Leo Kocking is one of those people who knew what he wanted to do with his life from day one: "My parents gave me a bicycle for Christmas when I was about 10," he remembers, "but I sold it to get an 8mm camera. It was an obsession when I was a kid!" His fascination developed into a career. Kocking is a Chilean tabletop director who has worked around the world, and has recently signed for representation in the U.S. with Jam Productions, a New York house that is the result of merging Mathew Brady Films and Jam Productions in October ’98. (Jam Productions was formed by executive producer Joe Masi in April ’98). "When I first saw Leo’s reel," says Masi, "I knew he could compete with the best of the tabletop directors in the U.S. And then after meeting him and seeing him work with agency creatives, I knew he has the qualities it takes to make it here in the U.S."
While many tabletop directors hope to eventually work in live action, Kocking has worked it the other way around. A live action director for many years, he was asked to do a commercial for Cristal beer in Chile, and discovered a knack for high-speed filming of liquids. And since then, his love of the artistic quality of tabletop has led him in that direction in his work. But, he says, "I don’t like the traditional type of tabletop shoot. I’ll do it, but I like more creative images, more translucent, high-impact graphics." His spot "Ice" for Moskovskaya Vodka, out of Crusa Warbiagintur in Cologne, Germany, lives up to its name as chilly images glide across the screen; a green light shines through a chunk of ice, lime slices cascade down glacial waterfalls.
In addition to a capacity for making liquids behave, Kocking has demonstrated his bold, colorful style with solids as well. An example of this is his Maalox spot, "Who Knew?" done for Grey Advertising New York, with tumbling multicolored tablets that make taking an antacid seem as fun as a party. Grey was so pleased with the results they sent Kocking a card saying, "… never before has such tiny bland-looking product looked so good."
Kocking’s background in live action lends to his versatile involvement on every spot he does, and allows him to work on projects that involve both tabletop and live action. He directed Pepsi’s "P-E-P-S-I" through BBDO Worldwide, New York, which features The Village People singing a Pepsi version of their hit "Y-M-C-A." Kocking also recently worked on "Taz" and "Snoopy" for Russell Stover candy via Bernstein-Rein, Kansas City, Mo., which feature the animated characters; and "Pacific Blue" out of McCann-Erickson, New York, for Gillette. Upcoming is a Nasalcrom spot through jordanmgrathcase&partners, New York.z
