the Craft

Q&As and behind-the-scenes info on the latest and greatest
commercials, shorts and music videos.

20^th Feb

HowfloodingpitchesledtoBFIrecognition

Detailing how football affects, and is affected by, climate change, Tom Zaranko-Carver's enlightening and craftily constructed short, Play On, was nominated as a finalist for Best Documentary in the BFI Future Film Awards. We caught up with the director (whose day job is as a Copywriter at 180 Amsterdam) to find out how he found a film in flooding, and what industry recognition means to him.

10^th Feb STRAIGHT 8

Howtoswiperightonyourfirststraight8

With entries open for straight 8's 2023 Cannes Lions shootout, we speak to the team at Girl&Bear/VCCP to find out how their inventive inaugural Super 8 film earned them a Bronze in last year's competition.

24^th Jan

How to cast an eyebrow-raising commercial

Edgar Wright and Leo Burnett's latest McDonalds spot is the talk of the ad-break at the moment, but how did they fill the screen with so many forehead flickers? We caught up with casting directors Emily Tilelli and Zita Zutic Konak and casting associate Bex Reynolds, from ET Casting, to find out how they assembled the ensemble.

19^th Jan

How ASICS played mind games in a new documentary

ASICS's new documentary, Mind Games - The Experiment, explores the impact of exercise on cognitive function. Charting the progress of four sedentary mind gamers, the film is a captivating and ground-breaking study that explores the power of exercise to sharpen the mind. Here, Neil Dawson, Co-Founder of the agency that created the campaign, discusses its genesis, how it grew and why branded content takes courage.

6^th Dec

How Samuel Bayer travelled through time

In an emotional and enchanting labour of love, the prolific director delves into his archives to create a powerful montage that examines the darkness, chaos, beauty, and fragility of life. shots caught up with Bayer to find out more.

16^th Nov

Nez shines a light on The Boy and the Moon

Ruffian director Nez has just released a beautiful short film which puts an imagined version of legendary Canadian-born architect Frank Gehry centre stage, alongside the moon. Here, Nez, talks intuition, inspiration and lunar lighting.

9^th Nov

How the WWF and NOMINT's sang a stop-motion song of ice and fire

After tackling a frozen stop-motion model for the WWF last year, directors Yannis Konstantinidis and Christos Lefakis went to the other end of the temperature scale for 2022's film, A Flammable Planet. We spoke to Konstantinidis about taming the elements, one frame at a time.

7^th Nov CHRISTMAS 2022

How Si&Ad gave us two wildly different smiles this Christmas

With Academy's directing duo helming a pair of the season's biggest hitters - Shelter and Boots - we asked them how gifting cheers and tears brought on different challenges.

Spotlight

Some recent interviews in our "How To" series.

30^th Jul SPORT FOCUS

HowHenryHobsoncraftedanOlympicdouble-decathlon

shots speaks to director Henry Hobson about how he managed to put the viewer into 20+ sports through dazzling first-person photography for Discovery+.

8^th Jul SPORT FOCUS

HowFactoryFifteenfilledTokyowitheastereggs

The Nexus collective, made up of Kibwe Tavares, Jonathan Gales and Paul Nichols, tell us how pre- and post-Covid planning, animation, VFX and shoots 1000 miles apart combined to create a disorientating journey through an Olympics-themed Tokyo.

14^th Jun

HowSwyftmadeasofaadthatisn'tasofaad

We hear from the makers of a new campaign for sofa brand Swyft that aims to defy the conventions of more traditional sofa commercials .

10^th Jun

HowCraigDavidmovedthedialforKuruptFM

Things aren't all they seem in this Ollie Wolf directed hybrid promo for Kurupt FM that mixes classic promo tropes with some behind the scenes tomfoolery.

25^th May

Howtocutamusicvideowithacrewof500

For VANS' branded promo of JPEGMAFIA's track Prone, Final Cut editor Ryan Beck had the daunting task of sculpting a 2-minute megamix from fan-shot footage.

4^th Nov

How Save The Children's film found true heroes of war

B-Reel Films' director Tomas Jonsgården gives an impassioned account of the making of Save The Survivors, which drew on tragic real-life stories of women and children fleeing conflict.

4^th Nov

How BLINKINK animated two centuries of hop history with a light bulb in a beer can

BLINKINK director Balazs Simon talks to us about the highlights, and painstaking technical difficulties, of shooting a stop motion animation that combines 200 years of Greene King heritage, woodcut illustrations, and 355 laser cut beer cans.

2^nd Nov STRAIGHT 8

How to give your straight 8 a commercial break

Longtime straight 8 contributors, Iris, picked up Silver in the Cannes 2022 Shootout. Here, Global ECD Grant Hunter tells shots how they created a witty, vibrant industry spoof from a single can of film.

28^th Oct

How a Beautiful makeover exposed a self-harm epidemic

SMUGGLER director Fiona Jane Burgess explains to shots how her powerful new video for Christina Aguilera's 2002 hit tackles the unattractive elephant in the room – how the beauty industry, social media and the online world has contributed to a potentially toxic environment for children and young adults.

27^th Oct

How Preymaker used Unreal to form a fully-fledged short

With BLUE, creative and technology studio Preymaker set about creating a real-time animated short film entirely in the cloud, achieving startling levels of detail without the use of compositing. shots speaks to executive producer and founder/chief creative Angus Kneale and director Robert Petrie about how the tech might change the future of content creation.