Film Craft > Production

THE CREATURE

LEO BURNETT, Dubai / HOME CENTRE / 2024

Awards:

Bronze Dubai Lynx
CampaignCampaign(opens in a new tab)
Film
Demo Film

Overview

Credits

Overview

Why is this work relevant for Film Craft?

This film involves the creation of an original track for Home Centre narrative story for Father's Day.

We didn't buy it nor get it off a library.

It's a moving song that is written for the film's topic, its scenes and adds meaning to the film.

And hence, it fits the category of original music.

Please note that the Jurors for Dubai Lynx will be coming from outside the region and may not be aware of the specific cultural nuances of your work.

15% of homes in the Middle East are homes that are of mixed families, owing to remarriages.

But, women and men marrying again is seen as a taboo - both cultural and societal.

Not many talk about it, owing to social and cultural prejudices.

And no brand has ever delved into it.

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

The film tells the story of a child who goes through the stages of fear, disgust, angst, and confusion against an evil creature who is in his home, intruding into his life, who is going to rob him of his mother’s love, the warmth of his home, and everything that he holds dear.

But through the course of the film, we see that the child’s views about that creature changes over a period of months, and he finally accepts the creature - his stepdad.

The film ends with a message - stepdads are the dads who step up.

We made the Creature look like a living breathing giant; scary to kids.

We kept the creature faceless on purpose to represent the kids’ perception of stepdads.

The entire suit of the Creature was created locally. Details like his hair, head, and shoulder movements were made to look as natural as possible.

Background:

15% of homes in the Middle East are homes with divorced parents.

But remarriage remains a cultural taboo for both women and men alike.

For Home Centre, a leading home and furniture retailer,
we wanted to show that step dads who step up, are the ones who make up broken homes.


While studying children's drawings from how they saw their stepdads, when they first met them, we saw many drawings of monsters, creatures, aliens and otherworldly nearly grotesque figures.

To share our pov in support of remarriages in the Middle East and to capture attention, we chose to show step dads as the otherworldly creatures most children first saw them as.


Tell the jury about the creation of the original music track.

An original soundtrack, "The lighthouse and the boat", was created for this film.

The song is told through the metaphor of a lighthouse and a boat, encompassing the relationship between two people (a stepfather and a son) two worlds apart, trying to fill a missing gap in their life.

A song of pain, anxiety, angst, the need for belonging, for connection and love, that we all feel in any deep life-long relationships we share with someone else.

In life, both stepfathers and sons, are the lighthouses to each other and the boats to each other, finding their way to each other and finding purpose in each other, amidst the stormy tides and the endless darkness of the sea.

We then made the Creature look like a living breathing giant who was always around the kid inside his home. And kept the creature faceless on purpose to represent the kids’ perception.

More Entries from LEO BURNETT

24 items

Grand Prix Cannes Lions
THE MISSING CHAPTER

Good Health and Well-being

THE MISSING CHAPTER

PROCTER & GAMBLE, LEO BURNETT

(opens in a new tab)