Trailer for Seattle Int'l Film Fest from WDCW
Ad agency WDCW recently created and executed the “SIFFcurious” campaign for the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), taking place May 16 – June 9. The campaign features a :60-second trailer produced by Seattle production company World Famous, plus accompanying print, outdoor, online and identity assets. The trailer is screening now in select Seattle theaters, with additional campaign executions in the weeks leading up to the festival.
The “SIFFcurious” campaign marks the ninth year that WDCW has collaborated with SIFF, which is recognized as one of the top film festivals in the U.S. and draws over 150,000 attendees annually. With a wide variety of eclectic programming spanning 250 features and 150 shorts from over 70 countries, the campaign encourages potential attendees to embrace their curiosity and explore new films or genres.
The SIFFcurious trailer follows a young woman on a transformative journey fueled by film. Her curiosity takes her through scenes of iconic films screened at SIFF over the years including 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Dr. Strangelove, The Exorcist, Alien, and many more. Each scene was beautifully recreated in miniature with 3D models – some of which were computer designed, then made into physical models using a 3D printer, and some sculpted and painted by hand using clay and other materials. WDCW teamed with fellow Seattle creative, production company World Famous, to painstakingly conceive, create and shoot each vignette, with over 20 miniature sets appearing in the final trailer. The spot required over 900 hours of modeling, creating and building before a single frame was captured.
The theme of curiosity initially took shape around the visual “moth to a flame” concept featured prominently throughout the SIFFcurious print and interactive executions. WDCW tapped local artists throughout the Pacific Northwest to create the 10 bespoke moth figurines tailored to represent film fans across genres that appear in the campaign’s various posters, which were shot practically, entirely in-camera, by Portland-based photographer David Emmite. The unique lightbulb that lures the moth film fans, was handcrafted by incandescent sculptor Dylan Kehde Roelofs and features a filament that spells out the letters SIFF.
“This is the ninth year that we’ve collaborated with WDCW on promotional efforts for SIFF,” said Carl Spence, SIFF Artistic and Co-Director. “They completely embrace the personality of our festival and continue to blow us away year after year with campaigns that capture the eye-opening, diverse and enchanting qualities of cinema that sit at the heart of SIFF.”
“This campaign is all about how curiosity can pay off in big ways, leading you to new and magical, incredible things. Collaborating with SIFF is always an amazing experience, they embrace our ideas, and let us run wild with concepts,” explained WDCW Co-Founder Tracy Wong. “With a campaign theme like Be Curious, we followed our own creative curiosity which led us to tap a diverse array of artists throughout the Pacific Northwest, from photographer David Emmite to Dylan Kehde Roelofs and of course the folks at World Famous. This was truly a team effort and we hope it inspires people to embrace their curiosity.”
