the Craft

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

8^th Apr

HowPanterafaceduptoanewchallenge

Directing trio Pantera take us behind the scenes of their new campaign for UNHCR, an emotionally charged film about fleeing a war-torn country before becoming an Olympic athlete, shot without ever seeing anyone's face.

4^th Mar

IggyPopmarshalsthemusic

In this new campaign from Marshall, rock legend and 'Godfather of Punk' Iggy Pop asks us to tune out the boring and find our own noise, and we speak to its creators to find out how they managed to achieve doing exactly that.

23^rd Feb

How Neil Linpow learnt his lesson

We chat to the Partizan EP about his self-directed/performed dramatic short Lesson 7, which sees self-help guidance take a dark path.

22^nd Feb SUPER BOWL 2021

How to bring babies to the Big Game

Mark Molloy's show-stopping Super Bowl spot for Huggies saw some of the best performances ad-breaks have seen in ages... from infants! We asked him how he directed dinky divas.

15^th Feb

How to win at straight 8

With the places for the Nature edition of straight 8 Shootout going fast, and with teams gearing up to film their masterpieces, we decided to get some top tips from those that have already conquered the notoriously tricky film competition.

28^th Jan

How Nexus Studios found imagination in excretion

For shots Awards The Americas, director Laurie Rowan dove into the messy business of inspiration to create a gorgeous and hilarious promo. We caught up with him to find out how he got his hands dirty in a CG, photorealistic world.

26^th Jan

How Weezer ditched the doomscroll

We asked Pulse Films director Colin Read how his in-camera trickery and a sprinkling of nostalgia helped the rockers celebrate All My Favourite Songs.

22^nd Jan

Kamala Harris and Girl Up rise to the occasion

A new campaign for Girl Up captures the inauguration of Vice President Kamala Harris through the eyes of girls across America.

Spotlight

Some recent interviews in our "How To" series.

16^th Nov CHRISTMAS 2020

Howtomakeanice-storminashit-storm

Taking on Singing In The Rain and upping the ante in every regard, MEGAFORCE's barnstorming spot for Burberry was the Christmas treat we never realised we wanted. We sat down with the French foursome to find out how they did it in a pandemic.

13^th Nov

HowtogetRadioheadtodonatemusicforyourad

Lucas Peon, CCO at The Gate, sheds light on how his agency got permission to use a classic track, and why animation was the perfect medium for Childline's Nobody is Normal.

20^th Oct

Howananimaticcanbeauthoredanarchy

Keith Schofield's jaw-dropping, idea-packed, digital-puppeteering music video for Duck Sauce's Mesmerize was released at the weekend onto an unsuspecting audience. We caught up with him to talk appropriating celeb's heads, questioning the existence of reality and journeying through an army of anuses.

21^st Sep

HowtogiveanimationaHeartbeat

Filled with a painterly technique created using Procreate on iPad and After Effects wizardry, Kyra Bartley's moving Heartbeats for Save our Sons had a style that was as mesmerising as the spot was devastating. We spoke to her about how she swirled her digital paintbrush through our emotions.

18^th Nov

Howtomakeanimationamission

Executive Creative Director, Danielle Flagg, talks about how Arts & Letters made representative diversity a priority when working for the One Love Foundation's newest piece.

22^nd Dec

How Iggy Pop was brought to the beach

Yesterday saw the launch of a new film for On the Beach, featuring Iggy Pop. Here, Uncommon ECD and the director of the film, Sam Walker, reveals the thinking behind the campaign's message, the process of being both ECD and director, and why Iggy was the only choice to lead "this defiantly optimistic ode".

8^th Dec

Dole's teddy bear campaign was no picnic

With only 21 days at its disposal, St Luke's had a tight deadline to create this new campaign for Dole, which focusses on child hunger. But, despite this, #UnstuffedBears is a simple but elegant and effective campaign that employs film and digital elements as well as a varied cast of teddies.

7^th Dec