Cannes Lions
THE SWEET SHOP, Bangkok / VOLKSWAGEN / 2013
Overview
Entries
Credits
Description
'Senior Rebels' features old people desperately trying to recapture the spirit of youth as they try out skateboarding, spraying graffiti, raving and a series of other activities, which are clearly beyond their physical abilities.
Execution
This was mainly a visual story so we needed to push our casting as hard as we could - older Chinese people aged at least 65 up to around 80, with a range of character faces and looks, but always looking very old. The problem I quickly noticed in the casting is, in general, the older Chinese looked after themselves so well that an 80 year old often looked like a 60 year old from my country! And if the cast look younger than say 65 years old then the idea would have struggled to be clear. We needed the audience to understand that these people had ‘left it too late’, so they needed to be quickly distinguished as old. Our young couple were cool and attractive and on-brand for the VW Beetle… they needed to have a super-casual yet confident air about them, and in contrast to our old people, their energy came easily and naturally and they do every thing with an effortless freedom.