How Kristian Young Helped to Correct the UK’s Mishearing of Well-Known Sayings with Gyles Brandreth

The team at Creep sits down with director Kristian Young to discuss the process of creating 'A Misheard Manifesto' for Specsavers and partnered with agency Golin.

Q> What’s your favourite misheard line from this work?

Kristian> When I first had the kickoff meeting with the agency on this project, I had to double and triple check all of the "eggcorns" (misheard sayings) in the deck because I was pretty sure I had used them myself a few times, if not every time. My favourite might be "For all intensive purposes" because I would quite happily write that in an email and not even doubt myself one bit.

Q> What was the biggest challenge on the day of the shoot?

Kristian> Balancing the vast amount of crazy camera move ideas I initially had with the reality of fitting everything into a normal working day. I kept thinking, "What if we just tried...," but then had to reel it back to, "What is the most important way to tell this section of the manifesto announcement?" That was by far the most challenging element. But once we settled into a rhythm and flow, I knew we would get everything we needed and have some fun along the way too. Aside from that, getting to Dulwich is always a challenge—three trains, two buses, and a Lime bike later...

Q> Why was it important for you to work on this?

Kristian> As a drummer since my early teens, I am increasingly aware of the importance of hearing protection, with looming hearing loss becoming part of my own life. I have friends in their early thirties who already wear hearing aids, so anything that brings awareness or promotes getting your hearing checked is really interesting to me. I wanted to make it fun, shareable, and resonate with a younger audience, not just something for an older crowd. I was keen to work on a project that didn’t just ask you to get your hearing checked in the traditional way we’ve seen before. The combination of humour, a clear call to action, and a manifesto was a dream come true.

Q> Talk us through your process for this film—how was it working with Gyles Brandreth?

Kristian> We didn’t have all the luxuries you might dream of when putting this film together, so we had to work smart. Our producer was very good at pushing my ever-growing shot list back into a manageable box, and we made sure to collaborate as much as we could with the DP, art director, and 1st A.D. to really get this ambitious idea done in one day. We might have slipped over our schedule by a minute or two, which is unheard of in most productions, and that’s a testament to the efforts of the crew getting stuck in and working fast but with quality in mind. Our focus puller was integral to helping us get those little crash zooms, the lighting team made use of the location’s tiny balconies to hide lights, and our producer sourced a great team in pre-production to bring it all together. That collaboration continued into post-production, where everyone was on it from the get-go, taking the film to the next level.

Q> Why so many jumpers?

Kristian> Gyles showed us his 500-strong jumper collection in pre-production, and we decided that every shot or mini scene of the monologue needed its own jumper. Each one was chosen specifically for the action or moment in the script.

Q> How was the goat?

Kristian> Basil was the name of our superstar goat, and he was actually a dream to work with. Basically, if you give them food, they will head toward it. Need the goat to stay still? That wasn’t so easy. But we got there with relatively low stress and only a few piles of poop.