The latest commercial for BIDvest, one of South Africa’s largest companies, directed by Marc Sidelsky of Bouffant, which has offices in Johannesburg and Cape Town, for agency Brand Wealth Organization, features the world renowned New York dance company Pilobolus, who performed the shadow work at the Oscars last February. The unusual dance group uses graceful and powerful movements and their unique signature style of transforming their bodies into wondrous shapes to reflect the qualities of BIDvest.
Sidelsky considers the BIDVest campaign his best work ever.”My aim was to take them into a new place filmicly and each spot utilizes them in a different manner. It was phenomenal to work with such talent; they are human clay,” remarks Sidelsky. “I’m very proud of the stories I created in tandem with them.”
Other notable recent work includes the first major campaign for Chevrolet in South Africa via McCann Worldgroup. In “Thumb War,” a couple is enjoying a romantic dinner. They reach for each other’s hand, but instead of a tender moment, their faces suddenly become serious and a thumb war ensues. The woman is victorious, and the guy hands her a set of keys. In the next scene the woman is all smiles behind the wheel of the Chevy Captiva as the guy sulks in the passenger seat. The voiceover says: “The Chevy Captiva. With a seven-seat interior and all terrain capability, it’s easy to see why the driver’s seat is worth fighting for. Play Nice.”
Sidelsky reveals that no matter what campaign he’s working on, he hates the night before the shoot. “I never sleep,” he says. On the other hand what he loves most about directing is the excitement of figuring out the brief. What fed his love of directing was the steady diet of read-along storybooks and create your own adventure novels that he was reared on and his devotion to his “G.I Joe” action figures. “High drama played out on that thick, beige, carpeted battlefield. That’s where it began,” Sidelsky recalls. His father worked in electronics, and when he began to bring home video cameras, Sidelsky was immediately taken. After film school he started out at Fresh Water Films, which subsequently linked up with Velocity Films in South Africa. What was once Fresh Water has now been reborn as Bouffant. In terms of what type of work he likes doing at Bouffant, Sidelsky doesn’t like the idea of getting pigeon-holed. “As a director, my singular task is to serve the story, and I’m interested in all kinds of stories. I’m a huge fan of Noam Murro’s work, he has demonstrated amazing versatility, defying categorization. I love seeing scripts from all spheres. Every story wants to be something; you have to listen to it carefully, let it be what it desires,” said Sidelsky.
As for what client’s story he would like to tell, he replied, ” I don’t want to make the other clients feel bad. Ok, Honda.”
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