Sam Cadman: Keeping It Real

“Genuine, authentic, honest and real” – 15 years in and these four adjectives still seem to pepper my treatments more than any others, although their exact meaning continues to change.

I got my break shooting run-and-gun; pranking unsuspecting members of the public for a Channel 4 series called Trigger Happy TV. I was lucky that the chance to direct commercials soon followed.

This was a scary opportunity, as real commercial directors at the time shot on 35mm film. They also had a director of photography making sure everything looked great and a team of soundmen to guarantee not a word was missed. My version of “genuine, authentic, honest and real” involved me operating a camcorder and monitoring the sound and making all the props myself.

Even now I can remember the cold wave of panic on my first ever shoot. It was for Tango; the original ad had been pulled and they needed something quick to help shift a warehouse full of promotional plastic loud-hailers - this was my chance! Hiding in a bush, headphones on and with my DV-Cam in hand, I remember turning round to see a crew of 40 or so, all staring at me wondering what they should be doing next… I had no idea.

Indeed, for those early years I used to scooter to set, finding comfort in the fact that if the shit really did hit the fan, I knew I could jump on the Vespa and be long gone in seconds.

By the time I was relaxed enough to be taxied to set and watch a team of people move the camera for me, “genuine authentic, honest and real” had become all about the casting. It became an obsession, trying to find stellar actors who could deliver the most natural and understated performances. Together, we’d capture subtle moments of comedy in all its minutia, over multiple takes, and all on glorious 35mm… just as the death knell for film was sounded.

As celluloid faded and digital began to glow, “genuine, authentic, honest and real” became something a lot more literal as, increasingly, the talent at the centre of the scene were actual members of the public.

Blindfolding strangers and making them smell Febreze; asking passersby to chose which hole they preferred, Hardee’s A-holes or B-holes, and forcing office workers on their lunch break to experience the in-flight service of Virgin Atlantic were all a huge amount of fun, felt like new ground, and more importantly had genuine surprise, authentic joy and honest horror very much as their beating heart.

For a period this felt like it might be just a fad as many brands hurried to try something experiential, the logic being if the performances were unquestionably real then the product message must be undeniably true.

But in reality it has become so much more. It is its own genre now, with ideas that continue to evolve and entertain. As the superb Like a Girl film [above] or Alpen’s latest Fails [below], and even my own recent PSA for Safer Streets all prove, there’s an emotional depth and unique contact with the user that this latest kind of “genuine, authentic, honest and real” really speaks to.

Indeed, what the viewer is willing to accept as “genuine, authentic, honest and real” has fundamentally changed. Much as we would struggle now with the grand and delivered performances of acting legends like Lawrence Oliver and Charlton Heston, so the ad-watching audience has tired of overly-rehearsed and perfectly acted set-pieces of mildly entertaining comedy. Suddenly, these look old, especially when compared with all the life and energy that a spontaneous and improvised idea can contain.

I remember hearing Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols describe rock and roll as not knowing what’s going to happen next. That’s what a rock star oozes, it’s what makes them compelling and leaves us feeling alive – and in the very best moments of “genuine, authentic, honest and real” we’re giving our viewers this in bucket loads.