Ben Gregor Grins and Polar Bears it for Halls

Director Ben Gregor recently helmed this spot for Halls which emphasises their minty cool freshness by showing the main character exhale an aurora of polar bears (I know, cool collective noun, right? We had to look it up). Created by Wieden + Kennedy London the spot is a wonderfully weird way of getting the message across.

Below, Gregor explains why he took the job, how he animated the bears and why physical effects are always fun. You can also see a test film of the slo-mo polar bear in the clip below and a selection of behind the scenes images at the bottom of the page.

What was the brief you received from the agency and what were you initial thoughts on how to approach it?

Some agencies are so good that simply their letter head gets me excited. I just saw W+K and said ‘yes’. Then I read it and thought, ‘damn this has lots of post’. So I had to figure that out.

The finished spot is brilliantly odd; was that oddness there when you first saw the script?

We never felt it was that odd, as we got into the bears as characters. They are just like kids on a school break, rushing out and being called back in too soon. I have genuine affection for them. As do Paul, Tim, Charlie and Ed who were the creatives.

Your previous work for brands like Saxx and Foster Farms also features some odd but very funny moments; what attracts you to that sort of work?

I think any parent loves coming up with random stuff that confuses and then delights their kids. The "wait.... what?" gap is a fun one to open up in people's minds. These films are that, basically.

You worked with a mixture of physical and computer generated effects for this; was that always the plan and why did you think that was the best way to approach it?

There's a kind of eager ineptitude about these bears. It's sort of spectacular, but also sort of like a nativity play - they slap into the window, they get things wrong. They had to exist to be able to do that.

It's the difference between briefing something in at a post house and just creating it, playing and riffing with the bears themselves. The stunt men were brilliant. It was a marvellously un-macho job for them and they loved it.

We built a 30-foot windscreen out of scaffolding and mats and they threw themselves down it. We hooked them up to special tumbling rigs that threw them around. We also shot a lot of crazy troline dismounts in those massive suits. 

How important was the casting of the main character and how hard was it to find him?

We actually had to find him three times as we had three different casts for different markets. Nigeria had its own cast and that commercial is going to be fantastic.

What was the most challenging part of the process?

One evening the creatives and I decided to bomb the hills of Cs Bay on a skateboard. A resident objected to the noise and offered to shoot us. That would have made the commercial harder to film. 

What are you working on next?

A post-heavy comedy spot for Paul Brazier and co at AMV that's looking really good. And a music video with kids in South Central LA.