On My Radar: Peking

New York-based directing duo Nat Livingston Johnson (pictured, left) and Gregory Mitnick (right), AKA Peking, met at NYU’s Graduate Film School and signed with production company Station Film during their final year of study.

Tipped as ones to watch and generally driven by comedic work, the pair recently won seven Cannes Lions for their innovative Impossible Family Portrait films for Skype.

In the interview below, the pair tells us about awesomeness from Africa, creative app ideas and advertising's sad side.

What’s the best ad campaign you’ve seen recently?

GM: I get a guilty tickle, a curious discomfort watching the 5-Hour Energy spots. I pretty much only remember funny ads, or brazenly bad ones.

NL: On that note, I like any ads where they sing the telephone number. The Carmel Car Service ads where strangers all come together on the street to sing you the number, those are a lot of fun. 

What website(s) do you use most regularly and why?

GM: I still get endlessly spellbound by YouTube. There are songs there I just can’t find on Spotify.

NL: I shamefully read the New York Post website for my tabloid/sports fix. Awesome Tapes from Africa is a shared favourite, too. 

What’s the most recent piece of tech that you’ve bought and why?

We’re honestly about to buy a drone. A friend who works in Korea told us how filmmakers there are using camera drones to gather normal coverage of scenes. It’s cool to use such a powerful tool in a less sensational way. Say you’re shooting a lunch, or a love scene, the camera can just hover right above them, or follow them from room to room. The sky is literally the limit.

Facebook or Twitter?

Yeah, Facebook.

What’s your favourite app on your phone and why?

NL: Sky Walk is amazing. My family has a house in the Catskills [mountains] where I can really see the stars, and it’s pretty awesome to be able to identify all the planets and constellations by just pointing your phone.

GM: Perfect 365 still gives me goose bumps.

We’ve also got some great ideas for apps we’d like to see, so if anyone knows a good app designer, please email us!

What’s your favourite TV show and why?

NL: I love Disappeared on the ID channel. Best of its breed.

GM: Can’t say I’ve been turned on by the telly lately, although I don’t have a set at home. Curb Your Enthusiasm, Mr. Show and 90210 are a few of my classic jams.

What film do you think everyone should have seen?

Hmmm, that’s different than the best film. Since we’re doc guys, we’ll go there. Streetwise and Grizzly Man are two that have shaped us tremendously. The Fog Of War should be required viewing for every American. Oh fine, and you can’t not have seen Groundhog Day and Starship Troopers.

Where were you when inspiration last struck?

NL: In an outdoor shower. I had a great idea for a bird-call identifier app.

GM: I was in between being awake and asleep.

What’s the most significant change you’ve witnessed in the industry since you started working in it?

The advent of “Sadvertising”. Ha. We love that term. 

If there was one thing you could change about the advertising industry, what would it be?

It’s an ever-evolving industry, thankfully, and one of the bright spots of late is a shift to a more collaborative, cross-pollination approach from the moment of idea conception through broadcast.

For Skype we were given a lot of directorial latitude in choosing and interacting with our subjects, and in developing the ‘scripts’. As a result, the shoot really flowed and was a true discovery process for all of us. We were lucky to have a creative team with good taste and cinematic knowledge who fostered the level of intimacy we like to work within.

Ads made within this ‘fluid-creativity' model seem to have an authenticity that people can spot right away. This kind of personal contact between everybody involved is definitely important in our work, and hopefully something we’ll see more of. 

What or who has most influenced your career and why?

We’ve been raised by the whole village. We have a community of friends and artists we’re very close to and have kind of grown up with in the industry. We’ve also been lucky to have been nurtured by some really genuine, wise, and tasteful folks - that is our team at Station Film.

Tell us one thing about yourself that most people won’t know…

NL: I hiccup when you rub my chin.

Greg: Ooof! I had dreadlocks in middle school.