Director Sam Coleman directed this spot via production house Patriot Films for investment firm Allan Gray out of agency Accenture Song South Africa. Titled “Everything comes around,” the piece turns back the clock to craft a human story of how dedication, patience and true artistry will always be rewarded amidst ever-changing trends and fashions. This moving piece of storytelling sees Coleman transform the city of Cape Town into 1950s New York.
The commercial tells the story of Artt Brown, a young American jazzman–portrayed by Aubrey Mogale–who stays committed to his art despite its waning popularity and the rise of rock ‘n roll, disco, Hip hop and electronic music. His dedication is rewarded years later when his music unexpectedly comes back into style and he is asked to headline a big event where he plays his signature riff to a massive crowd of adoring fans. The story underscores the prudence of investing for the long haul, which Allen Gray does for its clients.
“Everything comes around” is a piece with no dialogue, where the interplay between the environment and the protagonist creates the narrative. So being able to recreate 1950s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s New York in Cape Town was key to the decades-spanning story.
Coleman said, “I walked the streets of Cape Town day and night with my location manager, armed with a handful of vintage N.Y.C stills, holding them up to street corners, alleyways and buildings to find the small bits and pieces that could feasibly be New York. It was a refreshing way to build this universe. I then blended my location photographs with the vintage stills in post to see how they could work together and what level of VFX would be required. It turned out to be a very satisfying and rewarding process – seeing my own city as a studio backlot.”
Accenture Song executive creative director Graeme Jenner said, ‘The creatives, production team, crew, editor, sound engineer, musicians, everyone really cared about this work. And as the director orchestrating this whole show, Sam certainly cared about his craft. Every aspect was thought through. Every tiny decision was questioned and deliberated. In an industry, maybe even a world, where care seems to be getting shorter in supply, that’s rare, and should be held onto and appreciated.”
Coleman added, “Graeme dropped a lovely line in the briefing which was ‘what does music look like?’ It struck me that if done right, one could play this commercial with no music at all and still get it. This inspired me to put a lot of focus on the wardrobe of the respective musical genres and their accompanying uniforms. I thought if we could see what era we’re in with no sound at all, we’d be in a good place. The terms be-bop, Motown, disco, rock & roll, Hip hop all conjure something distinct, not just in styling but also in attitude, body language and lifestyle.”
In the end of course there was music, and the arc of the story was set to a jazz-infused score by South African musician Muzi and Coldplay’s frontman Chris Martin.
“Sam’s background as an agency creative, working at a few different international agencies is a perspective that really helps, not only with how the delicate agency/client/production house balance is handled but also from the POV that he understands ideas and what’s needed to make a beautiful piece of film but keep the concept as the guiding light. All decisions were based on what served the story, and landed it with the most emotional punch,” said Jenner.
