The work of Moritz Friedel and Christophe Chrudimak, the Austrian co-directing team known as rad-ish, has been described as "smooth with biomorphic shapes, surreal themes and real-time manipulation."
Rad-ish, which recently signed with bicoastal Go Film for U.S. representation, points out that these words came not from them, but from the organizers of the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase, to which they were named in 1998. The showcase is presented at the Cannes International Advertising Festival. Today, the description remains fairly apt upon seeing their commercials, which generally aren’t bound by conventional thinking and chronological storytelling.
Consider the German spot, "World Full of Dots," that they directed for Loyalty Partners, which sponsors a point-based, money-back rewards program for patrons of certain hotels, restaurants and rental car agencies. In the ad, out of Publicis, Frankfurt, different circular objects become graphic elements that serve as the connecting transitions between scenes. For instance, stones on a beach become, in the next vignette, stars in the sky. Bubbles created by underwater scuba divers become rain droplets on the window of an airport terminal. A wider shot reveals four uniformed little girls standing at the terminal’s window; the white caps on their heads ultimately become white dots that assemble on a payback card.
"It’s based on the idea of collecting points," says Friedel. "In German, a point is a dot [the word for both is punkt], so that’s why you have dots leading through all the scenes. Collect dots, collect points. In German, it works as a wordplay. It doesn’t really translate to English."
What does translate is the visual aesthetic of rad-ish’s work. Their reel is marked by dream-like images and inventive scene transitions, as well as humor. Also evidenced is a facility with visual effects, many of which were achieved in-camera.
In-camera effects are reflected in the visually striking Sony PlayStation spot "Formula One" via TBWA Frankfurt. It features characteristic adrenaline-rush imagery, showing a man mounted on a speeding racecar as it circles the track. Varying camera speeds, unusual camera angles and moves heighten the drama; one of the final shots is a camera zoom out of the guy’s mouth.
"There was a [cameraman] tied onto a Formula One car—not one with a real engine, but still a very powerful engine," Friedel explains. "We rode at the Austrian Formula One racetrack. We did some sophisticated shots, like upside down and rotating. But it’s all in-camera; there’s no [post] effect. Even the tracking [shot] into the mouth was shot with an Innovation lens—a very small lens that you can put into somebody’s mouth—in reverse."
The spot’s talent, a member of Cirque de Soleil, was quite a daredevil, adds Friedel. "We had certain camera set-ups and he had to do the full circuit [around the track] to come back to the original position. The driver told us afterwards that this guy made him do about 130 mph, which was strictly prohibited by production. He always wanted to go faster and faster."
Ramping Up
Rad-ish seems to be on the fast track as well. Not only does the duo have its own two-year-old Vienna-based company, Fish Films, but, in European fashion, it has a number of affiliations. These include London-based Serious Pictures in the U.K; Hamburg-based Cobblestone Pictures in Germany and Paris-based Gang Films in France.
Rad-ish was formerly affiliated stateside with Los Angeles-based U-Ground, through which they directed one U.S. spot three years ago for a client they refuse to name, owing to a "nightmarish" experience. A couple of months ago, having met with quite a few companies, Friedel and Chrudimak inked a deal with Go Film. It was chemistry with Go partners Jonathan Weinstein and Robert Wherry, along with the company’s reputation, which clinched the deal. "In order to get good creative work," Friedel observes, "you need to have somebody with a certain overview of the market. And it’s very much a question of chemistry. With the guys [Weinstein and Wherry], it just felt good."
This intuition paid off: A week after signing, they received the boards for what became rad-ish’s first job at Go: two Guinness spots, "Biplane" and "New York Western," via Weiss Stagliano Partners, New York. They traveled to Australia to direct the ads, which are now being posted in London at Final Cut, and are set to break Oct. 30 and Nov. 15. Although rad-ish was forbidden to reveal specific details, Weinstein says the project is charac-
