Popcore: Making the move to commercials

Hailing from a town about a 10-hour drive north of Stockholm, not far from the Arctic Circle, Popcore is probably the most northerly directing duo we’ve come across at shots. Popcore’s directors are Anders Forsman and Linus Johansson, who grew up together and shared many of the same interests, two of which were music and filmmaking. After working on a selection of music videos for friends’ bands and working on a music documentary that took them across Europe, the duo’s career really took off after shooting a promo for a Swedish band called Cult of Lunar.

“Because the band was famous here, the video got shown a lot,” says Forsman. “It was a dark, heavy-metal sort of music and we started getting calls from more and more emerging bands, and soon we were working a lot on American videos for US hardcore bands, and the budgets got bigger after each one we did.” Popcore always shot the videos in its home town of Skellefteå in northern Sweden, meaning that a constant stream of US rock bands would turn up there. “The bands didn’t mind,” says Forsman. “Stockholm or Skellefteå? It was all just Europe to them.”

One of the videos, for a band called Under Oath, got nominated for a Grammy Award in 2007 and got them noticed on the commercial scene. Executive producer Pål Åsberg signed them up when he was working at another production company and brought them with him when he made the transition to ACNE.

Popcore’s move to the commercials side legitimised its already burgeoning career. “[The commercials industry] was more professional,” says Forsman, “and so it seemed like it was now more than just a hobby for us.” They’ve since made a string of interesting and eye-catching commercials in Scandinavia and are also looking to branch out into other European territories.

They’ve not forgotten their promo roots, though, and still work successfully in that field, with Dizzee Rascal’s Bonkers probably their best known video. They also have only good things to say about ACNE. “Working here is great,” they say. “It’s super fun and features a really good mixture of people. The whole house and all the things that ACNE does give you something extra. It opens you up to a lot of different opportunities.”

popcorefilm.com