Photographer/director Craig Cutler and creative director Bill Oberlander were at the Apple store in Soho last night to discuss “The Creative Collaboration,” an APA Image Makers event that drew a full house. The two men—longtime friends and occasional collaborators—chose “Simple Is Hard” as their theme. Bill noted that it was appropriate that Apple was hosting the presentation because they are legendary for making simple look simple. “But,” Bill said, “simple is hard.”
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Photographer/director Craig Cutler (left) and creative director Bill Oberlander at their APA Image Makers series presentation, “The Creative Collaboration,” at the Apple store in Soho last night.
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Craig and Bill took turns discussing 10 examples of projects that required them to distill a concept to its simplest, most precise expression. Bill showed work he had done for Target, Schwinn, Intel, and the Ad Council. Craig showed a selection of work from his CC52 project, noting that in many cases, commercial work comes to him as a result of his personal projects. One of the motion pieces he showed was “White Vase,” for which he shot the titular vase in a simple white diorama. “The idea was to take something simple and quiet and make it complete chaos,” Craig explained.
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He also showed his “Motion Portraits,” also from CC52. The concept here was “to take something that would be on the page but make it move.”
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One of our favorite pieces that Craig showed was a commercial he directed for the Reliant energy company that illustrates an abstract idea: the way their cap-and-save plan works. Craig’s challenge was to show that a customer’s bill would never be higher than a set price but could go as low as market rates go. He directed a spot centering on the way a paddle-ball toy functions. It’s quite beautiful and demonstrates that regardless what medium Craig’s working in, it’s his way of thinking that sets him apart. “I never look at things as what they really are,” he said.
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