HOTSHOT: ORANGE'S TRICK CYCLIST

The opening scene of Danny Kleinman and Fallon's new ad for Orange - a blackened studio enclosed in screens, a bicycle - feels more like a behind-the-scenes clip than Orange's trademark cheery gambols.

Introduced last month through a brand ad and widespread press and poster campaign, Orange has abandoned its pretty girls and grandiose promises for a campaign whose argument 'I am the sum total of all of my relationships' is explored through a series of portraits. One such ad reveals novelist Rose Tremain as 'I am the ragged fur coat my teacher wore one cold winter morning', while another, featuring James Averdieck founder of GU puddings, credits his success to 'I am my mum who gave me a taste for chocolate'.

Danny Kleinman of Rattling Stick directed this second spot, released today, featuring cyclist Mark Beaumont, who first rode from the east to the west of Britain at just eleven-years-old and broke the world record with a round-the-world ride for charity last year. The cyclist (who, in an interview on the morning news last year, told of the friends, family and strangers who'd helped him along the way) was a natural candidate for the second Orange TV spot.

Like the portraits which comprise the rest of the campaign, the spot describes Beaumont in terms of other people, not only those close to him but people such as 'the woman who knocked me off my bike in Louisiana' he says, 'and her son who helped me fix it'.

The natural approach would have been to focus on Beaumont's journey, relayed in the way TV loves to relay the hero and his struggle against adversity - full of hardships, soft-focus horizons, rousing music - but Kleinman's direction eschews the archetypal vainglorious, God-like sportsman in favour of something more human scale. Rather than somebody we'd like to be, Beaumont is portrayed as somebody like us.

Beaumont is featured riding a bike mounted on a podium attached to a series of projectors animating four large surrounding screens with a series of episodes from his past. Beaumont's bicycle, the setup implies, like the motor of a projector, is powering projections of his thoughts and memories. The footage is impressionistic - a young boy surrounded by the cloth of his mother's dress, the camera wobbling as Beaumont describes the neighbour who took his stabilisers off. The idea is that, by revealing details, we have a sense of being allowed into somewhere quite private.

Whereas the brand ad, from director Noam Murro, tipped the balance of serious yet sentimental, Kleinman's spot is subtle, sombre, almost sad.

This sense of exposure echoes in the film's portrayal of the mechanics of filmmaking itself. By mixing old and new technology (the projections initially captured on HD projected onto screens around the figure of the cycling Beaumont are recorded live on 35mm) and recording real time, the technical aspects of filmmaking are revealed. Subtle effects - from the projection shadows that colour Beaumont, to the wires, plugs and chains which the ad makes no attempt to conceal - create a candour to the point that it feels as though all that remains hidden is the camera itself.

"We resisted a sonorous voiceover in favour of Beaumont's own slightly nasal, unprofessional read," said Fallon's Lawrence Seftel. Just as the exposed mechanics lend a sense of intimacy to the portrait, so the direction focuses its attention on a sense of honesty. "The details are proof that you've been faithful to the truth,'" said art director, David Day.

The new Orange campaign, rather than promoting a better life with 250 free minutes or offering consumers the opportunity to be more chatty, happy or connected, takes an anti-commercial approach in an industry where the credit crunch is forcing agencies to choose between a focus on discounts or brand loyalty. Some applaud the ad for its bravery in a shrinking economy, while others have questioned whether it is appropriate in a climate where concrete value often takes precedence over long-term emotional involvement with a brand.

The future, these days, is not bright. Although a welcome diversion, there's no better time for Orange to have swapped its utopic promises for a more sombre tack.

To view the Hotshot in full click here.