A completely open brief in which I was asked to make a video that explained what our digital agency did. The starting point of my script was our company proposition — "always thinking". But what kind of disasters would happen if you stopped thinking? Suddenly it started to sound like an ominous 70s Public Information Film: "Not thinking? It doesn't bear thinking about".
The concept relied on every detail being as true to its inspiration as possible, and edits and effects had to look as if it was created using pre-1979 technology. Where possible, I sourced archive footage from real Public Information Films. Where the script specified something particular, that was shot specially and graded to look like disintegrating film. I created animations and composited effects like the mice's miniature green-screen monitors.
The unstable colour grade and soundtrack completes the atmosphere alongside Barry Ingham's voice-over, which manages to evoke The Clangers, as well as the less cuddly Protect & Survive films.
My role: Creative director, concept, writer, art director, illustrator, animator & compositing
Agency: Soup
DV director: James Appleton ("Biscuits", "Four flavours of thinking", "Mice", "Saucepan")
Producer: Pete Starkey
Online editor & grade: Bryan Farrar @ The Club, London
Narrator: Barrie Ingham
Music and sound design: Al Dobson
Mice: Themselves
Stock footage sourced by Film Images London and The Central Office of Information
Epilogue: The mice were bought from a reptile shop in Hackney, where they were destined for a brilliant yet short career in snake catering. After filming we released them on Hampstead Heath.
