When a cinematographer extends his filmmaking reach to the director’s chair, he or she typically attracts visually driven projects. But remarkably Lance Acord of Park Pictures–who made his first industry mark years back as a DP of high-profile commercials and features (Being John Malkovich, Lost In Translation)–has navigated a long, successful directorial path frequently characterized by touching, personal stories. At times his work in the advertising arena has an introspective dynamic, providing insights into human emotions while often evoking an emotional response from viewers.
This people touch is evident in the primetime commercial Emmy competition these past two years. In 2013, the Acord-directed “Jogger” for Nike out of Wieden+Kennedy, earned an Emmy nomination. “Jogger” was part of Nike’s “Find Your Greatness” campaign for the Summer Olympics in London, The campaign eloquently captured the greatness in everyday people looking to improve themselves, an inspired creative departure from the Olympics norm of focusing on marquee star athletes. In “Jogger,” the simplicity of a heavyset youngster jogging in silence down a road speaks volumes. “I love the conceptual strength of the work,” assessed Acord. “For the guys at Wieden, it’s not just the creative behind the ad but also how that ad fits into the context of the world, the sport, the event–in the case of this campaign, the Olympics. ‘Find Your Greatness’ reminds us that greatness is in London and everywhere. In fact, the kid we cast in ‘Jogger,’ a wonderful young man named Nathan, is from London, Ohio.”
Fast forward to this past August and we again find another Acord-directed piece, Apple’s “Misunderstood,” in the running for the primetime commercial Emmy Award–only this time, his spot won. From a creative ensemble at TBWAMedia Arts Lab, Los Angeles. “Misunderstood” is a brilliant misdirect underscoring that things aren’t always what they appear to be. The spot introduces us to a seemingly distracted teenager who is preoccupied with his hand-held device. He keeps at arm’s length from his family as they are celebrating being together and sharing a snowy Xmas.
We later see, though, that the teen has been using his iPhone to chronicle the family during the holidays, making a film that captures the love and warmth they share. When he screens the piece, his mom, dad and relatives are deeply touched. The iPhone and its user were not keeping a safe distance from family affection and togetherness–rather the lad and Apple were right in the middle of what was happening and committed to keeping that experience and genuine affection alive.
For Acord, the initial challenge to Apple’s “Misunderstood” was casting the right youngster. “The kid we built the misdirect around had to be not that likeable at first, conveying some teen angst. At the same time, I didn’t want him to be so off-putting that viewers couldn’t engage with him when the story takes a turn towards the end. Finding that balance was key.”
To capture a true familial feel, Acord cast an actual family and brought the youngster into it. “I think the success of that ad is due in large part to the casting and feeling among the cast. There’s an authentic emotional interaction that occurs between all those characters. Viewers were seeing something that rang true–the reactions of the family members to the seemingly detached kid felt real.”
“Bison” and “Beeps”
Acord’s work continues to reflect an affinity for humanity with such recent efforts as Subaru’s “Bison” for Carmichael Lynch, Minneapolis, and GE’s The Boy Who Beeps from BBDO New York. In the former, a father finds himself in a quandary with his young son to which many parents can relate–competing to no avail with the virtual world of mobile devices and information on demand. Dad and son crisscross the country in their Subaru Outback, touring America’s natural wonders which don’t seem to impress the youngster–until they come face to face with a Bison. The dad notes that with his Outback he can reach anything–in this case both the remote locale and in the process his son.
In the two-minute GE short, Acord follows the a curious boy who makes an electronic beep sound, in lieu of traditional language. As the child grows up, we see him adapt to being different; he ultimately discovers that he can talk with machines, which makes them work better. As the copy states, “When you speak the language of industry, the conversation can change the world.”
As for how Acord as a director has gotten the chance to speak the language of moving, people-based storytelling despite coming from cinematography roots, he explained, “Yes, it’s not a typical transition. But if you look back at my DP work, in some ways the transition makes more sense than you might think. Customarily a visual style or sensibilities translate in the commercial world to stylish car or beauty commercials, less so emotional storytelling. But one quality of my work as a DP–maybe considered as a strike against me in some respects–is that I never felt I had a signature visual trademark style. When you mention the name of some DPs, you immediately picture a certain specific look to the photography. I felt like all the projects I did and continue to do as a cinematographer and director each take on their own look and sensibilities. Even strictly as a DP, I was always more interested in the characters and the story being told, the emotion of what we were doing.”
In turn the emotional response from an audience, related Acord, can be “humor, tension, suspense, empathy, just something you connect with on a human level.” Acord clearly has made this connection as a director as reflected in three career DGA Award nominations for Best Commercial Director of the Year based on his work in 2003, 2011 and 2012. Acord earned his most recent nomination on the basis of four spots: Nike’s “Jogger” and “Greatness” for Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore.; Levi’s “Thread,” also from Wieden+Kennedy; and Volkswagen’s “The Dog Strikes Back” out of Deutsch LA. The latter was the follow-up to the prior year’s universally lauded and warmly humorous Super Bowl VW spot “The Force,” which also helped Acord garner a DGA nomination for his work in 2011.
Feature marquee
While continuing his commercialmaking, Acord is in the process of diversifying his directing career into features. He is developing with the folks at Disney a modern interpretation of Jack London’s novel White Fang. The project is simpatico with Acord’s love of such Disney films as The Black Stallion and Never Cry Wolf which he grew up with in the late 1970s and early ‘80s.
The Disney project is separate from the theatrical film endeavors at Park Pictures’ feature division which first turned out Robot & Frank directed by Jake Schreier. Robot & Frank premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and won the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize. Park Pictures released its second and third films, the Maya Forbes-directed Infinitely Polar Bear and the John Slattery-directed God’s Pocket–which both debuted at this year’s Sundance Festival. All the films gained distribution. God’s Pocket, Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s last film, recently opened in theaters while Infinitely Polar Bear is slated for release next year. Acord served as cinematographer on God’s Pocket, adding to DP credits that also include the likes of Where the Wild Things Are and Adaptation.
Relative to God’s Pocket, Acord noted that actor/director Slattery is a friend. “I told him that Philip Seymour Hoffman is an actor I’ve always admired and wanted to work with. He had just come off of The Master and we weren’t sure if he would do a low budget indie film with a first-time director. Philip responded to the story. He didn’t talk about the paycheck. He just liked to do great work. Now in light of Philip’s passing, I feel so fortunate to have gotten the chance to work with him. He was one of the great actors of our time and it was a pretty amazing experience.”
Acord also finds gratifying being able to open up feature filmmaking opportunities for directors on the Park Pictures’ commercials roster. That’s part of the mission statement of Park Pictures’ feature division and was realized with Robot & Frank, which marked the theatrical motion picture debut of spot director Schreier. “We hope to continue to do this for our directors.”
Fall 2014 Directors Intro
Lance Acord
Debra Granik
Rory Kennedy
Theodore Melfi
Bennett Miller
