Everyone's a Voyeur in Newport Beach Film Fest's Fascinating, Creepy New Ad

Submitted for your approval, "We're Being Watched," a Twilight Zone-ish slice of sci-fi paranoia from RPA, promoting the 17th annual Newport Beach Film Festival. With dazzling visuals and sharp direction by Jogger, the short film packs a trippy punch as it explores the increasingly voyeuristic nature of our always-on multiscreen world. There's an awful lot going on in less than two minutes of running time, and the action kicks off with a late-night hookup at an isolated house. As a young couple get hot and heavy, X-Files-type music builds in the background, and the camera pans across the room to reveal a child's huge, wide-eyed face—about the size of a door—calmly observing every move. Then things really start getting weird. Check out the clip here: That giant finger nails it at the end! (Please, no cracks about heavy-handed metaphors.) While its themes aren't exactly new (Twilight Zone and various speculative fiction outlets have told similar tales), "We're Being Watched" does more than riff on classic motifs. This isn't one of those kids-watch-their-dolls-act-out-stories-in-a-dollhouse scenario. Here, the entire cast is on equal footing—each an observer and a subject in his or her own right. And RPA takes the premise to its logical conclusion by bringing the characters together in a maze of amusingly existential overkill from which there's no escape. In other words: We're all watching each other at all times! "At its core, the idea seems fairly straightforward," RPA copywriter Joshua Hepburn tells AdFreak. "We're watching a film where people are watching each other in a little house. Then, you watch it a few times, and various layers present themselves. Who does the house belong to? Are they in the same space? It becomes apparent you have no idea who is doing the actual watching." The complex shoot took place from 6 a.m. until 2 a.m. the following morning, and posed many challenges for the creative team. "We had to get crafty in order to get everything we needed for post—like sticking GoPros on every ceiling to create the 'micro people,' providing reference for every move," says RPA creative director Scott McDonald. "It was more or less an editor's nightmare—and an effects artist's omniscient dream." Hepburn recalls that the absurdist finale, with the bathtub man apparently poking himself in the head with his own finger, "was a bit of a process. Earlier in the day, we used this giant foam creation made out of an inflatable pool toy to physically poke his head and make a splash." When that visual proved too silly, the crew had to improvise. "The actor created his own reaction" sans finger, Hepburn says. Later, "a real finger was shot against a green screen at several angles and comped in to create the effect." RPA's print ads for the festival, running from April 21-28, hyper-focus on the "watching" theme by presenting what appears to be a human iris. If you look closely, however, it turns out to be something else entirely. (Click the image to enlarge.) In crafting the campaign, RPA kept its thoughtful, artsy target audience in sight at all times. "The film festival audience actually thinks about what it is taking in," and that goes for NBFF advertising as well as the work screened at the event, McDonald says. "[Festival] promos might seem a little eccentric compared to others, but truthfully, NBFF is like any other smart brand, trying to appeal to their best customers." (RPA has produced some gems for the client, including the gruesome "Mandible" horror sendup from 2013, and the following year's unsettling but campy "Bedtime Story.") This latest work, however, ups the intellectual ante. Perfectly suited to promoting a film festival, the campaign also excels as a pure content play, challenging folks to question their daily experience and, perhaps, see things in a different way. "Ultimately, we want the viewer to create their own meaning," Hepburn says. "That's part of the fun—the ambiguity, knowing people will get something different from the story." CREDITS Client: Newport Beach Film Festival Director of Marketing and Public Relations: Todd Quartararo Campaign: "We're Being Watched" Agency: RPA Executive Vice President, Chief Creative Officer: Joe Baratelli Senior Vice President, Group Creative Director: Pat Mendelson Vice President, Creative Director, Art Director: Scott McDonald Copywriter: Joshua Hepburn Senior Vice President, Chief Production Officer: Gary Paticoff Vice President, Executive Producer: Selena Pizarro Senior Producer: Kay Lynn Dutcher Music Track: "A Serial Universe" Composer, Sound Design: Peter Lauridsen Production: Jogger Director: Jogger Creative Director: David Parker Director of Photography: Alice Gu Executive Producer: Rich Rama Producer: Geno Imbriale Editing Company: Cut+Run Editor: Lucas Eskin Executive Producer: Amburr Farls Senior Producer: Remy Foxx Assistant Editor: Lauren Brown Visual Effects: Jogger Visual Effects Producers: Nancy Hwang, Ben Sposato Visual Effects Production Coordinator: Erica Cruz Flame Artists: Shauna Prescott, Gavin Camp, Cole Schreiber Color Services: The Mill Senior Colorist: Damien van der Cruyssen Title Design, Animation: Laundry! Creative Director: P.J. Richardson Executive Producer: Lindsay Bodanza Audio: Lime Studios Audio Engineer: Matt Miller Key Art, Program Ad Photography: Karel Polt, Asher Hung, Candela Rebot

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Everyone's a Voyeur in Newport Beach Film Fest's Fascinating, Creepy New Ad

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David Gianatasio

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David Gianatasio