An aspiring filmmaker as well as an established one have each contributed a short film to the lauded Philips “Parallel Lines” online campaign out of DDB London. The former director is Keegan Wilcox whose short titled Porcelain Unicorn was selected by RSA Films‘ co-founder and noted director Sir Ridley Scott as the winner of Philips’ Tell It Your Way filmmaking contest.
Porcelain Unicorn topped 600 entries from around the world in a competition that invited new directors and storytellers to create an original short film using the same six-line dialogue as the Cannes Lions-winning “Parallel Lines” campaign short films– one each from RSA directors Greg Fay, Carl Erik Rinsch, Jake Scott and Hi-Sim, as well as Johnny Hardstaff from RSA sister shop Little Minx. (The six lines of dialogue from DDB London are: “What is that?”/”It’s a unicorn.”/”Never seen one up close before.”/”Beautiful.”/”Get away. Get away”/”I’m sorry.”)
Porcelain Unicorn becomes the sixth film in the campaign. Scott explained that he chose the film because “it had a very strong narrative; a very complete story that was well told and executed.”
Wilcox’s short is a sensitive and moving tale of how a traumatic wartime encounter inspires a man in later life. Wilcox cited his grandfather’s war stories as inspiration for the film.
Scott selected Porcelain Unicorn from five finalists. The original 600 entries were culled down to 10 by a judging panel from RSA, the British Academy of Film & Television Arts (BAFTA), and Philips. Judging criteria included creative and original storytelling; interesting use of the “Parallel Lines” dialogue; and technical achievement.
Following a round of public voting on YouTube to select the top five, the overall winning film was picked from that batch by Scott.
As overall winner of the Tell It Your Way contest, Wilcox earned a potentially career-making opportunity of a week’s work experience at RSA offices, seven nights’ accommodations, spending money and the new Full HD 3D Cinema 21:9 Platinum series TV from Philips. In addition, his film is appearing on a Philips cinema site and be globally promoted by Philips.
“I’m honored and humbled Sir Ridley Scott selected our film,” said Wilcox. “This came as a huge surprise. Being awarded the opportunity from Philips to gain valuable work experience at RSA is a privilege and a first step on the long road to a career.”
The public was also given the chance to vote for their favorite entry and select a “People’s Choice” runner-up. Baby Time, a slapstick comedy by French director Cedric Petitcollin, topped the voting. As a result, Petitcollin will receive a prize of VIP tickets to an RSA film premiere in New York or London, travel, three nights accommodation and spending money, plus the new Philips Cinema 21:9 Platinum TV.
The Foundling
Meanwhile as alluded to earlier, an accomplished filmmaker, RSA’s Barney Cokeliss, has turned out a 3D short film titled The Foundling. The first venture into 3D from DDB London, the film was created to showcase the world’s first Full HD 3D cinema proportion LED TV, the Philips Cinema 21:9 Platinum Series. The film will be available to view in selected Philips retailers.
A historical drama set in a 1930s circus, The Foundling was shot in collaboration with stereographers Vision3@ Compendium featuring a team who also worked on 3D blockbuster, Avatar (2010).
Director Cokeliss related, “Making The Foundling was a fantastic creative challenge. 3D brings a host of advantages and possibilities to the filmmaker, enhancing the visual vocabulary–the way you tell a story. A circus seemed like a perfect setting for a 3D film since it contains lots of different layers, rich detail and texture and lots of movement”.
A 2D version of The Foundling was also first presented exclusively to fans on Philips Cinema’s Facebook page, and then released on the Philips cinema site and on Youtube. Exclusive footage of how the film was made, including interviews with the director and crew, will be released on Philips Cinema’s Facebook page.
Original quintet
The five films introduced earlier this year were:
• Darkroom, directed by Hardstaff. Set in a retro future Shanghai, Darkroom opens on a covert surveillance operative as he searches for his criminal quarry. Scanning a polluted city skyline, we see through his technology as he zooms ever deeper into a distant apartment and through the imaginative use of reflections and technology begins to unravel a sinister secret. Through this voyeuristic journey we are led to a climax with dramatic consequences.
