Excursions in AI filmmaking; Covid film rejects; TV ads for a Dutch music magazine that are too unnerving to keep to myself. Trump-puncturing actions. Don’t say you weren’t warned and if you weren’t warned then consider this a warning.
British Public Information Films of the 70s and 80s were dark, dystopian and - now - feel quaintly dated. Then it was about 'not talking to strangers' and 'don't fly a kite near pylons' but also terrifying shorts related to nuclear fall out. Now the clear and present dangers of modern society seem much more dangerous. This film is one in a series using AI to look back, not forward and mimicking the grainy aesthetic of these 'PIFs' while concentrating on a subject of danger or warnings that are very 2025.
It was the strangest of times. Made stranger by this rejected film for Fairphone, produced during the Covid era, and with a lot of - misguided as it happens - trust from the client. Shot with famed mischief maker Brian Baderman, as were the Oor music magazine films below. This is the client friendlier version, with some of the dry horror toned down. The man with the long arm, though, is present and correct, in the film and in your nightmares.
Culture is cyclical, though this may be a cul-de-sac. A film for Dutch beer brand, Bavaria, the challenger to Heineken, and more of a down to earth, working class beer. We positioned it, at the time, as the beer that champions real men, tongue in cheek, of course. A hit at the time but nothing dates quicker than gender politics and perceptions of what being a man means. Still, it was a fun shoot. And some of the collateral stuff (below) has its charm and perhaps – perhaps – Pedro Pascal would be seen dead in one of these.
File under: the 90s were a different time. Oor magazine appealed to an older audience, still following its rock roots. Oor wanted to reach out to a younger, broader audience where genres were more fluid, more distinctive. We put 10 TV spots in total across MTV (it was huge then), with weirdly everyday moments encapsulating different genres covered by the magazine from Trance to Techno and Drum ‘n’ Bass which – let’s be honest here – is making a decent come back right about now.
The Standard Hotel - logo by Tibor Kalman, ads by KK Los Angeles, which I helped set up alongside local creatives and producers. This series was shot by Thomas Mailaender and are the most SFW of the lot.
Trump related shenanigans - self-initiated for a London-based protest, and on behalf of Karma Cola with the world’s dodgiest Donald impersonator.
