Telstra Uses Prosthetics and CGI, “Nostalgia and Originality” in Silent Film Series

Three silent and strange films starring a magnetic boy, dancing table, and werewolf comprise Telstra’s latest campaign for Australian cinemas, created in partnership with Bear Meets Eagle On Fire and +61.

The dialogue-free, black and white short films were directed by FINCH’s Dougal Wilson -- his first Australian production and commercial project since 2018 -- and are designed to play in cinemas to encourage audiences to silence their phones.

Bear Meets Eagle On Fire founder and CCO Micah Walker spoke to LBB about the three films -- ‘Mirror Mirror’, ‘Four-Legged Friend’, and ‘Magnetic Boy’ -- which launch following recent Telstra work including ‘The Cobber’ and ‘Dominos’.

“With cinema, you have a captive audience that has come to be entertained, so it’s important you live up to that moment as a brand,” Micah said.

The silent-film motif, Micah says, presented an opportunity for the spots to diverge from established conventions of cinema advertising.

“A ‘turn off your phone’ message before the movie has been done so many times by so many brands, we just wanted to avoid the established tropes,” Micah said.

“It’s such a clean idea for cinema, about cinema, so with everything laid out in the opening title, you free yourself up to make something memorable. I do think that’s the opportunity in this space, to make something entertaining and distinctive.”

Micah explained that harking back to the old-school glamour of the silent-film era is more about a “moment of brand-engagement” than it is communicating a specific product offering for Telstra.

“Even though a telco brand reminding you to be a solid cinema citizen isn’t a new brief, you still can shape how people feel about Telstra in a moment that’s uniquely captive,” Micah said.

“I think there’s a sophistication to the approach that speaks to the Telstra brand’s leadership position, but that’s a consideration in every brief.”

Director Dougal Wilson said it was a delight to work on the project, which included several visually ambitious concepts involving a magnetic boy, a dancing table, and a werewolf.

“I loved these ideas, and crafting them with my wonderful production team and crew was a hugely enjoyable experience,” he said, adding the spots were inspired by different black and white films from over the decades.

“‘Mirror Mirror’ needed to begin in the style of a classic golden age of Hollywood 1930s romantic drama, like something directed by George Cukor, then switch genre to an early horror movie -- more like something from the 1950s.

“‘Four Legged Friend’ was similarly inspired by early Hollywood, taking inspiration from MGM musicals. ‘Magnetic Boy’ was inspired by something a little later, like a Robert Aldrich or black and white era Kubrick movie.”

The shoot took place over three consecutive days, both on location and in a studio.

“There was a lot of preparation and testing with Neville Stevenson, our production designer, and a camera / lens test with Jeremy Rouse, our cinematographer,” Dougal explained.

‘Mirror Mirror’s final prosthetics were all practical and inspired by 50s horror movies and Jean Cocteau’s ‘La Belle et La Bette’, though the transformation effects used a combination of CGI.

“We were lucky enough to have the brilliant Nick Nicolaou from Make-up Effects Group building and creating these for us,” Dougal said.

‘Four Legged Friend’, meanwhile, was created using a mixture of in-camera choreography and a live dance partner, who was later replaced with CGI.

“It was important to get the sensation of the physics and weight of a partner right, rather than our performer dancing without a partner and then placing in the table,” Dougal noted.

‘Magnetic Boy’ also used a combination of in-camera and post-production techniques.

Micah said the trap to avoid was trying to do “everything we could”.

“Once we had the idea, we knew there were a few things each story had to have – it had to be a story arc that fit 27 seconds, it had to pay tribute to cinema, and instead of just recreating classic silent film scenes, we wanted them to be original stories,” he explained.

“Balancing the nostalgia and originality in a limited space led us to these stories and a few others we’re hoping to make in the future.

“[We needed to] limit how we made what we made, so that it felt authentic to the genre. Dougal is so easy to work with, and having a great team of set builders, [and] costume and make-up designers made our lives easier.

“It was a pretty enjoyable production, I must admit.”

Brent Smart, chief marketing officer of Telstra, added, “So much care and craft has gone into these, I can’t wait to see them before some animated film my kids make me watch.”