New Perspectives : media campaign 2011/12
The 2011/2012 Earthcote ‘Change Your Perspective’ campaign makes people do a double take on what they see in the photographs used in the three-part series of magazine ads.
Earthcote has always been a brand that challenges people to reconsider how they look at things, visually and aesthetically, and this campaign takes that thought a step further.
Said Earthcote Marketing Director Simon Fraser: “In the Nineties, we asked people to really look at how they were painting their homes, to consider whether flat paint really was the only way to coat an exterior of a house. It wasn’t. People started looking at the mottled, trashed feel of Cement Paint and thought ‘hey this could actually be quite lekker on my house.’ It’s always been a brand that takes a different view to the conventional approach and many people remember our ads from a decade ago where we showcased gay marriage and cross cultural fashion at a time when that was all still a bit radical.“
The guy running with a cup of coffee looks like a guy running with coffee. Until you realise the coffee isn’t spilling out of the cup. Because actually, he’s lying down.
“The levitating guy was interesting to do,” says art director Penny Waterkeyn. “The stylist had to get the folds of pants and t-shirt looking just right, to make the weird perspective work. It’s not easy to keep your legs endlessly crossed like that. He was an excellent model, and very patient – likewise with the other two. Our coffee guy had to be very patient with that cup of coffee in his hand. Incidentally, all he was holding was a cup. We dropped the coffee in in post production, with Photoshop.”
The girl who is jumping away from the mouse is of course also lying down. A bit of clever hair and costume manipulation helps to create the illusion that she’s leaping away from the tiny mouse. In fact, it’s not a mouse, but a small rat. And another interesting fact: the law requires that animals be properly handled on shoots, so the rat performer had a dedicated handler looking out for him at all times during the shoot.
The shots were taken by photographer Antonia Steyn, who was hoisted up onto a five metre high scaffolding, so as to be able to shoot directly overhead at the perfect distance from each subject.