out of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco. The ad shows a man surrounded by ads and reminders of milk, but when he goes food shopping he neglects to pick up the beverage.
"I do a lot of comedy and a lot of dialogue things, particularly in England," relates Kleinman. "I do more comedy work than car stuff, but I like doing big, nice, beautiful photography-type things every now and again. I try to keep a pretty broad spectrum of work going."
Kleinman started out as an artist and illustrator after graduating from art school in England in ’77. "I started helping out other directors in the late ’70s, early ’80s, with ideas and designs for music videos, working freelance," he notes. He began directing music videos in ’83, with now defunct Limelight, and three years ago formed Spectre.
"I’ve concentrated on directing commercials, mostly in England, for about the last seven or eight years," explains Kleinman, "but I do come over and do a few things in the states every now and again."
Although he enjoys the more collaborative nature of British work, the variety of shooting in the U.S. will continue to bring him back, he says. "It’s very nice to come to America. It’s a slightly different way of working. I try to work in lots of different styles—sometimes I shoot in 16mm, sometimes Super 8 and sometimes 35mm. I try to do stuff which looks almost amateurish, or a very reportage-documentary style, and sometimes I like to do very beautiful, polished photography. I prefer to think of myself as being more interested in ideas than in any particular style."
For the last few years, Kleinman has been able to put his skills with effects-driven photography to use by designing and directing the main title sequences for the James Bond features The World Is Not Enough, Tomorrow Never Dies and Goldeneye.
He took over the job from the late Morris Binder. "They keep asking me, so that’s very nice," Kleinman says. "They tell me what the film’s about, and I go away and do a few drawings and tell them what I’m thinking of doing, and they say, ‘That sounds great. Go and do it.’ I’m a little autonomous unit, which is nice. I don’t really do music videos anymore, because for me [titles are] kind of the ultimate music video."
Directing feature films is more a possibility than a yearning for Kleinman, who has recently finished work on "Raul" for Johnnie Walker Scotch, out of BBH; and "Best Mate" and "Easy Way" for Orange Tango, out of Howell Henry Chaldecott Lury, London. "I’m quite happy doing what I’m doing at the moment," he reports. "What I really enjoy about commercials is that you have one set of problems to solve, and then you solve it and you’re on to the next one. I like the constant change and challenge."µ
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