Inside the Alternate Universe of Scott Corbett

Inside the Alternate Universe of Scott Corbett

Cinematic influences and the blending of the real and the imagined 
characterize this IDENTITY director’s work.

By Anthony Vagnoni

The commercial world has always taken a cue from its long-form sibling, the cinema, infusing the stylistic references of feature films into ads that play less like spots and more like short films. That’s the case with IDENTITY director Scott Corbett’s latest effort, a talked-about spot for the Greek telecom company Conn-X, titled “The Magician.”

The spot, via Leo Burnett/Athens, clocks in at a minute long and tells the story of a failed magician whose tricks result not in flying white doves or rabbits pulled from hats, but rather in boxes of Conn-X routers. The commercial broke this past November and deftly weaves in the cinematic flair of Spaghetti Westerns with Federico Fellini’s surrealist masterpiece “Amarcord.”  They’re distinctly different visual references that, at first glance, seem rather far removed when one thinks of an IPTV service provider.

The spot works however, because of Corbett’s storytelling skill.  A former copywriter—he’s worked at such agencies as davidandgoliath, TBWA\Chiat\Day and Team One, to name a few—Corbett says he often has a visceral response when he reads a script, letting the words on the page dictate where his imagination wanders, which often lead him to unusual, wryly comedic places.

“I’m always looking for ways to take the material and reveal what’s hiding beneath the surface,” he comments.  “Being able to tap into that can often be what separates a compelling and memorable commercial from one that’s simply fun to watch.”

Corbett cites a childhood spent in atmosphere-rich Savannah, Georgia, with its creaky antebellum mansions and Southern Gothic charm, as exerting a strong influence on his work.

“The air is heavy there, both literally and figuratively,” he says, “and I'm sure that’s played a part in the tone of my work, to some degree.” Corbett would eventually take this love of storytelling to Valdosta State University in Georgia, where he studied Theater Arts, and later, to Atlanta’s Portfolio Center, where he learned the craft of copywriting.

“I graduated from ad school and spent a few years working on the agency side,” he recounts. “It was fulfilling work, and I collaborated with some amazing people and clients, but I always wanted to get behind the camera.” In 2002 he directed his first short—“Small Emergencies”—which made the rounds on the film festival circuit. From there, Corbett began building his commercial reel and signed on briefly to now-shuttered A Band Apart, eventually making his way to Executive Producer Joe Masi’s New York-based production company IDENTITY.

Soon, Corbett was ushering brands into his wonderfully off-key and surreal alternate universe. In a campaign for Pizza Pops that would go on to win a Silver Lion at Cannes, a boy cradles the disembodied head of a robot in his lap as it sputters its last words, having been accidentally blasted with the insides of the pastry-like product. (Additional spots in the campaign, from Cossette in Toronto, include commercials with monkeys, sports mascots and even a midget in martial arts garb.)

In the 2008 PETA viral “Pusher,” which was subsequently banned from the Super Bowl, Corbett took viewers inside the world of animal cruelty, where a sinister Colonel Sanders look-a-like dispenses drugs to emaciated chicken-human hybrid creatures cowering in an underground prison. And in Altoids “Jockey,” a research lab conducts tests on a man’s pain threshold by coiling his prodigiously long tongue around a sawhorse as a jockey cracks his whip to the music of Edith Piaf.

Other Corbett gems includes a comic spot titled “Nazi Golf,” a brilliant mash-up of the Activision “Call of Duty” videogame with EA’s “Tiger Woods Golf” for Xbox, in which jackbooted German officers take to the links for a round of golf.  For Butler Shine Stern + Partners, he shot a campaign for the Lucas Arts “Indiana Jones” line of video games in which Indy wanna-be’s try their hand at death-defying acts from the safety of their back yards.

As his commercial work progressed, Corbett discovered that he was a very patient director. “I'm not quick to yell 'cut,'” he states. “I prefer to let things play out so I can capture awkward moments and beats on the film.”

“When I was a copywriter, I was very fortunate to work with directors who trusted me to be included in the process,” he continues. “A lot of directors like to keep a boundary between themselves and the creative team. I prefer that boundary be kept open. When I’m on set filming dialogue, I’ll often bring the writer behind the camera, because I know they hear the dialogue a certain way, so I want them to have a hand in how it’s delivered on camera. I’m not territorial that way. I’ve been there, so I know how frustrating it can be to work with a director who says, ‘You stay in your place.’ It doesn’t foster a collaborative work dynamic, and the creative can suffer.”

Looking forward, Corbett has his sights set on more commercial work, and one day directing feature-length films. “Every director has that one movie they’ve seen that left an indelible mark,” he shares. “For me, it was Leone's masterwork 'Once Upon A Time In The West.' It informed me very early on. It’s nearly three hours long, and I knew it wasnullt just the stunning visuals and gunplay that kept me pinned to my seat. I’ve never been about wanting to direct just pretty pictures. It’s much more satisfying to tell stories that have an emotional core.”


Published January 6, 2009