Five Bessie Craft Awards for art direction have been presented this year and one art direction team won three of them.
The trio of Dominic Cashman, Jeremy Wreford and Quinn Vorster won art direction Craft Bessies for their work on three Family Channel spots, ‘Baby Spit-Up,’ ‘Burps’ and ‘Hit in Head,’ created by John St.
The ads are presented in quasi-sitcom fashion, featuring short episodes from the lives of a wacky, happy family known as The Harrisons. The art direction requires an almost cartoonish feel.
The combination of bold colours, good production and sound design, performances, effects (especially on ‘Baby Spit-Up’ where the father takes some Exorcist-like projectile vomit to the face) and direction, make these spots memorable and worthy of their prizes.
BCP’s Montreal-based art director Jean-Luc Dion also snatched a Craft Award for his work on Rona’s ‘Floor’ spot. In the spot, an organist (and a would-be handyman) talks about wanting to replace the carpet in his room with a nice wood floor.
The ad takes place in one very ugly, very brown room with a large picture of a leafless tree and a few tacky pieces of furniture. The tackiness of the room is part of the spot’s charm, because if a room ever needed a makeover, this is the one. A case could also be argued for a performance prize on behalf of the dog in the spot for ecstatically pulling itself across the carpet on its butt.
The final Craft Award went to Downtown Partners DDB art director Carlos Moreno for Bud Light’s ‘History’ spot, and the art direction work in the ad speaks for itself. From beginning to end the spot takes on a number of different eras, incorporating varying film qualities (from grainy to pristine), costumes and settings (both indoor and outdoor). In fact, every detail seems to have been taken into consideration to make the unbelievable and silly spot as real as possible.
Craft Awards: Art Direction
Title: ‘Baby Spit-Up’
Advertiser: Family Channel
Agency: John St.
Production House: NewNew Films
Art Direction: Quinn Vorster, Dominic Cashman & Jeremy Wreford
Title: ‘History’
Advertiser: Labatt Breweries
Agency: Downtown Partners DDB
Production House: Avion Films
Art Direction: Carlos Moreno
Title: ‘Floor’
Advertiser: Rona
Agency: BCP
Production House: Quatre Zéro Un
Art Direction: Jean-Luc Dion
Title: ‘Burps’
Advertiser: Family Channel
Agency: John St.
Production House: NewNew Films
Art Direction: Quinn Vorster, Dominic Cashman & Jeremy Wreford
Title: ‘Hit in Head’
Advertiser: Family Channel
Agency: John St.
Production House: NewNew Films
Art Direction: Quinn Vorster, Dominic Cashman & Jeremy Wreford
