Ad of the Day: Whistler Film Festival

Indie film festival ads can be wonderfully odd. The movies are often peculiar, so the advertising can be as well. The Melbourne International Film Festival produced a great spot earlier this year—a humorous stab at Polish cinema starring Geoffrey Rush as a potato peeler who commiserates with a friend that their film is too boring to make it into the festival. One of the best film fest ads ever was the John Malkovich promo (shown below) for the Czech Republic's KarlovyVary International Film Fest, in which the actor bristles at a cabby's reaction to his latest big-shot film award. Canada produces some good ones, too. The Vancouver International Film Festival's promos are consistently bizarre, promising, in lieu of developed characters, interesting settings, or compelling plot lines, at least some bestiality, nonsense, and subtitles. And now the Whistler Film Festival joins the fun with three new promos from ad agency Dare in Vancouver that turn Hollywood storytelling conventions on their head. The best of the spots is "Princess," which begins like a Disney fairy tale but turns into an homage to Scarface. "Gangster" is the opposite, starting off like a wise-guy movie before becoming a Benetton ad. And "Packing Up" looks like lighthearted family movie before morphing into something altogether darker. "Unexpected stories," says the onscreen tagline at the end of the spots. The campaign has also included some clever street marketing. Unexpected stories were hidden in what appeared to be re-zoning signs, condo sale boards, pizza fliers, and help-wanted ads. The copy began normally in each but took a strange twist into tales of drug trafficking, murder, and romance gone wrong. The agency also seeded 30 for-sale ads on Craigslist for items like a chainsaw, which gave some technical specs before mentioning that the machine had been used to cut up the body of a murder victim. (Craigslist must have loved that.) On Flickr, people were encouraged to comment on fictional Hollywood-style movie posters with their own unexpected plot for a chance to win passes to the festival. Has all this gotten you interested in the Whistler Film Festival? Well, it wrapped up on Sunday. Sorry, I know, that was unexpected. CREDITS: Client: Whistler Film Festival Agency: Dare, Vancouver Creative Director: Bryan Collins, Rob Sweetman Copywriter: Mia Thomsett Art Director: Rob Sweetman Producer: Mike Hasinoff Account Supervisor: Tamara Bennett "Princess" Production Company: Picasso Pictures, London Executive Producer: Jane Bolton, Richard Price Producer: Richard Price Director: Tokyoplastic Production Manager: Shiraz Peer Liberman Concept Artist: Damian Johnston Matte Painters: Nicolas Loudot, Carlos Nieto, Eduardo Bera Modeller & Texture Artists: Andrew Hickinbottom, Martin Ocheng Rigger: Mark Tsang Animators: Janek Lender, Dominic Griffiths, Ricardo David Generalist: Dorianne Fibleuil Renderer: Ravinder Sembi Compositor: Andy Hague Music/Sound Design: Adelphoi Music, London Music Producer: Greg Moore Composer: Jamie Masters Sound Design: Andrew Sherriff Sound Mix: Koko Productions Sound Producer: Steve Lowe Sound Engineer: Chris Hobbs "Gangster" Production Company: OPC, Toronto Executive Producer: Harland Weiss, Donovan Boden Producer: Dwight Phipps Director: Jeff Low D.O.P. Chris Mably Editor: Rob Doucet Post-production: Cycle Media, Vancouver Post Producer: Tom Murray Telecine: Company 3, LA Telecine Producer: Matt Moran Colorist: Sean Coleman Music: Adelphoi Music, London Music Producer: Greg Moore Composer: Julien Diaz Sound Design & Mix: Koko Productions Sound Producer: Steve Lowe Sound Engineer: Chris Hobbs "Packing Up" Production Company: OPC, Toronto Executive Producer: Harland Weiss, Donovan Boden Producer: Dwight Phipps Director: Jeff Low D.O.P. Chris Mably Editor: Matthew Griffiths Post-production: Cycle Media, Vancouver Post Producer: Tom Murray Telecine: Company 3, LA Telecine Producer: Matt Moran Colorist: Sean Coleman Music: Adelphoi Music, London Music Producer: Greg Moore Composer: Benji Merrison Sound Design & Mix: Koko Productions Sound Producer: Steve Lowe Sound Engineer: Chris Hobbs

Brand Marketing

Ad of the Day: Whistler Film Festival

Clichéd Hollywood movies suddenly get more interesting in Dare Vancouver's pear-shaped spots

Tim Nudd

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Tim Nudd