Sunday, January 14, 2007

Exploring Dayton and Farris

I've spent some time tonight watching ads from husband/wife director Jonathan Dayton and Valarie Farris.

Dayton and Farris are posed to continue to receive some more attention in the months ahead for their acclaimed work directing the hit indie film Little Miss Sunshine.

Dayton and Farris have already received a number of accolades for their work in the ad industry and for directing music videos and documentaries for such bands as Oasis, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, REM, and many more.

Watching some of their advertisements on www.bobcentral.com (click on directors and the Dayton/Farris) and you will be able to watch many of their ads, like the popular iPod ad below done for Apple called "Wild Postings."



After watching these advertisements I am even more impressed with the work Dayton and Farris did in Little Miss Sunshine, because you can see how they were able to sustain their intellegent ad/music video style into a feature length film that is both engaging, entertaining, and fun.

The key things I appreciate about their style is their ability to:
- Tell a simple story quickly and with out excessive dialogue
- Use color, music and camera angels to create mood and tone
- Acutely relate to people's feelings and emotions
- Entertain people by creating very simple mini-stories

Related Tags: , , , , , , , ,

3 comments:

Paula said...

I always liked that ad.

Brian Erickson said...

Little Miss Sunshine is my favorite movie this year. I think that they really deserve a nod, but even with the DGA nominations in favor of it, I doubt it will happen. :-(

F.J. Delgado said...

I've been a fan of Dayton and Ferris ever since they worked with my favorite band, R.E.M., on music videos.

Little Miss Sunshine was a quality film, and hopefully more good work from them is yet to come.