Heartfelt Campaign Shows True Meaning of Treasured Jewellery

Luxury Irish jeweller Weir & Sons has teamed up with Banjoman Films to deliver ‘For Things That Mean More’, a moving campaign series that highlights the deeper meaning jewellery often holds. Centring on three such items, each vignette captures on film an intimate moment that reveals the significant parts they play in our lives.

Each of the three films focuses on a different piece of jewellery. ‘The Watch’ depicts a boy after the funeral of someone close to him, filmed intimately from beside him in a car. The camera follows as he casts an eye down to his wrist, which bears the watch of his loved one. As he caresses it thoughtfully, the shot pans back up to reveal the bittersweet smile that now spreads across his face, comforted by the object that can offer him closeness to one no longer with him.

‘The Locket’ opens on an overcast beach. A girl enters the shot from a distance, running closer in apparent distress. As the desperation in her eyes gently melts away, the shot lowers to reveal her recovering a locket that evidently must hold great significance. Breathing a tearful sigh of relief, she is able to settle her nerves and return to her friends.

Shot from an unusual high angle, ‘The Ring’ shows a boyfriend with his girlfriend and grandmother, meeting for the first time. As they sit in an awkward silence punctuated only by nervous gulps of tea, the girlfriend momentarily excuses herself, allowing the grandson and grandmother to shuffle closer. The camera cuts to a more intimate shot as the grandmother hands him an engagement ring, which he quickly pockets at the creak of the door opening. The girlfriend - and the high angle shot - returns, unaware of the weight of the exchange that has just occurred.

To craft the films, Weir & Sons approached Banjoman with the aim to demonstrate how jewellery can transcend materialism to offer real meaning to people. To illustrate this concept, director Dermot Malone decided to hone in on three separate pieces of jewellery in three separate, emotionally distinct moments. Dealing with grief, attachment, and love, and relationships past and future, the collection of vignettes showcases how each item surpasses its status as an object thanks to its symbolic, sentimental value, unique to each situation.

The campaign was shot on 16mm film, overlaying each spot with a grainy, unfiltered aesthetic that compliments the display of real, raw feeling. Putting uninterrupted focus on this central component, ‘The Watch’ and ‘The Ring’ were both captured in one shot, allowing the viewer to watch as the characters’ emotions are changed by the jewellery in uncut real time, from grief to comfort and desperation to relief. The end result lends each vignette an essence of authenticity that underscores the sincerity of its message.

Dermot Malone, founder and director at Banjoman, comments: “From the beginning, I thought this was a lovely campaign idea, and I wanted to find relatable moments that reveal how much jewellery can mean to people. The common thread between them all is that you can see on the characters faces how genuinely moved they are by these items at different points in their lives. When you’re trying to capture a raw moment of authenticity like that, there’s nothing better than 16mm film - although it means you can’t really see what you’re filming. We had to rehearse repeatedly and trust that we would capture the magic when we finally did the take - and I think we did!”