Magnus Renfors Doesn’t Do Boring Ads – Join His Church Today

When I first laid eyes on ‘Frugtbrus’, the newest Rynkeby Juice spot directed by HOBBY director Magnus Renfors, set on a whimsical, sped-up, Danish beach, I thought it was oxymoronic and hilarious enough to want to speak to the man who made it.

When looking at Magnus’ wider body work, it becomes clear that you’re in the presence of something… different. With a vast portfolio, stretching back to 2009, but really, all the way back to his childhood, Magnus is the perfect example of how directors with a distinct personal style can keep it, even while working with mega brands.

And it is true, no matter if he’s creating for McDonald’s, or the lottery, or a nobody-known pharmacy, Magnus’ worlds surpass any brand values to remain “generous, human and entertaining.” About anything that doesn’t inspire a warm, fuzzy feeling in the viewer, Magnus says: “Making things boring or meaningless, or just too normal, would be disrespectful for both the viewers and all of us involved. A waste of resources and a big waste of your attention! ”

But, personal style isn’t enough in the world of advertising – Magnus explains that brands need to have an ‘oddity’ nerve and a good amount of bravery built into their DNA. Coming from Studio 24, where he worked with feature film director Roy Andersson, Magnus still remembers the days of risking his life for the shoot. And while, yes, advertising might have settled down since then, Magnus’ aspirations to make it fun and “an art form” in its own right, never did.

Fascinated by his worldbuilding, I spoke to Magnus to find out more about what goes into his “delicious storytelling cake,” why creativity will save the world, why Finns are the best people to work with, and lots more.

LBB> Magnus, tell me about the start of your filmmaking career – when did you know films are your passion and what steps did you take to join the industry?

Magnus> In the ‘80s a home camcorder was a rather rare thing in Sweden still, but I was lucky to get to play around with a relative's mini VHC-S SABA, making ‘Star Wars’ spoofs and so-called café-program parodies.

I accidentally burnt up all of my Lego while filming a ‘Star Wars’ scene with the wrong kind of fireworks, and I was so excited I forgot to push the record button. But yes, it was a lot of fantasising about film, which is a good thing growing up in a safe and functioning social democratic society, where you can play, and dream, and I wish that mindset could follow everyone through every upbringing! Imagine growing up but never needing to do the boring and destructive part of being an adult. That’s what my job is all about – to keep playing and fantasising.

I kept filming whenever there was a chance, both in school and in my free time. It was mostly me and my best friend, but while I continued playing through high school and university, I lost him as so many others on the path of growing up in a ‘grownup’ way. That convinced me even more that we HAVE to follow the lust, even if I studied something that was totally future-proof in the early millennium. For me, that turned out to be ‘interactive multimedia engineering’.

I fell back into film, of course. And today I am very grateful for the early experiences where I did everything from driving, catering, set building, location hunting, casting – 25 years ago this was the way to get into the industry. A great way to understand and respect every department and person involved, which I have done my best to maintain. A total respect for the fact that everyone is necessary in a production (except for made up middle men, they are totally unnecessary and need to stop draining projects from both fun and money) and works so hard and deserves to be appreciated equally!
When I started working with Roy Andersson (‘Songs From the Second Floor’, ‘You the Living’, ‘A Swedish Love Story’), is where I think I actually learned things and worked in ways that I still carry with me. In many ways those years were my actual film school. His Studio 24 was totally independent and the team lived and worked together there, doing absolutely everything in production in this old cinema and radio station turned into a film studio and production house. We took turns recording sound, pushing dolly, building, painting, constructing, SFX. And since one shot there could take anything from one month to half a year, we started filming music videos to carbonize our creative existence.
The first music video I directed myself was José Gonzáles’ ‘Crosses’, all filmed in Roy Andersson's garage with a budget of $500

LBB> Was advertising always the goal for you?

Magnus> As a kid, I experienced a lot of Roy's iconic commercials when at the cinema, and he put equal amounts of effort and care for the humans, the sets and the scenes in his ads as well as in his personal movies. So, if making advertising could be that good, yes, absolutely it could have been a goal for me. But I come from film, art, music, not advertising.

