Ben Gregor Gets Out of His Box for Sunbites

This new spot from AMV BBDO London and Knucklehead director Ben Gregor for Walkers Sunbites, called Cardboard Jane, sees a cardboard-headed woman in search of a non-cardboard tasting snack.

Below, Gregor discusses the difficulties of casting, the importance of colour and the vagaries of the wind.

What was the brief from the agency and how did you interpret it?

It was to make [the protagonist] an adorable character who had a feel of a friend who is trying stuff and living a full life, rather than a totally miserable box head.

Jim [Hilson, art director], Toby [Allen, copywriter], Adam [Walker, agency producer] and Paul Brazier and I worked hard to give her a rounded vibe -trying to knit etc. Also it became a great chance to share some yoga awkwardness with the world. It can be so awkward...right? Oh boy. 

What attracted you to the script?

It was a chance to make something cute and adorable and go back to Cape Town. In fact I did the pitch call from Cape Town and flew back for a week and then went straight back. 

Did the style of animating the face alter at all between script and screen?

We kept it open and ended stripping it back and back. There was something so lovely about its simplicity on set so we wanted to keep that graphic vibe.

The Mill were awesome, they had a terrific feel for it... kind of like a 'zine or old American indie graphic novel. I grew up on that stuff and 2000AD so it was fun to explore. 

How do you cast for a spot where the actor’s face is almost never seen; what are you looking for?

Patience! She could have gone mad. And a lovely cute likeable feel for the reveal. It's hard to cast women in a spot aimed at women - they have to NOT be so many things and it can be tricky. But she was fantastic. And really good at yoga.

The sets are all very colour co-ordinated; what was the thinking behind?

Colour is something you can brief and control remotely... important when prepping an overseas job. We wanted her life to feel mundane yet not dreary, a lot of warm beige and yellow basically.

What was the most complicated part of the production process?

The explosion. Man...it was so wind-dependent and Cape Town is wind central. The slightest wind and [there would be] no hang time on the confetti blow.

We were lucky. I mean we planned it well. [Producer] Matthew Brown is the best shoot dad there is. He silently frets and does stuff in the background and wind stops and everything just works. Adam from the agency is also a very smart cookie. 

Finally, what’s your favourite crisp flavour?

In Latvia they have mushroom flavour crisps. They are strangely great and clear hangovers! Kind of.