New Directors: Dorian Lebherz and Daniel Titz

In Dear Brother, a deeply emotional Johnnie Walker spec spot, the special bond between siblings is explored as two brothers roam the Scottish Highlands. As the story unfolds, through scenic shots accompanied by a stirring, poetic voiceover, the tale reveals the brothers’ deep connection and, as they reach the cliffs of the Isle of Skye, it comes to a conclusion with a heartbreaking twist as one brother vanishes and the other scatters his ashes to the wind and sea.

The directing duo behind the ad, Dorian Lebherz and Daniel Titz, met on the first day of their course at renowned German film school, Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, and hit it off through their love of visual storytelling. Listening to them talk about their film, which has notched up over three and a half million YouTube views at the time of going to press, you’d think they’d been doing this for decades.

“Our goal was to tell a story that creates deep emotions within a short period of time” say the pair. “We tried to add small visual clues that create the feeling that there’s something wrong. That’s why the dead brother’s glass is broken and the framing of the camera is always focussed on the living brother and sometimes loses the other out of frame. We love including details that nobody might ever see.”

The directors have had little experience of making films for agencies and clients but developed the idea themselves and set about researching a location. “Shooting outside of Germany was something we both wanted to explore and since neither of us had ever been to Scotland, doing it there seemed like an amazing opportunity to get to know this beautiful country,” they say. “We started by researching brands that originated in Scotland and especially ones we associated with the unique landscape. We decided to go with Johnnie Walker because we liked their ‘Keep Walking’ line very much.”

Despite wanting to eventually create longer form work, Lebherz and Titz are excited about doing more commercials and are confident they can bring a bold approach to the advertising process. “When you do a spec spot there is no client demanding you show the product more often,” muse the pair. “We are still learning in many ways but we hope we can convince clients to take their audience more seriously. There is no need to show the product in every single shot if it is woven skilfully into the story and plays a key role rather than gaining importance from repetition. We can’t wait to go and show them what you can do when you are brave enough.”

As for the success of their spec spot, they say it’s come as a welcome surprise: “Up to now, we thought a film had to be funny and eccentric to make some noise. We are delighted that people seem to appreciate a good story and an honest and emotional film like Dear Brother. For us, this was the most surprising thing in times when you have to compete against fail videos and funny cats.”