THE STORY
It’s a story of a little boy who grieves the loss of his grandad. So much so that he insists on using, or at least trying to, his glasses. Now of course these glasses are too big, the lens are way too strong, to the point that little Ben can’t see a thing, but he doesn’t care. He couldn’t care less that other kids laugh or stare at him; or that he really can’t see a thing with them on.
SLICE OF LIFE
Grief, not an easy subject to film, in particular if it’s the one of a little kid. I tried to make this as human and very real as possible, spontaneous and observed, where the boy demonstrates his eyesight problems with the supporting cuteness of these oversized glasses underlying throughout. We drop hints as to what the boy might be going through that’s behind his vision problems, but never give it all away until the end, so everything makes complete emotional sense in retrospect. So that’s basically it, simple yet great fun to shoot.
The idea was from ENERGY BBDO in Chicago. Great creative team, open to improvisation which allowed me, as a director, to get the full commitment from the little actor. The team were Andres, Michele, Alejandro, Agustin and Jesus.
BEN
He was brilliant to work with, Joseph. But we called him Ben for the part. I find it easier to give characters names, makes them more of a physical being rather than a simple character….so Ben it was.
My team. As always, thanks to Violaine and Michel, amazing EP’s at Serial Pictures, who are on top of everything, all the time! I’ll never get tired of thanking Ottar, always getting the best out of each set up. Paul Ure, fantastic producer, who’s constant love for life and a good laugh, makes the shoot go smoothly (and probably the fact that he’s a great producer…..) .
We decided to take this shoot to Prague and it really payed off.
The local service production, Stillking and the crew did a great job. Special thanks to Lida ( I don’t have a picture of her ) and Monica.
Anyway, here’s the finished spot