Trunk Monkey," a spot for Portland, Ore.-area car dealership the Suburban Auto Group via agency Big Ads, Portland, was a delightful discovery, first unearthed in SHOOT’s "The Best Work You May Never See" gallery last February. The commercial was a side directorial gig for Derek Barnes, whose full-time job is that of copywriter at Wieden+ Kennedy, Portland.
The spot opens on a ranting and raving man. "Who do you think you’re honking at, huh?" he yells.
The camera pulls back to reveal that we are looking at the enraged man from the inside of a stopped car. The driver of that vehicle is clearly intimidated—and grateful that his automobile’s windows are up and door locks are down.
A longshot shows that the man who’s frothing at the mouth has his truck positioned at an angle in front of the frightened man’s car. Clearly, this hothead is looking for a fight, having cut his intended victim off at the pass.
The road rage continues. "You don’t like the way I drive?" the trucker shouts. "Come on out, I’ll give you a driving lesson!"
The recipient of this tirade is scared, bewildered and apologetic. But that’s not enough to stop the flow of venom.
"You want a piece of me?" screams the trucker, seemingly on the verge of breaking the car window.
Indeed, desperate times call for desperate measures. The frightened car occupant finally presses a button that’s labeled, "Trunk Monkey." The trunk then pops open and a chimpanzee emerges, brandishing a tire iron. The chimp clocks the enraged trucker in the head with the tire iron, knocking him out cold. The chimp then celebrates by beating its chest and waving the tire iron around wildly.
A voiceover intervenes, "At Suburban, you’ll find revolutionary ideas that other dealerships just don’t offer."
The relieved driver then lowers his window, high-fives the chimp, and instructs it to get back in the trunk.
On the strength of that entry, Barnes—who started occasionally helming spots about a year ago—is one of the talents covered in our New Directors Special Report this week. A reel containing the work of all 20 directors will premiere at a SHOOT gala event on May 18 in Miami. The screening takes place during the opening night of the Clio Festival.
Several of the directors are expected to be on hand for the screening, with production house and ad agency perspectives on new directorial talent provided, respectively, by featured speakers Tom Mooney, president of bicoastal Headquarters, and Texas East, senior partner/co-director of broadcast production for Ogilvy & Mather, New York.
Entries submitted on behalf of directors, our "The Best Work You May Never See" gallery, SHOOT’s ongoing Directors Special Report features on up-and-coming talent, and feedback from agency creatives and producers worldwide helped us fashion this roster of 20 helmers.
As fittingly exemplified in "Trunk Monkey," our showcase of New Directors is a natural outgrowth of what motivated our launch of "The Best Work You May Never See" five years ago. Upon its introduction, we wrote: " ‘The Best Work You May Never See’ allows us to recognize notable creative commercial filmmaking that otherwise would get lost in the shuffle, destined for relative obscurity due to lack of significant airtime throughout the U.S. That department represents a new means toward helping to realize our promise of providing more exposure for deserving work and the artists who create it."
