by Irma Mutuc
Everyone will have a “film that stayed with you” (FilSWY) or a specific scene in a film that you can’t shake no matter how many other equally memorable films of the same genre you get to see. McCann Melbourne used that insight to promote this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) in the heels of last year’s “Emotional Trailer” campaign being honored with three Cannes Lions.
The pressure to create another memorable campaign was on the team when they were tasked to promote the 65th MIFF. McCann launched a Facebook competition where they chose an avid film fan to recreate a FilSWY from memory. Keith Grove, an MIFF member, was given the chance and challenge to direct and act out all the parts of his most memorable film scene which was Takashi Miike’s thriller, Audition, a film that Grove saw at MIFF 16 years ago. The film was released in 1999 and was based on Ryu Murakami’s book of the same title. Grove said that the MIFF was always his window to another world as a young boy, “For me the challenge was trying to pull the pieces of my memory together, so long after seeing the film. I’m just hopeful I haven’t ruined the memory of Takashi’s masterpiece for others.”
He need not have worried because for McCann Melbourne Executive Creative Director Matt Lawson considered him godsend, “Not only did he produce a stellar performance, having never acted before, he was also not put off when we asked him to direct for the first time, from memory, and play every role.” With no previous filmmaking experience, Keith Grove worked alongside established director Stephen McCallum to learn about the process of film production, and bring his completely remembered remake to life.
The result of their collaboration formed the focal point of the of the 65th MIFF campaign, and proves that MIFF films really are “Films that stay with you”. In addition to the online film, the campaign includes cinema, out-of-home, a movie trailer and social media.
McCann once again partnered with production company AIRBAG for the campaign, the same production company they tapped for their 2015 multi-award winner “Emotional Trailer” campaign.
