Inspired By Film with Zoe Jones, Marketing Director, DCM

Date picker
2024
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Garvity q&A blog banner

Zoe Jones, Marketing Director, Digital Cinema Media (DCM), writes for the Advertising Week Social Club blog and talks about the synergy between film and advertising which has inspired DCM to partner with D&AD to create and curate a bespoke ‘Inspired by Film’ programme.

We’re all inspired by film. Whether it’s a specific movie, scene, star, director, writer or soundtrack – film influences all other creative sectors. Film-making techniques and film content are particularly inspiring for our industry – helping brands push advertising boundaries and ensuring we continue to create content of the highest quality.

Framestore is a company that has recently won major accolades, following its pioneering special effects work on the blockbuster film Gravity. At the peak of production, there were 270 people involved from Framestore and around 460 visual effects artists employed across the duration of filming. Ground-breaking techniques were developed in three particular areas: putting cameras on robots enabled the team to very accurately control moving cameras at fast speeds, a ‘lightbox’ enabled Sandra Bullock’s face to be filmed while the rest of her was digitally recreated, and a 12 wire rig was built to ‘puppeteer’ the actress.

The visual effects masterminds at Framestore have once again pushed the boundaries in film, and can now evolve these pioneering filmcraft techniques for brands. Already working with brands such as Nokia, Coca Cola, Nestlé, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Pepsi, Volkswagen and Cadbury, alongside Hollywood Studios, Framestore is probably one of the only companies to have Oscar, BAFTA, EMMY, D&AD and Cannes Lions awards back at its headquarters.

Another recent award winner which illustrates the influence of film content on advertising is Gravity Road, who won a BAFTA in the British Short Film category earlier this year. Gravity Road’s film, Room 8, was entered into Bombay Sapphire’s ‘Imagination Series’ competition which requested the submission of short films based on a script by Oscar-winning writer Geoffrey Fletcher. “This is a big moment.” Said Mark Boyd, co-founder of Gravity Road.  “We often say the competition isn’t other brands but other content. It’s great to see some branded work breaking through to win a major accolade.”

Looking at the best examples of branded work, The LEGO Movie stands out as a unique phenomenon with the brand inspiring a movie and then the movie inspiring other brands. The film has already taken more than $380m worldwide, while the Warner Bros marketing team took ‘legoisation’ into the advertising world by taking over brand ads for BT and Confused.com which ran before the movie in cinemas and during an entire ITV ad break. Even the infamous Oscars’ selfie got ‘legoised’ as it exploded across social media.

These are just three recent examples of the synergy between film and advertising which has inspired us to partner with D&AD to create and curate a bespoke ‘Inspired by Film’ programme. DCM and D&AD will also work together to produce, collate and commission content from inside and outside the film and advertising communities. The content will include a deep dive into D&AD’s box of yellow pencils to look at award-winning title sequences, Q&As with directors working across advertising and film and a series of features exploring the anatomy of a scene, the art of trailer making and the craft elements of film from lighting, to sound, to new technological innovations in film and the cinema environment.

Launching at Advertising Week, ‘Inspired by Film’ will kick off with a joint workshop on Thursday 3 April which will celebrate the close links between our industries.

The panel will include the following participants:

Chair:

Panellists:

This article originally appeared on The Advertising Week Social Club 31/03/2014