Moxie's MJ Delaney Preps The Sun For Summer

Let's face it, January weather is pretty grim for most of us, so it's unsurprising that a fair share of the TV advertising space is taken up with travel companies promising to whisk us off to sunnier climes. However, with their latest promotion advertising their 'Hols From £9.50' scheme, The Sun newspaper has gone for a slightly different tact – highlighting the important training that goes into pre-vacation-prep.

Compiled as a rapid-fire training montage like those seen in 80's/90's movie classics, MJ Delaney's excellent 'Get Holiday Ready' sees a bunch of Brit archetypes prepare themselves for the summer by attempting extreme suitcase-stuffing, speed car-loading and an ice-cream marathon. Shot through Moxie, the spot's juxtaposition between the dowdy greys of Blighty with break-associated activities provides chuckles aplenty.

We caught up with MJ to chat holidays, shooting an 80's montage and her burgeoning feature career.



How did you get involved in the Sun campaign? What was the killer element of your pitch?

I treated on it for the lovely people at Grey London. I'm not sure which bit was 'killer' for them, but for me the most exciting part was being able to do something interesting with the TK, which Paul Harrison at Finish executed beautifully. The idea that these bright, bold, neon, acid colours of the summertime props jumping out of a drab, wintery background. It was nice to work on something where you had the specifics of the grade in mind from the very beginning when creating the aesthetic, building the palette of the production design and costume around a concept that would come to life at the very end of the process.

The spot features lots of pre-holiday training rituals. Were they all down on the page before you started on the project or did you develop any?

I'd worked with Captain David Hawker, who plays the grandad, before on a film for Channel 4. When we were filming that, over breakfast on the catering bus one morning he showed me how he could still do chin-ups, so I was really keen to cast him for this so we could have that escalation from the suitcase action.



How was the shoot? Whereabouts did you do it?

The shoot was great. It was shot around and about in London - Willesden, Pinner.

The montage music and shot choice give it a delicious 80's/90's vibe. Did you watch any killer training scenes to get the feel for it? Do you have a favourite?

The music is from the training montage in Rocky IV. I watched a lot of Rocky to get a feel for the stylistic motifs in montage sequences. But my favourite remains the 'Gotta Have A Montage' scene from Team America.



Any issues with the shoot? Did the ice-cream melt in the way you wanted?

It did. The poor bloke was freezing but very good about it. Our whole cast were delightful to work with and really up for a laugh, which made for a very enjoyable shoot.

What with this, your breakthrough 'Newport State Of Mind' and the award-winning Aldi spots, you demonstrate a deft comedy touch with 'everymen' appeal (sorry for how wanky that sounds). What do you think it is about your style / shooting technique that helps this? Is it the kind of work you imagined working on?

It's hard to say about your own work I think, especially so early on in my career. I really enjoy doing comedy though, as the humour and sense of fun seeps through to all parts of the process - on set, in the edit - just always laughing, which is a nice way to work.



You've just had your first feature, 'Powder Room' launch in the UK. How was your experience with that? Is it nice to mix and match between forms?

It was great doing the film to be able to focus on one thing for such a prolonged period of time, meaning you really invest in it emotionally (I psychologically lived in a nightclub toilet for eight months last year). But if I didn't have the shorter-form stuff I'd go insane as I love to be working, shooting, learning. The productivity and variety that comes with making commercials gives a really reassuring sense of progress, as well as just being loads of fun, which is pretty much the opposite of how you'd describe the development process for features!

What's up next for you?

Who knows?! More work, hopefully!