russian helicopters, in a place where there was basically one good hour of weather a day," he marvels, "and we actually got trapped on the mountain five or six times, waiting for perfect weather. One day—and I’m not exaggerating—we didn’t even have food or water."
Despite the dire circumstances of the shoot, Taft remained unfazed. "At the end of the day, I try to come out with a good life experience and a good spot at the same time," he says. "I think you’ll find that in every job I do. Whether it’s sitting on a stage in L.A., or in the middle of the jungle, the experience [for those involved] is oftentimes as rewarding as any other part of it."
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Taft graduated in ’89 from Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, N.Y. While he was still in school, he directed his first film, Chad. "It was a documentary about a guy in Seattle named Chad who was part of the Seattle music scene," explains Taft. "He was more or less a super-groupie. He was the guy who put the posters on the telephone poles, which was how music was advertised in those days."
According to Taft, his foray into the world of directing came about because a set of "organic events" led him there. "I went back to Seattle because I didn’t want to be in Los Angeles or New York," he recounts. "I didn’t relate to the people and the kind of work that would have been available to me at that time. I didn’t want to work at a studio and be someone’s assistant. I just wanted to be free to do whatever I wanted to do with my vision.
"I wasn’t necessarily interested in making movies or commercials," he continues. "I just had this belief that there was something interesting for me out in the film world, and spontaneously I started to mix my desire for music and film into one thing."
Coincidentally, at this time in Seattle, the local music scene was exploding with grunge rock. "I happen to love that music," notes Taft. "So I started making videos for Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and everyone else—with the exception of Kurt Cobain [of Nirvana], and that’s only because I was never asked."
Taft says that people started paying attention to his clips, and at 22 he was a music video director with his own company, now defunct Cowboy Films. He directed music videos for five years before signing with bicoastal/international Propaganda Films in ’92. (Satellite is a sister company of Propaganda.) In ’94, he left Propaganda and returned to Seattle, where he re-opened Cowboy. In ’96, he came back to Los Angeles and joined Satellite.
Despite some recent changes in personnel at his roost, Taft remains committed to Satellite. "I think all of the things that have happened are the right things," he says, "It’s been challenging. … I’m extremely happy here, but the changes have been extremely hard. I’ve been involved in a lot more company-related issues than I would have been under different circumstances. But I am committed to making Satellite better."
Taft directed three commercials—"Sidelines," "Golf" and "Runner"—for adidas via Leagas Delaney, San Francisco. "Sidelines," which features a real high school basketball player who’s a bench-warmer, won a Bronze Lion at the Cannes International Advertising Festival. "Golf" shows a woman so determined to perfect her drive that she is at the driving range long after the lights go out, while "Runner" shows Jamie Goldman, a track star with prosthetic legs, working out at the track.
"To this day, ‘Runner’ remains my favorite and most powerful example of how real moments and real people in advertising can be extremely effective," says Taft. "And of how real people can express the idea of commitment and passion and personality better than any actor, than any script or than anything invented by dramatic structure could ever do."
Taft is currently bidding on some commercial jobs, and he observes, "I’m interested in directing movies, but it hasn’t happened yet. I’ve never operated with missions or goals; I’ve always gone with my intuition and desire, and I think I’ll hopefully continue to do good work in different formats. And I hope one day I’ll make a movie, and that it will be the kind of movie I want to make."µ