• The Hunt, directed by Jake Scott. The Hunt follows two men on a trail to find the ultimate prey. In the eerie woodland something lurks; a mystical creature. Soon we will find that the hunters may well become the hunted.
• The Gift, directed by Rinsch. This sci-fi thriller introduces us to a dystopian future. It’s a winter’s day in Moscow, but the familiar landscape is not all it seems. An experienced KGB agent is on his way to deliver a special gift. Expressionless and giving the aura of emptiness, the lone man makes his way across the city. As the secret of the gift is unveiled to the recipient, the desire for the object becomes evident. The agent must have it. Even at the cost of a man’s life. A high octane chase through Moscow ensues as the dead man’s robotic butler tries to rescue the precious gift. It must not be left in the wrong hands.
• El Secreto de Mateo, directed by Fay. In this heart warming tale set in the underprivileged tower blocks of South America, a boy shows a young girl to a room with a secret. The girl is introduced to a donkey which the boy tells her is a unicorn. Delight and fulfilment fills the young girl as she is left to feel the magic of this moment in a life that has offered her so little. This joy is short lived as we are shown the difficulties of growing up as bullies taunt the pair. The boy stands up for his younger friend. Afterwards though, it all seems too much as the brave boy is left to cry quietly in the corner. Unaware of her friend’s pain, the girl returns her attention to the beauty of the animal.
• Jun & the Hidden Skies, directed by the Hi-Sim duo of Chris Hawkes and Cheun Hung Tsang. Through animation Hi-Sim transports us into the playful imagination of siblings Jun and Aco. We are instantly rushed from the children’s attic into space as a cardboard box transforms into a spaceship. This fantasy adventure excites as our heroes find themselves in the midst of a space battle resulting in the capture of Aco. Jun is left to fall from the skies before being saved by a fire breathing dragon. Jun and his new friend blow away the enemy as the plight to save the captive Aco gathers pace.
Cannes do
RSA Films made a bit of production company history as this year its Philips “Parallel Lines” short film The Gift, directed by Rinsch for DDB London, won the Grand Prix in the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival’s inaugural Film Craft competition.
The honor continues a mini-tradition for Philips. Neil Dawson, chief creative officer of DDB London, noted that the “Parallel Lines” campaign had to follow in the footsteps of the widely lauded “Carousel” which promoted the cinematic experience offered by Philips’ movie-theater proportioned TV set. Directed by Adam Berg of Stink, London, “Carousel” won the Film Grand Prix at last year’s Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.
“That’s a pretty daunting proposition,” assessed Dawson. “We didn’t want to do a literal follow-up to ‘Carousel’ because that would have eliminated what made “Carousel” successful–the element of surprise, of doing something unexpected.”
So the “unexpected” took the form of “Parallel Lines” and its dramatically different shorts based on directorial interpretations of the same dialogue. DDB London grappled with the means towards that end, considering at one point turning to different directors at different production companies, or having the same director work on all the shorts–but both working propositions were deemed too unwieldy and unmanageable.
“We needed to commit to one production company, give them the whole budgeted pot of money to divvy up the way it saw fit,” said Dawson, with DDB London ultimately gravitating towards RSA. “The first criterion was the quality of the work. We sent out a brief to some production companies and RSA came back with the treatments and an enthusiasm that made them the obvious choice. Another factor was one of comfort. We have worked with RSA before, we didn’t have to get to know them from scratch. Their production resources and support are world class–and they needed to be in that we had one director in Moscow doing a short, another in Cape Town, me in London, another in Montevideo, with all this varied work being done pretty much simultaneously.”
Dawson said that RSA directors generated 45 treatments out of the gate, a wealth of options eventually narrowed down to the initial final five. The diverse interpretations of “unicorn,” from a tattoo to an actual animal to a kids’ imaginative rocketship, made for an entertaining mix. The dialogue was inspired by different catalysts, with Dawson alluding to a unicorn reference in Ridley Scott’s classic Blade Runner. Besides the films having the same dialogue, the other parallel track was that all the shorts, said Dawson, had to be “cinematic enough, colorful enough and imaginative enough to show off picture and sound quality for Philips sets.”
Below are the latest shorts in the “Parallel Lines” campaign–Porcelain Unicorn followed by The Foundling and then Baby Time:
