Director Aaron Ruell, known for his portrayal of older brother “Kip” in last year’s surprise hit comedy Napoleon Dynamite, has signed with Area 51, Santa Monica, for exclusive spot and music video representation.
Ruell has just wrapped his first assignment under the Area 51 banner, directing a campaign for iSold It, out of Seattle agency Big Bang. The spots are marked by offbeat humor, including several in which stir-crazy warehouse workers have invented imbecilic games in order to use their overstocked inventory of clip-clop shoes and racquetball racquets. The remedy: taking that surplus to iSoldIt, which sells the products on eBay. We then see a happy warehouse office worker holding up a check from the sale.
Similarly, in another scenario, a would-be middle-aged rock star takes to the street to serenade the public. His singing and electric guitar playing is hard on the ears, prompting a young girl passing by to unplug his microphone and toss it away. She then takes his collection box, which contains a few dollar bills and some spare change. A voiceover relates, “Dreams change,” as we see the man drop off his electric guitar at an iSoldIt store.
This new tongue-in-cheek campaign adds to Ruell’s directorial body of work which includes: a client-direct campaign for Vespa scooters done prior to Napoleon Dynamite; the directing and designing of that feature film’s title sequence; and a pair of short films he wrote and directed. Those shorts, Everything’s Gone Green and Mary, were selected for competition at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Landmark Theatres has slated Mary for theatrical release as a short film prelude.
At Sundance, Area 51 co-executive producer Preston Lee saw the two shorts and met Ruell. Impressed by the films, Lee then became familiar with Ruell’s photography and design work. Lee and Area 51 co-exec producer Phyllis Koenig feel that these multi-disciplinary talents will enable Ruell to transition successfully into the commercialmaking arena. Indeed Ruell said he was pursued by different spot production companies. The director related that he ultimately chose Area 51 because of his affinity for Lee.
The aforementioned design and photographic prowess of Ruell have been showcased in varied ways. His design touch is evident in the alluded to Dynamite title sequence, which uses different means, including plates of food, to entertainingly convey the film’s credits to theater audiences. As a still photographer, Ruell lensed the shot that graces the Dynamite film poster, and has been offered gallery shows from Los Angeles to London. In fact, over the past couple of months, Ruell has fielded inquiries from several ad agencies to shoot print campaigns. His Web site featuring still work was recently named a winner of Photo District News’ 2005 Photo Annual Contest in the Web site category.
Ruell is also prepping for his feature directorial debut, Warm Blue Day, which is slated to shoot this fall. He also penned the film, which is about the relationship between a young woman and an older blind man.
While in film school at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, Ruell met Jared Hess, who went on to direct Napoleon Dynamite. Hess based a character in the film, Kip, on Ruell’s frequent mimicking of his younger brother. Hess too is active in features and commercials, his roost for the latter being bicoastal/international Moxie Pictures.
Ruell comes aboard an Area 51 directorial roster that includes Jordan Brady, Craig Henderson, Theodore Melfi, Marc Scholermann, Simon Stock and Charles Wittenmeier.