The ‘90s was really extravagant in Swedish advertising, so it was like the Super Bowl every time you went to the cinema. At that time it also was an art form as legit as any other in terms of being part of popular culture. And it should still be approached that way, I think. And hope.

Above: Magnus for McDonald's

LBB> How did you make the jump from music videos to advertising and do you find one better to work with than the other? Do you approach the two formats differently in terms of how you work?

Magnus> I got kids, so I could no longer find myself slaughtering a piano at the harbour in the middle of the night after shooting for 20 hours. Or editing and post producing and building props around the clock. Or scouting. Or risking my life hanging out of a trunk filming in a fully trafficked tunnel with knights and brass orchestras, no matter how fun and adventurous that is.

But I miss it a lot. I miss the darkness you can afford in music videos, the twisted and the weird that you rarely are allowed in advertising. And I kind of miss the impossible part of it – nothing is reasonable for the budget or time, so you just do it yourself anyway.

I still sometimes do that if I get too tired of hearing ‘No we can't afford’, or ‘No that's not possible’, especially if it is something I really want. Even if it can annoy some department people.

Doing things together is another part I want to stay close to from the music video universe. Small teams running around and blowing stuff up in the mountains, shooting what we might get before the snowstorm stops us – that is the best and most fun kind of shooting.

LBB> All of your films carry a whimsy about them that I haven't often seen in other ads. What helped shape your distinctive style and what are some pillars of it? What does an ad have to have to be quintessentially 'you'?

Magnus> Well, yeah, I hope so. Whimsy and silly and jolly are the least you can do if you demand someone's attention for several seconds of their lives in this endless tsunami disaster of distraction and attention stealing terror.

Making things boring or meaningless, or just too normal would be disrespectful for both the viewers and all of us involved. A waste of resources and a big waste of your attention!

Above: Magnus for Honey Bunches of Oats

I simply want to make fun or playful things that can get you to lower your visual guard and smile a little. Lots of other people are good at making cool things, but yes, I think whimsy is the most lovely description I could get!

Talking style, I think I aim for the same there – that it shall be generous, human and entertaining. Something you want to digest and feel good about doing so, like candy that you know ain't good for you but you enjoy it anyway!

LBB> Your characters are quite well-formed and intriguing, no matter how short the format. What goes into building a character that grips the imagination, even for a few seconds?

Magnus> That sounds good! I wish to see it so. I suppose it is a lot about the casting. I prefer seeing humans with a lot of life behind them and in them, then the whole character thing kind of takes off itself.

Everything from wardrobe, to setting, to relation and acting and the whole appearance – I wish to feel that there are stories and life in all of it! The fun thing about the short format is that you must choose what combinations tell stories about being alive. That process can make a film about online bingo interesting, entertaining, and human.

Above: Magnus for Minipizza

LBB> What role does set design play in your films? And where do you take inspiration for your set design? What's your relationship with the set designers?

Magnus> The set design is the whole stage, meaning the whole world for these short stories that we make, so it is really close to my heart. Everything goes into the delicious cake of the story in the end.

Whenever the camera isn't rolling you will find me climbing around in the sets adjusting things – a compulsion stemming from my time as a set painter, and miniature maker, and all that with Studio 24.

For inspiration I love Michel Gondry's playfulness and analogue solutions and transformations – doing as much as possible in camera. Preferably the whole film in one, uncut take! The theatrical Fellini sets, the agreement between theatre goers and the theatre company that "this staircase is now the crumbles of Yokohama", that kind of fearless play and surprise, I like that a lot!

My relationship with the set designers, I hope is okay, since I keep interfering, adjusting, and adding constantly. Some don't like that at all, but then we never work again anyway; but most set designers are excellent creatives and totally on board with aiming for the best possible visual and storytelling cake!

LBB> How do you manage to blend your personal style with the distinctive voice of the brands that you work with? Are there certain brands you see yourself working really well with, and why?

Magnus> Maybe I am only a blend of brand voices? I hope not.

