Fausto Becatti on Why It’s Time to Make Good Shit
Fausto Becatti’s distinctive directing style pairs striking visuals with energetic soundtracks to tell stories that evoke powerful emotions.
He works at the intersection of global culture and brings ambitious conceptual ideas and a deep devotion to the craft of filmmaking, with a burning passion for practical filmmaking.
Born and raised in South Africa, he is of Italian and Argentinian descent and holds a degree in film from the University of Cape Town.
Fausto has directed campaigns for leading international brands including Volkswagen, Coca-Cola, Spotify, KFC, Google, Johnnie Walker, Nissan, and Hyundai, and his work has earned awards at D&AD, The One Show, Clios, Ciclope Africa, and The Loeries.
Name: Fausto Becatti
Location: New York
Repped by/in: M ss ng P eces USA, Bioscope Films South Africa, Wabi Productions Mexico and The Deli Canada
Awards: One Show, D&AD, Ciclope, Promax, Clios, Loeries, Creative Circle, Promax, Pendoring, Gerety
LBB> What elements of a script set one apart from the other, and what sort of scripts get you excited to shoot them?
Fausto> Concept. A strong, unified, and clear concept that you can feel in the writing. A strong story tied into that concept. Simple. That’s what sets the good ones apart from the others.
Something original is always exciting, although hard to find, of course. Or at least something brave that isn’t following a trend.
I get excited for scripts where I can see there is scope to bring my own perspective to it, and room to explore. Especially in a world now where so much is going through testing and there are so many pre-built expectations. That space to create is magic.
LBB> How do you approach creating a treatment for a spot?
Fausto> It used to be an agonising process, I won’t lie. And it still can be. But I have learned there is confidence in following your creative gut, and not second-guessing too much. I will often just smash out my initial thoughts and feelings, and then step away for a while. Once the starter ideas are there, they keep burning in the back of the mind, and somehow your brain does your homework for you when you come back and sit down to it. My belief is that the first gut feeling is your taste.
LBB> If the script is for a brand that you're not familiar with/don’t have a big affinity with or a market you're new to, how important is it for you to do research and understand that strategic and contextual side of the ad?
Fausto> It’s incredibly important, because ultimately knowing the brand and its market is going to affect so many creative decisions in your treatment and approach. You need to be able to contextualise everything and have your decisions be motivated. You need to be able to talk to the client about their product; they want to see you understand their position.
LBB> For you, what is the most important working relationship for a director to have with another person in making an ad? And why?
Fausto> The producer. There are so many tiny decisions made along the way that affect the trajectory and can define the success of the project. Keeping that original vision, fighting for it, and carrying it the whole way through, even when it’s tough. If the director and the producer are fully aligned, and share that creative vision, then the challenges are overcome with power, and those harder conversations can be managed with a north star that aligns. Then all those tiny decisions are heading in the same direction.
LBB> What type of work are you most passionate about – is there a particular genre, subject matter, or style you are most drawn to?
Fausto> I LOVE practical filmmaking – doing things in-camera and achieving shots that seem like VFX but are done for real. That’s the magic of filmmaking, and a huge part of why I love movies so much. I am a super visual, very technical director. I love to problem solve and also come up with new approaches to shots, or a way of doing things.
Underneath that love for the craft lies a passion for capturing an emotive punch; the way film and video can make you feel something is unbeatable in my opinion.
LBB> What misconception about you or your work do you most often encounter, and why is it wrong?
Fausto> People love to pigeonhole creatives, and I totally understand why it happens. But you can get typecast in a way, for your style of work. In my case, it’s often that I am just a visual director.
But I am equally passionate about the process of storytelling, and working with actors. I love to explore dialogue/narrative-based scripts and flex more of that side of my directing work.
Also, people think I am way taller on Zoom calls than I am in real life.
LBB> What’s the craziest problem you’ve come across in the course of a production – and how did you solve it?
Fausto> There’s been a lot of crazy stuff. But the drone exploding on the last shot of a very long production is high-up there, excuse the pun. It was 3pm, the sun setting on the island of Mauritius, 300 extras lined up on the beach for an epic party scene, and before we got the drone up in the air, it completely disintegrated after colliding with the sand. There were no back-up drones close enough to make sunset and we were flying out of the island the next day.
The solve is less exciting: insurance covered us flying back two weeks later to get it all again. But that was a hell of a moment on the beach, picking up broken drone pieces.
LBB> How do you strike the balance between being open and collaborative with the agency and client while also protecting the idea?
