Max Joseph on Bringing His Dream to Life for Samsung

Earlier this week we showcased a new Samsung film from Hungry Man director Max Joseph. The project, called From Dream to Reality [above], emminated from a long-held desire of Jospeh's to create a film from a vast series of artworks that, when viewed together, like a flick book, told a beautiful story.

Below Jospeh talks to shots.net about the drawn-out attempts to get the project off the ground, the help he received from his friend and fellow filmmaker, Casey Neistat and the process of turning his dream into reality.

Above: Max Joseph [left] with friend and fellow filmmaker Casey Neistat

How did you get Samsung involved in the project?  

The story is pretty much as it’s represented in the video. I decided about two years ago that I wanted to make this happen. Originally, I wanted to do it in Brazil, leading up to the Olympics, and work with a Brazilian artist to have the animation tell a story from that region. It would be done on a highway that we would need to close down and we would do it on plaques that we would theoretically leave up beyond production.

So, this wasn’t going to be cheap. For a year and a half Matt Buels from Hungry Man and I went back and forth, putting a treatment together, then planning out the shoot, while I simultaneously pitched it to different brands and financial partners. But I kept coming up empty.   

Then, earlier this year, my good friend, occasional collaborator, and all-round force of nature, Casey Neistat, pulled me in to help out on an Oscar spot he was making with Samsung. He had already been making movies with them since a year prior and had forged a great working relationship with Paul Leys, Samsung's head of creator partnerships, and his team.

Perhaps it evolved from collaborating with Casey, but Paul, Samsung CCO Jesse Coulter and CMO Marc Mathieu all really seemed to understand how to work with creators. I asked Casey if he thought Samsung might be into my crazy road zoetrope idea. He said, 'give it a shot,' so I pitched it to them at their Galaxy S8 product launch in March and they said ‘yes'.

Now, maybe they really liked it, or maybe they just really liked Casey, or maybe they felt compelled to do it because their campaign is about supporting creators, but whatever the reason, I didn’t ask too many questions.

Above: Shooting on the Samsung phone

Were there any comprises that you had to make in order to satisfy them?

Surprisingly few. As this fit into their broader campaign of working with and enabling creators to make the best content possible, their choice was really to stay out of the way and let Casey and I figure it out together.

They did ask us, however, to shoot it entirely on their devices which not only seemed fair but also (luckily) fit with the idea of making a lo-fi zoetrope that didn’t need to be sweetened in post. We quickly realised that it was actually better to shoot this on a phone, which would lend the project credibility; as opposed to if we shot it super slick on a more “cinematic” camera, which you’d just assume was half-CGI anyway.

"The online audience seems to want one thing, and that’s good content - not just good commercials."

How much pre-planning was involved in this project? 

Around six to seven weeks. After DP Darin Moran and I figured out the camera side of things Hungry Man connected me with producer Ben Gilovitz and production designer Stephen McHale who really saved the day.

He had done something similar a couple years ago on a Forza spot so we were suddenly standing on the shoulders of giants. Meanwhile, animator Anthony Schepperd needed a couple weeks to turn artist Carlos Ramirez’s [below] drawings into the beautiful animation you see in the finished piece. It was definitely a process with and not at all a straight line.

Above: Artist, Carlos Ramirez 

What were the difficulties in filming the whole thing on a Samsung phone?

This part was not nearly as complicated as I had thought. The camera has a "pro mode" which allows you to manually control the settings. For this to work, you need the shutter speed to be really fast which means you need a lot of light, so doing it in a tunnel without lighting the hell out of it would be hard.

Other than that, the hardest thing was dealing with the way that Android labels the footage (which you can fix with a third party app). We also worked with a great company called Droneworks who have hacked Samsung phones with just about any rig you can imagine - drones, remote control cars, Steadicams, cinema lens mounts, etc. 

The phone’s rolling shutter caused the lines in the animation to be slanted. There was some discussion about fixing the distortion but we ultimately decided that it was a real organic touch and, again, showed that we really did this and didn’t mess with the image in post. That’s exactly how it was captured in camera.

"This is the ideal way of working with brand; you come up with the idea, find a good partner for it, and then find a way to work together that is mutually beneficial."

And the benefits of using the phone?

Whatever challenges the phone presented just forced us to think harder. Also, I think if you shot this on an Alexa or RED it would lose credibility. There was something more honest about using a phone and also gave it this added message that all you really need to make something is a good idea and a phone - which are things everyone now has.

You’ve mentioned that you’d like to roll out this approach to other brands; how so?

To me, this is the ideal way of working with brand; you come up with the idea, find a good partner for it, and then find a way to work together that is mutually beneficial.

I did this a couple years ago when I wanted to create a human piano using different coloured shoes. I reached out to TOMS, whose product and message fit with the spirit of the idea, and we made a spot together.

However, I’ve found trying to do things this way is often like swimming upstream in the ad world. The creative isn’t generally supposed to come from a freelance director and the industry isn’t really built for things to move in that direction. But I think this is bound to change or perhaps is already changing because of all the people out there constantly creating great content for themselves or their channels or their friends.

The online audience seems to want one thing, and that’s good content - not just good commercials - and since brands are becoming more and more like mini-studios, developing and releasing different types of content across multiple platforms, why not open the door to motivated artists who may already have a great film or series idea that utilises its products or embodies its spirit?

Above: Joseph lines up the individual pieces of art

Is the film at the top of this article the final piece or is there a specific, standalone Samsung spot? 

This is the final film which lives on my social channels. There is no hero piece that Samsung is making into a spot. At least not yet...