This video is terrific! Naked Ambition (above) is directed by Chris Palmer and centers on a porn director whose ambition is to make commercials. Talk about wanting to pimp yourself out… I love that the video parodies the now-classic trope: a porn director that takes himself too seriously as a film artist. That’s pretty much every porn director, ever, by the way. Palmer’s obsessed art school reject director incorporates iconic British ad references into his visions, using techniques and slogans such as Heineken’s ‘Refreshes the parts others can’t reach’, John Smith’s ‘Ave it’ and ‘It’s a bit of an animal’ from Peperami into porn scenes. Naked Ambition is executed brilliantly, has a subtle Jean Tinguely reference at the end, and if you go frame by frame in spots you’ll definitely get a few more lulz out of it.
What’s got advertising and film blogs talking about this is that the video is actually a call for director entries from Saatchi & Saatchi London – for the annual Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors’ Showcase 2012 as part of the always-packed annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Incidentally, Spike Jonze was one of the directors to come out of the Showcase… And Saatchi & Saatchi is pretty much the leading – and largest – creative agency in the world. (via Adrants)
It appears he was mostly playing with Rainn Wilson & Ellen Page, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctcURFb7XE4, followed by building a zombie video game, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2188807/
James Gunn… now there’s a name I haven’t heard in a while. Maybe I should start a regular feature called “now where the fuck is [X]…?”
Solid. Tough to compete with your buddy James Gunn. What’s he up to?