Fausto> Ah, the age-old dance we all know too well. It’s a very careful, syncopated bit of footwork required to manage this balance. You have to understand going in that the creatives may have already had so many of the battles you bring to the table once you win the job. You have to bring a renewed energy to those conversations, but also pull your foot off the gas in the right places. I do push as hard as I can; sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But I have found that no one remembers the friction when it pays off in the end – it’s just about the experience of knowing which battles to fight for, and which ones aren’t going to move the needle that much.
LBB> What are your thoughts on opening up the production world to a more diverse pool of talent? Are you open to mentoring and apprenticeships on set?
Fausto> I believe in keeping an open door and welcoming the growth of others, especially people who haven’t had a chance before. There is a lot of gatekeeping on the directors side of the industry; I definitely experienced it in my journey coming up. It’s something that always struck me as wrong and close-minded.
I have decided to be as open and giving as I can possibly be. To help out young directors or people in the industry as much as I can, because I feel everyone can be lifted up, and I know there were times I needed someone like that to help me but didn’t have them. I love mentoring people; it fills me with joy.
LBB> Your work is now presented in so many different formats – to what extent do you keep each in mind while you're working (and, equally, to what degree is it possible to do so)?
Fausto> There’s a couple things I really think about in my process. One is the short attention span of most people these days, especially younger audiences on socials. You need to GRAB them right off-the-bat or you will lose them to the next video. I spend a lot of time thinking about the opening sequence of any spot or piece of content.
The other is running length. The reality is people don’t spend a lot of time sitting down and watching ONE THING anymore.
At the end of it all, if you make something powerful/original/emotive enough, then people will sit through any running length.
So… Make. Good. Shit!
LBB> What’s your relationship with new technology and, if at all, how do you incorporate future-facing tech into your work
Fausto> I love tech, cameras, lenses, etc… I love exploring new things, be it with tools on set or tools in post. But it’s important to always ground yourself and remember that everything should be in service of the concept or the story.
As much as I think everyone is getting swept up in AI, and the excitement it can bring visually, the practical filmmaker in me is careful to view it as just a tool in the arsenal. Everything should be a tool to help you tell the story.
LBB> Which pieces of work do you feel really show off what you do best – and why?.
Fausto> Volkswagen - Taigo - South Africa Ogilvy Cape Town
This spot is one of my favourites because the script was fantastic out the gate, with a solid concept and richly thought-out characters. I went in hard with a practical approach, suggesting we do as much in-camera as possible. The process of building specialist sets and rigs for all the papers and the ceiling to open, etc. put me in my element. I loved ripping people through the roof with rigging, and I think the audience can feel that more visceral, real approach in the end product. The actors loved it too.
Volkswagen - Kitty - South Africa Ogilvy Cape Town
When the original scripts were sent to me for this campaign, they portrayed our ballerina Kitty in her final form: the hugely successful dancer from a township in Johannesburg who made it, performing in Russia for The Dying Swan. We never got to see her backstory. I pitched telling the story of the little girl Kitty and the agency and client loved it. So I dove deep into her backstory. We shot in her original neighbourhood, and poured over the details of production. In the final steps of post-production, after showing Kitty the final edit in the sound suite, she broke down crying and said no one had told her story like that before, so truthfully. It was such a fulfilling project to work on and have that narrative core yet still the chance to play with the surreal visuals. I also LOVE shooting cars.
Consol - Made of Glass
Telling the story of glass meeting beer. What a ride. Once again, digging my hands into practical filmmaking and starting with the question of, ‘how can we do this in-camera?’
I spent seven days ‘shooting’ through the microscope at a university, working with a lab technician to photograph the stacked imagery of cross-section barley.
Inspired by Darren Aronofsky’s ‘The Fountain’, we worked with Christopher Parks in London to build up sequences with his specialised macro filming techniques – a dream collaboration for me personally. Then we shot all manner of crazy elements, using special old lenses from stills cameras for one shot in particular. And lastly, we got down and dirty inside the factory, sweating to find the angles that show the glass going through the production line. Paired with an epic, sweeping soundtrack to match, I am super proud to say this film has only two full CGI sequences in it. The rest is all real plates and real elements shot in camera.
Asahi Super Dry - Zero %
I love the Asahi brand. We shot in Japan, which is probably my favourite place in the world. And I loved the challenge of getting seven scenes into a 15-seconder and make it comprehensible. I came up with the idea of making it loopable to keep the audience watching.
