Top director: David Denneen
Every fortnight Campaign Brief Asia turns the spotlight on a hot director that is currently in the news. We speak to David Denneen, widely acknowledged as one of Australia’s top commercials directors, who has also built up the successful production company, Filmgraphics. Last night (Thursday, August 6) Denneen was inducted into AWARD’s Hall of Fame.
He’s worked with some of the world’s most famous talent including Michael Jordan, Ken Griffey Jr., Shane Warne, Michael J Fox, Brooke Shields, Naomi Watts, Patrick Rafter, Richard Gere, Jackie Chan, Sir Bob Geldolf and Dustin Hoffman. In 2001 Deeneen was among the inaugural recipients of the Australian Screen Directors Association (ASDA) accreditation alongside George Miller, Peter Weir, Gillian Armstrong, Bruce Beresford, Ray Lawrence, Phil Noyce and Fred Schepisi. The accreditation for cinematographers, acknowledges the creation of a body of work of a consistently high standard. His peers voted him as Director of the Decade for the 80s and again for the 90s. Over the years he has won every major award in Australia and internationally at festivals, including D&AD, Mobius, Cannes, Kodak Gongs, and the New York Advertising Festival. In 1977 Denneen was animator, co-director and co-designer on the Academy Award-winning short Leisure (1977) and in 2006 he directed his first feature film, Restraint, a psychological thriller.
What spots have you been working on this year?
I’vebeen in the directing business for more years that I care to admit andevery now and then you get a real gem to shoot. One that you thinksuits you perfectly. That happened this year when Ben Welsh of M&CSaatchi asked me to do a treatment on the Optus ‘Whale Song’script. As luck would have it, I got the job. That’s what directingis all about – the thrill of the chase, getting the job after so muchwork has gone into the treatment and then being terrified that now youhave to pull it off and live up to everything you promised.
What is the most challenging aspect of directing?
Thebuck stops with you, success or failure, you get the Gong or you getthe Blogs. You go through pre-production with butterflies in yourstomach that only multiply the closer you get to the shoot date. Youknow all the things that can go wrong and never feel satisfied thateverything will be as you want it to be. You question yourself duringshooting, “am I using the right lens?”, “is the shot driving the storyforward?”, “is this the best angle?”. This is what goes through themind of most directors and I guess that’s what makes them good or not.Directing is a lonely existence even though you have so many talentedpeople around you to help. The success of the project and everyone’sexpectations rest with you, the director.
There’s a lot of talk that the golden era for production companies has ended. Would you agree? What has changed over the years?
TheGolden Years of Production companies has definitely faded over the lastfive or so years which in some ways is good and in others a shame. Weare now a much more streamlined and cost efficient industry so that’sgood for the advertiser. The unfortunate thing is that what should takethree days to shoot is being shot in two; crews and suppliers areworking at reduced rates and so to a degree standards have dropped andare still dropping. It’s hard to imagine how much further the industrycan absorb the cost cutting that is going on. The other thing that hashappened is disappointing to me and that’s a lack of manners andrespect. Constantly we don’t even get a thank you for a presentationthat we’ve spent days working on at our own expense. Everyoneunderstands competition. But getting six directors to all do apresentation on a $300,000 job that they would all be good at, seemslike someone is taking advantage of the situation.
You’vemanaged to build one of Australia’s most successful commercialproduction companies while continuing to direct – has it been difficultmaintaining a balance between being ‘management’ and a hands-ondirector?
Filmgraphics, my company has trained and supportedhundreds over the years. But unfortunately it is becoming increasingdifficult to train new directors, producers and editors in the newenvironment. My great love is directing. I love the whole creativeprocess and when I was younger my dream was to build a film company sothat we had the means to make movies. Managing Filmgraphics was not aproblem as basically the place ran itself. We’ve had the best talent inAustralia work at Filmgraphics over the years so running the place forme was a breeze.
Have you done much work in Asia throughout your career?
Mostof our work came from Australia and the US. But in recent years moreand more good creative is coming from Asia and India. The collaborationand support you get from Asia in general is refreshing. I have donequite a few jobs out of Asia. DHL Special Olympics -a rewarding experience. Jackie Chan Visa – a privilege to work withsomeone so talented. And early on in my career, I made three shortstories for Starhub – ‘The Demolition of the Berlin Wall’, ‘The CubanMissile Crisis’ and ‘The Bruce Lee Story’. They turned out to be someof my favourite commercials. It was the first time I actually thought,’I can direct’.
What was your first big break as a director?
Myfirst break into live action came when I was asked to do all thespecial animation effects on a commercial for Bridgestone Tyres. I toldthe agency that I couldn’t work with the chosen director because of anunfortunate experience with him in the past but told them I would loveto direct the commercial and do the effects myself. They agreed to giveme a go and the final job won quite a few awards.
Two yearsago you took a break from commercials to direct a feature film calledRestraint. How did the experience compare to shooting commercials?
Itwas a test of stamina so I gave up alcohol and went to the gym fivetimes a week. At the end of the 36-day shoot I felt great and onreflection loved the experience. I’ve been on commercial shoots thatwere more stressful. One of them was for Nike with Michael Jordan forthe launch of his own brand of clothing. I had just finished shootinga Dr Pepper spot in Argentina and Jim Riswold, creative director ofWieden + Kennedy, then rang Anna, my producer to say he wanted me todirect his Jordan spot. The only problem was it had to be shot in fourdays in Chicago over Labor Day weekend. The ad was a 90-second epicand to top it off, Mr Jordan was only available for six hours a day forthree out of the four shoot days. I didn’t leave the hotel room forthe first few days storyboarding. It is amazing what you can do if youreally put your heart into it and have the money to overcome problems. We ended up having to build two huge sets on stage so we could get thejob done with Mr Jordan in the allocated time.
What are the most memorable spots you’ve directed?
The Nike spot for Michael Jordan as mentioned above is one of my favourites, along with McDonald’s James Dean, ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’. Also ‘Great Escape’ with a Steve McQueen look-a-like for Shell and Nibble Nobby’s Nuts. And of course ‘Whale Song’ recently.
What are your favourite three commercials that have been directed by others?
Asfar as my favourite ads, there are quite a few. But I do respect greatdirectors like Frank Budgen, Ridley Scott, David Fincher and JonathanGlazer. There are many great directors out there, some get the luckybreak and become the new hot guys and some not so lucky. I guess I wasone of the lucky ones, working at your hobby and getting paid for it. Let me tell you it doesn’t get much better than that.
You can view David Denneen’s reel HERE.
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