How to judge in Cannes

23-04-2015 (07:38) - Gastcolumn

De 62ste editie van de Cannes Lions komt dichter en dichter bij. En ook dit jaar zullen er weer Nederlandse of in Nederland werkende juryleden beslissen welke bureaus naar huis gaan met de Oscar van de creatieve sector. Orange Lions sprak met één van die juryleden, Stephen Pepper, FX Supervisor van The Ambassadors en namens Nederland jurylid Film Craft.
 
What are you going to be up to at Cannes this year?
‘This will actually be my first time in Cannes. I’ve been in North America for the past 20 years so unfortunately I haven’t had the chance to go. But maybe that’s a good thing, as all impressions and experiences will be completely new to me. I’m very much looking forward to my first ever Cannes Lions, and not to mention, being a judge!’
 
How are you preparing to be a judge?
‘In a way, most of us are ‘judging’ every single day. We judge each other’s work, we judge our own work and that of our colleagues and peers. To be honest, I’m actually preparing by deliberately avoiding catching up on the most recent work. Ideally, I want to judge the work based on my first impression. The first impression is always the most exciting and powerful.’
‘Once you’ve watched a piece of work a couple of times you start analyzing and you experience it in a different way. So I’m basically preparing by making sure I will be able to judge the work with fresh eyes. In that way, I make sure that the idea will be in focus.’
‘Even though I’m a VFX Supervisor, my favourite films are not necessarily films that have great visual effects. A great idea is always the most important thing, good visual effects will be much stronger when building on a good idea.’

How does Dutch work compare to international work?
‘When it comes to visual effects, the work is a bit more toned down here (everything is bigger in the US, after all). Commercials in The Netherlands are maybe more comedic in nature than the visual effects tour-de-force’s they can be in North America. That doesn’t mean that we don’t have the talent, I think it’s more a budget related matter than anything else.’
‘The way that commercials are done doesn’t feel that different, it’s almost like an universal language.’
 
What work do you wish to see doing well at this year’s festival? Which piece of work are you backing to pick up a Lion?
‘Right now I really don’t know, I have no idea. I’ll go in and be spending my days digging into everything. I can’t wait for that. I think the work I like the most will be those that leave the biggest reaction - the work that makes me excited or makes me want to watch it multiple times.’
 

 


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