The Directors: Pleasure Craft

Specialising in CGI and live-action cinematography, directing duo Pleasure Craft strive to make exceptionally detailed video content - the sort that, if you were to stop on any given frame, the composition would be perfectly pleasing to your eyeballs. If they were a mixtape, genres would include: new age ambient, acid house, tropical balearic and gangsta rap. A hybrid talent, combining visual worlds that transcend the ordinary.

Name: Pleasure Craft

Location: New York

Repped by/in: UNIT9 in Europe, Independent in US 

LBB> What elements of a script sets one apart from the other and what sort of scripts get you excited to shoot them?

Pleasure Craft> We always love a script that has an out-of-the-ordinary element to it. The photographer Philippe Halsman (known for his absurd portraits of Dali) outlined the key principles for visual surrealism: use an unusual technique, include an unusual feature, and convey an unusual message or narrative. 

If a script ticks one of these boxes, we usually get excited.

LBB> How do you approach creating a treatment for a spot?

Pleasure Craft> Our creative process begins by gathering a broad range of references; we try to cast a very wide net at the outset. We then take many walks around the block of our studio and consume lots of caffeine. Bouncing things off of one another until an idea starts to form. Back at the studio, we collaboratively refine the concept, iterating and evolving it into a more fully formed vision.

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? If it’s important to you, how do you do it?

Pleasure Craft> It’s very important to us that we are aligned with the brand’s history, mission and values. We’ll also look at their past campaigns and consumer interactions to make sure we are a good fit. It’s rare that we will take on work from brands we’re not already fans of.

Before working on the Oakley campaign for example, we made a vision board at the start of the year listing our favourite brands we wanted to work with and Oakley was at the top of that list. It was a pretty incredible moment when we got that first email asking if we’d be interested in working with them!

LBB> For you, what is the most important working relationship for a director to have with another person in making an ad? And why?

Pleasure Craft> In a utopian world we are all one living breathing organism working together in harmony, so ideally everyone is key to the success of a project... but if we had to single out one role it would be producers. We owe our lives to good producers. Nothing would get done without them. 

LBB> What type of work are you most passionate about - is there a particular genre or subject matter or style you are most drawn to?

Pleasure Craft> We like projects that are unafraid to get weird with it. Usually in surreal ways. We’ve come to learn our style works best if there is a live action component and to stay away from going full-on CG. 

LBB> What misconception about you or your work do you most often encounter and why is it wrong?

Pleasure Craft> We’re known for our VFX work, but using VFX for VFX sake, or visual tricks in general just to be flashy, isn’t our thing. There always has to be some sort of narrative motivation behind our effects even if it’s a loose interpretation.

For example in the music video “The Ride” there's a myriad of scenes where vehicles and car parts are destroyed in various abstract ways. It could easily be seen as just cool imagery but the underlying theme is that the main character is going through a breakup and the cars getting annihilated are visual metaphors of him processing the heartbreak.

LBB> What’s the craziest problem you’ve come across in the course of a production – and how did you solve it?

Pleasure Craft> We are perfectionists that like to spend time buttering up our shots, so we occasionally struggle to reconcile our high standards with the rapid pace of commercial production. One painful memory that stands out was a project where the visual effects studio we teamed up with wasn’t outputting the level of quality we hoped for and we had to take it upon ourselves to burn the midnight oil for weeks to redo nearly all the VFX ourselves before the deadline. 

LBB> How do you strike the balance between being open/collaborative with the agency and brand client while also protecting the idea?

Pleasure Craft> Having a strong working relationship with agency creatives is paramount. Some of our dearest friends are on the agency side which has allowed us the opportunity to have creative trust and collaborative understanding from both ends. We also put a lot of work into the treatment upfront so the vision and creative concepts are clear before we move forward.

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?

Pleasure Craft> We want the production industry to be welcoming to all. The best work comes from a diverse crew bringing unique perspectives to the project. We both started from humble beginnings as PAs so we know how challenging the industry can be to navigate and have first hand experience of the good, the bad, and the ugly from various positions in the production chain as we worked our way through it.

You never really think of yourself as being in a position of wisdom to mentor someone but now having some miles under our belt, we are definitely open to advising and apprenticeships.

LBB> How do you feel the pandemic is going to influence the way you work into the longer term? Have you picked up new habits that you feel will stick around for a long time? 

Derek> The pandemic made me slow down and take time to refine my skillset and craft further. I now reserve certain times of the year to build on my current skill set or learn new technology that can be incorporated into my craft.

Matt> Probably a boring and cringe answer but the ability to work remotely has been pretty great. One of my biggest regrets of getting into the world of VFX is how much sedentary screen time it puts you through. Couple that with living in the already unhealthy lifestyle of NYC and it’s pretty grim. Being from Hawaii, I start to shrivel when I’m out of touch with nature and the ocean so now that it's more acceptable to work anywhere and using software that remotely tethers us to our workhorse computers; we can at least combat the post production blues by going to more fertile lands.

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)? 

Pleasure Craft> To the great sadness of directors and DOPs; every project has to be safety-framed for social media and it can be a restrictive bummer. You have to evolve with the times though and new creative opportunities can come from these different formats if you look at the glass half full.

LBB> What’s your relationship with new technology and, if at all, how do you incorporate future-facing tech into your work (e.g. virtual production, interactive storytelling, AI/data-driven visuals etc)?

Pleasure Craft> Since Pleasure Craft’s birth, technology has been a major ingredient in our work and brand identity. We are filmmakers deeply in love with visual effects and futuristic aesthetics. By staying at the forefront of technology, it has given us the tools to amplify creativity and bring imaginative worlds to life.

LBB> Which pieces of work do you feel really show off what you do best – and why?

Pleasure Craft> Oakley - Crush the Ordinary. As children of the y2k era, Oakley has been one of those companies we’ve drooled over since we were young. We love their futuristic vision and their out-of-the-box marketing throughout the years (the hovercraft golf cart being a personal favourite). We were ecstatic to have a chance to make something for such an iconic brand with UNIT9 and knew we had to push the limit, so we went pretty all out mixing VFX with live action. It was one of those rare projects where the final product mirrored almost exactly what we were envisioning in our minds.

Saturdays' NYC 2020 Campaign. This was the first campaign where we had limitless creative freedom to explore with a brand we love and have many friends involved in. We wanted to showcase NYC in a dreamy way that Saturdays NYC embodies with their metropolitan surf roots

Jesse Gibson - The Ride. This is our first (and so far only) music video and Pleasure Craft’s first true passion project. We did everything and every role ourselves (except for being the talent!) in pre production, production and post production. We worked for months on it and it is still near and dear to our hearts. 

Instagram - Yours to Make. This was a special project for us because it was our breakout into working with a big brand on a large scale set. It was fun to make because we got to play around with some dynamic camera techniques with our friend and talented DP Ben Grant. We were especially happy with how Amanda’s spot came out aesthetically with some subtle VFX elements.