By Christine Champagne

You know director Yael Staav’s work–that is, unless you were living under a rock last year when the Dove “Evolution” viral video was released on YouTube.com. Part of Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty, “Evolution” became an instant sensation on the Internet and garnered massive media attention, including extensive coverage on TV programs ranging from Good Morning America to The View to Entertainment Tonight. Everyone was talking about the viral that depicted in startling detail the extent to which the fabulous faces of the models we see in magazines are digitally manipulated by photo retouchers.
    Staav, who is represented for commercials by Toronto’s Reginald Pike, co-directed the rather revealing viral with Tim Piper, associate group creative director of Ogilvy & Mather, Toronto. Asked if all the attention paid to “Evolution” has given a boost to her career, Staav says, “It’s definitely opened things up.” According to the director, some potential long-form opportunities have actually come her way as a result of the fanfare.
    On the advertising front, Staav hopes that “Evolution” will show agencies yet another example of her range. “I hate being pigeonholed, especially as a woman,” Staav says, “and this spot is very post-heavy. But it’s not like a Dove soap ad that only speaks to women–it speaks to a lot of different people.”
    During her now three-year association with Reginald Pike, Staav, who studied filmmaking at Toronto’s Ryerson University and cut her teeth helming music videos for artists such as Hayden, Joel Plaskett and Howie Beck, has certainly seen an evolution in terms of the type of spot work that appeals to her. “You start out going, ‘Okay, I’m going to try this script because it is really visual, and I can get a chance to work with this camera.’ Then you’re like, ‘Now, I should try to do something dialogue driven.’ You stick your hand in a lot of pots to figure out what feels good and what people have the best reaction to,” Staav says, noting that these days she is “attracted to work that feels really stripped back. There is a simple idea, but it is something I can approach really visually.”
    Her reel showcases that approach, featuring spots with solid, straightforward concepts that are enhanced by interesting, well thought-out visual approaches.
    Some highlights: A spot for the YMCA titled “Hose” out of Toronto’s Happy Farmer centers on a bored little boy passing the time making circles on his skin utilizing the suction power of a vacuum cleaner hose. Staav’s execution is spare and effective. Employing a locked-off camera and a smooth, creamy color palette, she has her subject perfectly slouched against a wall.
    A commercial for Clorox called “Tubs” created by DDB San Francisco and run through Los Angeles’ Biscuit Filmworks, which represents Staav in the United States., beautifully portrays the bathtub as a child’s playground. It is a colorful spot, with a camera in constant motion taking us through a variety of dreamily scenic outdoor settings, including a beach and a carousel, in which children play in tubs.
Bounce’s “Recital” via Leo Burnett, Toronto, is an intimate, cinematic and surprisingly dark piece of filmmaking that finds a mother arriving late to her daughter’s recital. The girl’s joy at seeing her mom quickly dissolves into embarrassment when her mother peels off her coat–and her top–due to a bad case of static cling.
    Each of these visually distinct commercials succeeds in evoking a reaction. We empathize with the weary little boy in the YMCA spot, we share the joy the youngsters feel in the Clorox commercial and we are mortified right along with the poor girl in the Bounce ad.
    We actually aren’t quite sure what to think or feel at the outset of “Hugging” and “Running,” two BBDO Toronto-created PSAs for the ALS Society of Canada. “Hugging” finds a man embarking on a hugging spree, putting his arms around everyone from the cop who tickets him to a horse. He even hugs a tree. We ultimately learn through writing on the screen that this is a PSA for ALS and most people with ALS lose the use of their arms in the first two years of the disease. The spot ends with the man wrapping his arms around his wife in bed and the question: What would you do while you still could?
    The ALS spots, with their powerful message and earnest execution, brought Staav acclaim when the campaign broke two years ago–the director won a Bronze Lion at the Cannes International Advertising Awards in 2005 for “Hugging.” Prior to that, the spot helped gain Staav inclusion in SHOOT’s New Directors Showcase.
    Looking back on what was a pivotal project early on in her career, Staav recalls being struck by the strength of the concept for the campaign as well as the fact that the agency willingly gave her “a pretty blank slate. It was really five lines on a page, and they said, ‘Do what you want with this,’ ” she relates.
    That said, Staav clarifies that the creatives were discerning and she needed to present her plan to them. “But they let me turn it into something that was going on in my imagination,” she praises, noting, “As much as there are a lot of challenges in doing no-money work like PSAs, the privilege is that for the most part your vision is a lot more welcomed.”
    In turn, Staav is a director who welcomes the visions of her colleagues. When schedules allow, she likes to surround herself with long-time collaborators, including DP Tico Poulakakis and editor Alison Gordon of Toronto’s Relish, who have both worked with her on multiple projects, including the aforementioned ALS, Bounce and Clorox spots. “It’s nice to have your creative kin around you,” Staav says.
    Especially when the inevitable obstacles pop up during a project. Staav points to the ALS PSAs, which both had to be shot in the same day, as an example. The morning of that jam-packed shooting day, she and Poulakakis showed up late to the first location because it was so foggy they missed their exit off the highway. They finally got to the Hamilton, Ontario location only to discover that one of the supply trucks from Toronto arrived without a generator.
    With limited time and resources and 17 set-ups to capture on film in one day, everyone came together to make it work, Staav recalls. “This is always when you end up with the best stuff–when the odds are against you, and you’re pushing and being creative under tough constraints,” Staav muses, stressing, “and you make it happen because you are surrounded by really talented people.”

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