Mark Romanek suits up for H&M
Director Mark Romanek is behind a new film for H&M that centres on the brand's initiative of providing free suits for job seekers.
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A new initiative introduced by clothing store H&M allows men looking for a job to hire a suit from the brand, for free, for 24 hours.
Using the aphorism that a first impression is made within one second, the accompanying campaign, created by Uncommon London and directed by Anonymous Content's Mark Romanek, follows a series of young men as they prepare for their interviews. The images of the men getting ready is overlaid with phone messages from their mothers giving heartfelt and emotive pep-talks about how proud they are of - and how much faith they have in - their sons.
Credits
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- Agency Uncommon/London
- Production Company Anonymous Content/London
- Director Mark Romanek
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Credits
powered by
- Agency Uncommon/London
- Production Company Anonymous Content/London
- Director Mark Romanek
Credits
powered by
- Agency Uncommon/London
- Production Company Anonymous Content/London
- Director Mark Romanek
Below, Romanek talks about the project, his nervousness at shooting under Covid restrictions and, as he prepares to head into shooting a feature, what the biggest difference is between that process and filming on a commercial.
Can you tell us a little about the voice messages on the spot; did they inform the visuals or were that added after the fact?
They were added after the fact, but I convinced my mother-in-law to record the script so the editor and I would have something to edit too.
The film has a documentary feel to it; are those voice messages real or recorded specifically for the spot?
They were a beautifully-acted element created after the shoot.
As long as all the apps work, and the wi-fi signal is strong, I quite enjoyed [shooting remotely].
Can you tell us a little bit about the casting process; how hard/easy was it to find the right people for the spot?
Not much drama there. We simply saw videos of a huge amount of young actors and winnowed it down to our heroes. We were looking for diversity and for that certain something.
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Credits
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- Production Company Amazon Editing
- Director Mark Romanek
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Unlock full credits and more with a Source + shots membership.
Credits
powered by
- Production Company Amazon Editing
- Director Mark Romanek
Credits
powered by
- Production Company Amazon Editing
- Director Mark Romanek
Above: Romanek 'kept himself from getting rusty' shooting the pilot for Tales From the Loop.
Assuming you shot this under Covid restrictions, what was that process like and how restrictive was it?
It was very restrictive, in that the spot shot in London while I was at home on my laptop in Laurel Canyon. That said, because of the brilliant work of James [Laxton, DoP] and my AD, Ben Glickman, I didn't feel like I was working in molasses. I'm honestly not sure the spot would've been dramatically better had I been on the set.
Covid aside, what was the biggest challenge you faced working on this project?
My nervousness about the remote directing. But as long as all the apps work, and the wi-fi signal is strong, I quite enjoyed it. And, as I said above, I don't think any quality was lost.
Critical sensitivity gets hijacked in the process of making spots, where you're always trying to cram as much meaning into every mili-second of the piece.
It was announced last week that you're making a return to feature films; have you missed that world and what's the biggest difference between preparing for a commercial and feature film shoot?
I have missed it (although I kept myself from getting too rusty, by shooting the pilot of Tales From the Loop for Amazon). I would say the biggest challenge is the need to carefully recalibrate one's sense of rhythm and pace. That critical sensitivity gets hijacked in the process of making spots, where you're always trying to cram as much meaning (ie narrative, character, tone) into every mili-second of the piece. This is almost always disastrous for most sensitively-expressed, two hour movie stories...