No I'm not… But, yeah, sometimes you are lucky to get a chance to get a lot of your own preferences in. Sometimes your vision wins, but then the film slides away into the German brand manager’s vision and you find yourself explaining (again) that not all Scandinavians are blonde and pale and that a certain wardrobe choice does not mean that the burger is criminal, and so on.

In the end, they are paying, it is their film, their campaign, their brand, and I can only aim for something as brilliant, fun, great and strange as they are willing and daring to go for.

Some brands have playfulness and oddness built into them – the combination of a daring brand, a confident agency, and a will to make something special, makes all of us work at our best.

Above: Magnus for Royal Unibrow Beer

LBB> What has been a project that you have really enjoyed in your career, and one that you believe truly encapsulates what you want to do?

Magnus> The first film I did with Hobby was a rather epic black-and-white fairytale film for Finnish newspaper Ilta Sanomat. It has that filmic grandeur and in my opinion delicate, timeless joy, of telling a little story! I am still really proud of it and want to do more of it.

The most enjoyable projects have been those with enormous trust and playfulness. Another one is a Finnish series of films for Sonera (the Finns are the nicest people to work with), where we had one setup per day. With one main story and cast, we played around and made as many silly, odd films and scenes as possible with the characters.
Those films were made with confident and daring clients and agencies. The trust and boldness and the belief that everyone there wants to do their best, and the knowledge that maybe total control isn’t the best ingredient a lot of the time, is what made them great. Those shoots have definitely been the closest to what I'd like to do!

LBB> Tell me about your most recent 'Frugtbrus' films – what was the process behind this project?

Magnus> It is a wonderfully weird script and tonality that &CO brought to us, and this time the challenge was even bigger, with the action taking place on a vast Danish summer beach, where everything was about the bubbles, the fizz, the brus, in the Frugtbrus. In the darkest and coldest Scandinavian winter.

For many reasons I am happy that the standard solution is no longer to travel to the other side of the world to shoot something like this, which would have been easier, but not at all as fun.

We once again had to embrace the comical, the theatrical and the absurd, enhancing the artificial cartoonish tone. The script is brilliantly stupid but grand, so this tone goes through everything from how the actual product is handled and presented, to the acting and the edit!

Anarchic and silly, while also looking amazing. It was a studio shoot with 14 tonnes of sand and printed physical backdrops, a fantastic crew, and a daring client – that is what is needed to create a twenty second Danish summer fairytale!

Sure, gastronomically speaking, South Africa would have been nicer, but there is a great bakery in Orminge, where we filmed. As mentioned, often what you film is what remains, and sometimes your creation gets bigger in a small studio, than on a Cape Town beach. Like someone never said, we do this not because it’s easy, but because it eventually turns out to be funny!

LBB> If there is any advice you could give young aspiring filmmakers, what would it be?

Magnus> Be bold. Be kind. And be humble.

To expand on the above, don't forget to have an idea that you can try all the possibilities on. Play a lot and don't be scared of what is credible or in fashion. Oh, and wear comfortable shoes, so you don't get grumpy.

But really, I am from a different generation, and started in a completely different time with distinctive differences in limitations and possibilities and media. Looking at what’s left, maybe the most relevant advice might be to be kind and help each other!

LBB> What are you most excited for in the coming year and where do you see your creativity in the next five years?

Magnus> I see the revolution of kindness and compassion, and that Europeans and Americans protest and stand up for humanity and decency while we can, in all forms we can!

When it comes to creativity, I hope we all can use it for making this world a bit funnier and more caring and interesting, still.

I hope people will have had enough idiotic reels and pointless mediocre AI, clueless and harmful influencers, and all that disgusting pollution. I hope that there still is something to be made and hopefully experienced.

Right now we fight on many scary fronts at the same time, so the only thing we can do is hope that the self-appointed kings and mega-owners of our communication channels get cast into oblivion and we get back in touch with each other and what we like, instead of what we get served.

And for my personal creativity, I would love to run a theatre-stage-gallery-cinema-orchard-hotel where humans can experience a lot of life, creations and actual physical joy or sorrow together. We need a new church, for humans.

I hope for that, and for filming, making, staging and experiencing weird and wonderful things!