Lights, Camera, Acción! argentinacine - Where Humour Takes the Spotlight
Effectively storytelling is, and always has been, of paramount importance to argentinacine. And what better way to be effective than through humour?
While they may make it look easy, this collective of filmmakers and photographers know that comedic creative and script-centric work requires a very special touch. After all, “being funny” is not something that can be distilled into a formula – it’s about recognising the key features of a strong script, a bold performance and a winning idea.
From specialist in-house casting capabilities to an international presence which expands their on-the-ground reach, argentinacine has spent the last 25 years constantly evolving in their quest for the best. Having recently launched a second official office in Mexico, argentinacine continues to diversify and branch out. This commitment to creative goals is facilitated by no-bullshit managing director, Nano Tidone, and has resulted in hundreds of successful campaigns for clients around the globe.
LBB’s April Summers catches up with Nano to learn all about how the company’s unwavering commitment to the aspirations of their talented roster has resulted in an impeccable canon of creative home runs and their very own distinct flavour.
LBB> argentinacine gravitates towards primarily script-driven work - can you tell us about the company’s proclivity for these kinds of projects?
Nano> Since the very beginning, the company has had a roster of directors who are strongly oriented towards storytelling, mostly marked by humour.
Over the years, the production company has sought to position itself in the market for its directing style and the type of scripts we are interested in filming. Now that this goal has been achieved, the projects we receive tend to be aligned with this profile. From the beginning, we have been interested in filming commercials where humour is derived from the situations of the story rather than from the choice of an important actor.
I do not mean to imply that we only focus on good scripts, strong ideas, or ideas linked to humour - the company has developed a side very much linked to visuals too. As our name suggests, we offer a more cinematographic look as opposed to traditional advertising. We are not so plastic.
LBB> How does the team decide if a project is worthy of their time and creative input?
The projects we choose and engage with result from a process in which the director - whether proposed by us or chosen in advance by an agency or client - will have absolute freedom. We never force a director to shoot a project they do not feel is the right fit for them.
As I mentioned, we like to work on scripts that will contribute to the director’s development and help the team grow. It is important for us to film a powerful script that allows us to bond with the brand and agency, creating a presence in a certain country that will inevitably boost an international career. We have honest conversations with our directors and promise to find work that is best for them.
We are not interested in filming for the sake of filming. We do not care about having a huge volume of work; we are more interested in quality and dedication over quantity. When we undertake a project, it is because we are genuinely interested in it, not simply for business reasons.
LBB> argentinacine has worked on a lot of very successful projects over the last 25 years, but are there any campaigns which stand out as especially memorable or significant for you in the company’s evolution? If so, why?
Nano> To give a brief overview of argentinacine’s history, I would say that all the commercials I will mention have been very popular, but some were milestones, precisely because they have possess that classic, evergreen quality. The acting, the script, the concept, each of them have stood the test of time.
An ad that had a significant impact on the company’s identity when it was just starting up, and that today would be a viral case, is “Tapa a rosca” for Isenbeck. Directed by Augusto Giménez Zapiola in 1999, this commercial combined a great script and a great comedy actor – and it became very popular. Commercials such as “Tapa a rosca” or “Bostezo” for Telecom, perfectly demonstrate argentinacine’s profile.
Other works which, apart from winning awards, are very strong and helped define our stamp, including our campaign work for the International Independent Film Festival of Buenos Aires, “Bigotes” or ”Cuadro”. Both tell stories with humour, based on a good script or a strong idea.
The most recent argentinacine commercial that went viral and had a great impact for the brand was “Coincidencias” for Quilmes. Broadcast during the World Cup, the spot was very influential and a joy to work on.
And finally, Augusto Gimenez Zapiola’s “Trencitas” commercial for H2oh! is another brilliant example of our storytelling style. This film won a gold medal at Cannes LIONS and shows exactly what argentinacine is all about.
LBB> There is a lot of very exciting talent on argentinacine’s roster! Why is facilitating the growth and development of talented filmmakers such a high priority for argentinacine?
Nano> Filmmaking forces us to somehow create a constant change, incorporating new talents and adapting to new languages that are evolving rapidly. This implies detecting and looking for talents that are eager to join our company. However, it is not just a matter of signing with a director and saying “I got them”, but rather building a career together through representation both in Argentina and in other parts of the world.
We do not constantly add directors. Instead, we hope to work together with talent on a long-term basis. Rather than having 35 directors, of whom only a few are filming, we prefer to work with fewer directors. We always try to implement this strategy when we sign with a director. We like directors coming to the company, feeling that they are part of it and considering it as a space of their own.
LBB> Let’s talk about argentinacine's photography department – what was the motivation behind launching this arm of the business?
Nano> The incorporation of the photography department is actually something we have been working on for a long time. Clients require us to cover more media nowadays: from the hero spot of the commercial, to the photography, as well as the digital area that produces capsules, bumpers, right up to any other materials that the agency or client may need.
The merging of our advertising film department and photography department is the result of adapting to the demand coming from agencies or clients. Production companies need more in-house talent to offer a solution to more specific requests. Our photography department works independently for other production companies, too. In some cases, we have been hired as photo producers on projects, collaborating with other production companies that are our competition, not only in Argentina but also in other countries abroad.
LBB> Another specialism argentinacine has fine tuned over the years is your approach to casting – why is this such an important aspect of your offering?
Nano> Our ability to work well with strong scripts and humourous ideas is largely due to the attention we give to casting, our selection of actors, and the acting world.
Within the production company, there is a casting director who not only carries out castings and callbacks with the directors but also explores the theatre world, going to plays and to the movies, looking for new acting talents and making a mapping of emerging actors of different ages or physical features. This work is essential when it comes to choosing a specific actor for a given script.
In addition to this process, we also hold castings and callbacks in-house, which is a crucial stage to the process that allows us to understand how the script works and what things can be added or removed to make it grow.
We also work with improvisation. In some cases, such as films without dialogue, the producers will try to work out whether there should be dialogue or not. Over the years there have been several examples of films in which the script did not have dialogue, but during callbacks, we suggested phrases, dialogues or reactions that helped elevate the ending to the story.
To sum up, we pay a lot of attention to casting because it has become a distinctive feature of argentinacine. We always employ a realistic, authentic acting code subverting cliche dialogue or performances that feel artificial and do not exude authenticity.
LBB> How do your experiences within different Spanish-speaking markets equip you with diverse cross-market capabilities?
Nano> Unlike other production companies that operate in various parts of the world, our international presence is conducted through partnerships with other production companies from different countries that we feel share similar strategic and ideological views. We are very respectful of “the local” aspect because we believe it is better to have a local, Spanish-speaking partner based in that country, than taking it on alone.
At one point, all of our directors were represented by a single production company in a given country, but later we established several local partnerships with different production companies in the same country.
For instance, in Spain, we work with two or three production companies, as we have directors represented by different local production companies. Benefits include allowing us to develop each director better. A visual, aesthetic director who focuses on cars is not the same as a comedy or acting director. There are production companies that develop these styles better, so we try to choose each partner together with the director, according to their style.
We decided to open a branch office in Mexico because the country has become a huge production hub in recent years. There is great demand for Mexican shoots throughout Latin America, and several agencies and clients we work with have asked us to be located in Mexico so that they could have the possibility of working with us.
In Mexico, we represent local directors as well as argentinacine’s roster of directors. We also offer services to companies in the United States, among others, due to costs. The same applies to argentinacine in Argentina and Uruguay. Our far-ranging experience in production services around the world have strengthened our offering and continue to put us a cut above the rest.
