Just call him the wolf whisperer – Michael Lockshin’s spot The Wolf Is Back sees the director coax his lupine actors to perform chilling howls for camera and prevent his clashing canine cast from tearing chunks from one another. And the result is an eery, impressive campaign for Eristoff vodka that saw Lockshin win 2nd prize in the non-EU Web Film category at YDA 2011. We caught up with the director to learn more.
The Wolf Is Back Spot is super atmospheric – how did you go about capturing that eery vibe, and how was the nighttime shoot?
It all came down to finding a way to agree with the wolves about acting eerie in exchange for raw meat. But seriously, a lot had to do with improvisation, and watching the wolves in the locations, then finding a way to shoot it in a visually interesting way. It’s difficult planning with wolves that can’t really be trained. We didn’t get all the shots we had in mind, but on the other hand we got some that we really never intended to – by pure luck I think that music really guided us, the references we had made the whole story come together.
The moment we knew we had something that really working was when we were able to capture a real wolf howl (wolves don’t usually howl by command). This was about an hour of sitting in a dark cold forest in total silence, camera running, no one really knowing if anything would come from this, the skeptical wolf-trainer whistling and playing monotonous wolf howls through his speakers of a mono mobile phone, getting the wolf in a sentimental mood.
What was the biggest challenge behind this job?
Well, the concept the guys came up with at Firma agency was very cool, but at the same time, risky… in a sense it was breaking ground in Russia, and we had to get everything right, on all levels. For the campaign to be successful, first the virals had to really work, people had to believe they were real, and then only would the Eristoff Wolf image spot have an effect. (We first shot and released 5 virals about wolves invading Moscow made in different styles – which were picked up by news in Russia and all over the world, and then the 1.5 min image webfilm which revealed the brand behind the hoax (which was at YDA).
Another challenge, as usual, was time. The whole job had to be really quick. We had like 2 weeks from shoot to final post, and only 4 shooting days. We were turning in a new viral almost every day, while shooting the next one.
And how was it working with the wolves?
The wolves had to be shot with long leashes in all city locations, because they really are quite wild, so this was a nightmare to set up, and also all these leashes had to be then erased in post.
Another difficultly was that we couldn’t shoot 3 wolves together in 1 shot to create a feeling of a pack, because they were from different packs and if they both had a piece of meat in front of them, then chances were high, that we would be left with 1 wolf less after the take. So we went about using wolf-like dogs in wider shots, or multiplying the wolves in post to create a feeling of a real wolf pack.
When did you first decide you wanted to be a director?
Unconsciously in 6th grade, more consciously somewhere between January 2003 and February 2006.
What inspires you?
I think I like the absurd little things that people do with a serious face when don’t realize the humour in their behavior. This always inspires – the surreal situations that you find in real life… this is what makes stories for me. Thank god in Russia we have a lot of grotesqueness everywhere we go!
Aside from your YDA-winning film, what piece of work are you proudest of and why?
The first test commercial I shot (as an ident for a production company here in Russia, I still kind of enjoy. It’s called seriously fetish. It has some style, which I want to develop in other films.
Then there’s my second short film (like 10 minutes) which I recently shot. It’s in post at the moment, it’s a genre stylization – and hopefully will work out as planned What’s the best piece of advice anyone’s ever given you? Don’t worry.
Having scooped a prize at the YDA, what are your plans for the coming year?
Well, the plan is always the same, – to shoot nice little films that I personally will like. I think, the YDA will help me work with productions not only in Russia and Ukraine, as it is now, but hopefully also in Europe.
