Who will be the A-list directors of the future? SHOOT has singled out five helmers, who through the work they’ve already done, have shown the potential to become go-to guys for commercial production. They have diverse backgrounds: three have some type of ad agency experience, ranging from planner to art director to copywriter. One is a veteran of high quality television series work, while another is a recent film school graduate. What the quintet has in common are talent, drive and serious potential.
BEN GREGOR
“I’ve got a dirty secret. I used to be a planner,” jokes director Ben Gregor of Godman, London. “It is quite a change,” he says of his of 360-degree career turn. Gregor, who began directing spots two years ago, was previously a planner at Fallon, London. “I think working there was great,” he says. “I got to see some great work being made, and I think the main thing I learned was that I actually wanted to create stuff.”
And create stuff he has–Gregor is very far removed these days from his account side past, and is instead focusing on humorous, dialogue-based spots for the likes of The Observer, a British newspaper, the Milk Development Council and Alpen cereal. Some of his most recent fare includes a viral package for Vonage, the broadband phone service, via Meme Digital, London, that centers on a televangelist who praises Vonage rather than the Bible. The funny films, such as “Healer,” “Exorcism,” “Sleep,” and “Promotional Film,” center on the Rev. Emmanuel P. Vonage, who in various scenarios heals the sick, and drives out the demon of an unstylish phone. In “Healer,” a leg-less man comes onto a stage in a wheelchair, and the Rev. Vonage “prays” over the man, calling on the “power of Vonage” to heal the man, and he asks the afflicted parishioner to “touch the Vonage,” a box with the necessary equipment to set up the service. Miraculously, the man’s legs begin to grow. The spot ends with the Rev. Vonage and the now-healed man dancing up a storm.
“It was great scripts with a simple idea,” says Gregor of what attracted him to the work, his first-ever, viral-only campaign. “When I read the part about growing legs, I just thought it was hilarious.” The package was produced on a tight budget, with only one shoot day. Gregor and his team employed some decidedly low-tech methods to bring the ideas to life. To make it appear as though the limbs were regenerating, the director wound up using a skateboard. “I put my skateboard on a plank of wood, and a pile of boxes,” explains Gregor, “and we rolled him [so that his legs gradually appeared] then we composited three takes together.” (Jason Watts of Finish, London, was the Flame artist on “Healer.”)
Gregor, who has a degree in Japanese from Cambridge University, left Fallon to pursue directing full time, working on short films and documentaries. Some of his shorts include Nice, about a young banker whose friends get him plastic surgery–he’s not amused; Ant Muzak, about rocker Adam Ant and his cohorts going grocery shopping in the middle of the night; and Blake’s Junction 7, about an ’80s cult sci-fi brigade that stops at a truck stop for an eventful meal. (The latter film was featured at the ’05 Slamdance Film Festival in Park City Utah.) Gregor also worked on nature documentaries, where he says, “I learned on the job really well.” He eventually did some on-air promos, which led him to signing with Godman. His first spot project, for The Observer, was done via Mother, London. “They really liked my stuff,” he says of the agency, “and took a risk with me on a number of different things.” He has since worked with the agency on several other projects, including the UKTV Gold “Golden Rules of Comedy” campaign.
“I tend to do comedy,” says Gregor, when asked about his style, noting that his shorts and feature film work are centered on humor. “I like actors a lot, and I always find that I’m really happy in that informal, sort of knockabout relationship with actors, where you’re the ones who have the fun.”
When doing a spot, Gregor works closely with the actors, always rehearsing and “workshopping” with his cast prior to a shoot. “What I tend to do is about a week before the shoot I’ll totally rehearse the scripts with the actors, and the agency will come, and we’ll improvise the scripts together,” explains Gregor. “Very often, tweaks come out that we then use on the shoot.”
Thoroughly working out a script prior to rolling camera helps, notes Gregor, because it allows for improvisation. “Workshops are really useful because you can deconstruct the ad, and build it up again,” he relates. “I love doing that, and I always rehearse–I don’t shoot unless I can rehearse.”
The director’s dedication to rehearsing is on display in the UKTV Gold campaign, which included the spots “Health Inspector” and “Adoption.” The actors essentially moved in with Gregor, and improvised the 11-spot package, which were shot in two days. “Workshopping lets you move fast,” he says. “You know the parameters, and you know what’s funny as well–which is a really elusive thing. It’s very easy to de-funny something. It’s a very precious, intangible thing, humor, and I believe it tends to come out of the performance.”
At the moment Gregor is shooting some Nicorette spots for AMV BDDO, London, and is developing a feature called The Principle of Calmness, and hopes to work stateside. “I really would like to work in the U.S.,” says Gregor, who is repped in the states by Sandi Mollod of Sandi Mollod & Associates, New York. “It’s about finding the right project.”
