Directors Fabrice Le Nezet and Dan Tobin Smith at Optical Arts in London leverage the language and tone of modern smartphone ads to deliver an unsettling message for UK domestic abuse charity Refuge.

From the team at Optical Arts: Over the last 50 years, methods of abuse have evolved. Products like smartphones, smart meters, and banking apps mean that abuse can be carried out behind the scenes.

“The opening shots of the film were created to reflect a familiar kind of high-end smartphone commercial – but as the film progresses this is subtly subverted, revealing the dark possibilities available to an abuser with bad intentions.

“We designed the devices for both the print campaign and the film, taking care to create original pieces of technology.

“We then worked on elevating the lighting and camera movements in CG, based on shooting live-action references to compose the shots, creating an original and realistic technology campaign.

“Adding small imperfections throughout the film created an uncertain and unsettling atmosphere, slowly becoming more prominent as the film progresses.

“To further differentiate the film from a tech ad the camera movement was disrupted, long pauses were added on single shots and stark lighting and color were used. All these factors helped create an uncomfortable feel to the film, and draw attention to the danger of tech abuse.”
 

 
Client: Refuge

Agency: BBH

Production: Optical Arts
Director: Fabrice Le Nezet, Dan Tobin Smith
Executive Producer/Producer: Hannah May
Lead CG Artist: Ben Cantor
CG Artist: Nicolas Damour, Leon Seith
2D Supervisor: Miguel Wratten
2D Artist: Ben Gallagher
Retouching: Martin Pryor
Edit: Mathew Cronin
Phone screensaver content director: Joe Jackson for Optical Arts
Live-Action Reference Photography: Elliott Lowe