Keep it simple, stupid. Mark Jenkinson, an up-and-comer at glue London’s inhouse production unit Superglue and UK production company Home Corp, did just that with his new spot for The Sun newspaper, a clever pastiche of the oh-so-ubiquitous iPhone ads. Laura Swinton caught up with him to find out about his progress from runner to fully-fledged director.
When did you first pick up a camera and decide to be a director?
I have played with cameras for as long as I can remember. I have super 8 footage of me aged two asking my mother where the pictures were on the camera she was using to film me. I started making stop frame animations on super 8 myself at about 11 yrs old then used to borrow video camera from family friends.
What inspires you?
The usual; photography, art, cinema and music inspires me hugely. The talented people I get to work with on a daily basis at glue and the production crew I work with are a constant inspiration. Coming across natural ‘scenes’ in life that feel like they are straight out of a film.
Are there any directors, films or styles that particularly influence you?
Besson, Redford, Lynch, Almodovar, Amenabar, the Coens, a good heist, thrillers, character dramas, Film Noir, French cinema and plots with dark undertones are some of what I like.
Can you tell me a bit about your journey towards becoming a directr at Homecorp?
My route into directing was quite a typical one; Work experience at 15 opened my eyes to the industry, then film school and then I started running at Arden Sutherland-Dodd. I began shooting making-ofs and documentaries then one day just asked to do a treatment on a script that came in and won the job. A few jobs later I began working for glue London as their in-house director. It was after doing drama idents for BBC2 that I signed with Home Corp. Whilst at glue I have gained a huge amount of experience shooting for online platforms and have become more involved in the creative process within the agency. I find the collaboration very satisfying and extremely important.
The i-phone-pastiche Sun spot is simple, but really funny. Can you tell me about preparing for and shooting the spot?
It was really important to me that the Sun ad had the same humility to it as the iPhone original. It was tricky to compose the shots as the paper was larger and more awkward to work with physically compared to a phone. Keeping the shots simple but maintaining continuity was tricky. I think people liked it as it didn’t take itself as seriously as the original. It started out as a low budget viral but after the client saw it they decided to run it on TV during the X Factor final which was nice.
What interests or passions do you have outside of filmmaking?
Aside from taking pictures and watching films I am a very keen cyclist, I have taken part in the annual Fireflies ride two years on the trot and am about to start training for this year’s ride.
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
I want to continue directing commercials and online advertising but my long time ambitions lie in features. Story telling on any level is what I love and the focus and detail needed for a feature length story would be the dream challenge.
Mark is a full time employee at agency glue London’s Superglue and is represented for TV commercials by Homecorp.
