New Director: Dan DiFelice

After winning Gold and Silver Screen awards at the CFP-E/shots Young Director Award in Cannes this year for, respectively, his World Surf League spot, Chaos Theory, and beautiful short film, Carved In Mayhem, plus being highlighted at the 2016 Saatchi & Saatchi New Director Showcase for the latter, this spot for Jordan Brand from American director Dan DiFelice caps off a stellar year for the 29-year-old, who started his career working in motion graphics and visual effects before making the leap to directing.

DiFelice plied his VFX trade at shops including The Mill and Framestore which, he says, “allowed me the opportunity to gain an understanding of the inner workings of the directing process”. He never set out to be a director but the route to being one “unfolded” and he pursued projects which he felt connected to. One such connection was to this Jordan Brand spot, Night Shift, promoting the Jordan Breakfast Club initiative. “When I first read through the script [from Wieden+Kennedy New York], I knew immediately that I had to throw everything into this one to try and land the job,” says DiFelice.

“It was such a unique perspective on unveiling Jordan Training as well as the Jordan Breakfast Club, and I needed to be part of the team that would do it.”
The spot, shot through Pulse Films US, follows NFL player Dez Bryant as he winds his way to an early morning training session, along the way relaying his recent dream about being Michael Jordan. Night Shift is a stylish, monochrome film – like Carved In Mayhem – which transitions into muted colour when Bryant reaches his destination and meets with fellow athletes, basketballer Victor Oladipo and boxer Andre Ward.

Working with pro-athletes can often make for a challenging shoot due to their time constraints, but DiFelice also had to factor in a two-week turnaround from the time he received the boards, plus a holiday weekend within that two-week period.

It was, DiFelice confesses, extremely difficult. “We were aware of [the holiday] from the start and I knew that everything would pretty much shut down,” he says. “However, hearing about it and experiencing it were two very different scenarios. I underestimated how much things would come to a halt two and three days before production and found it extremely difficult to maintain momentum, which is key with such a short pre-pro window.”

Despite the difficulties, or maybe because of them, DiFelice also found the shoot very rewarding. “Being aware that this could sound trite, I found that the most rewarding part of the project was just the overall experience,” DiFelice says. “I was fortunate enough to work with an extremely welcoming client and agency [and was] supported by an incredible team of producers and crew. I really love walking away with a great spot when I can, but walking away with a happy client and agency along with a great experience is such a tremendous win.”

DiFelice, who recently signed to Pulse Films UK for representation, says that he’s now working on some personal projects but also marrying those with commercial work, and has recently wrapped on a couple of Reebok spots for the US market. So, far from Night Shift capping off a great year, it seems like it’s simply a mid-way point for this talented director.