The Directors: Dave Maruchniak

Dave is a hopeless enthusiast from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Currently a director at 1stAveMachine, his path has been a fun one to walk, going through all sorts of creative fields including being a Graphic Designer, an Editor, an Art Director, a Production Designer, a Motion Graphics Animator, a VJ, an occasional DJ, a self-taught Web Designer, a retired Visual Artist, an amateur Musician and a frustrated Basketball Player. As the multitasker, overachiever, obsessive compulsive dreamer that he is, you can usually find him whimpering, gasping and/or sighing, sleeplessly bent over his laptop.

His career as a director began making live-action music videos for friends (both lo-fi and more ambitious ones), always trying to add some sort of post-production visual magic to the mix, and he has fallen in love with the animation process ever since he started working in advertising.

Name: Dave Maruchniak

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Repped by/in: 1stAveMachine

Awards: 2021 SHOOT New Directors Showcase

LBB> What elements of a script sets one apart from the other and what sort of scripts get you excited to shoot them?

Dave> At the beginning of a project, it’s very important for me to understand the main goal, be it the feeling we want to convey or the story we want to tell, regardless of how we eventually decide to tell it. Getting this right is something that I try to encourage from the start. Hopefully it could be summarised in just one sentence: “We want to say this, and this is the way we envision ourselves saying it”. A short, clear concept that underlies and justifies the entire narrative. 

If it is not obvious in the first brief/script from the Agency or Client, I do my best to set up a conversation where we all agree on what this driving force could be, as it will eventually help put everyone on the same page.

Having a strong concept as a cornerstone, you can find room to make it grow, to propose your own way to arrive at that goal. You have a sort of compass of what ideas could work and what ideas should be discarded, just by asking yourself if they are truly serviceable to that initial concept.

Oftentimes, those parts of a script where I can’t imagine how I’m gonna tell it on a first read, are the ones that end up being the most creative in the final product. That’s why I emphasise that it’s better to understand what the concept is, what feeling you aim to convey behind a script, and then give a little room to find the best way to represent it, instead of having a very detailed description of what exactly has to happen where, resulting in a script that is more limiting than helpful.

LBB> How do you approach creating a treatment for a spot?

Dave> After the first couple of readings of the brief/script, I quickly write down a list of all the ideas and images that pop up in my head, and I often find myself drawing lots of tiny ugly sketches in order not to lose that magic that happens on that first impression. Maybe I draw some particular scenes where I can already imagine the framing, or some transitions that I can already envision working for this particular project. These rough drawings also help me to quickly sketch options, alternatives, “what if” scenarios, and trigger questions about the elements involved in the narrative and its surroundings.

Then, after that first outburst of innocent sketching, I gather tons and tons of references (oftentimes many more than actually needed), to see what things may have already been done before, or even to understand if some of my first ideas could actually be achieved. In the combination of these references + sketches, I start to visualise the overall mood, and keep working on top of these until it feels like a good representation of what I initially saw in my head.

Having worked as an editor for many years, I think a lot about the timing and the storytelling from the beginning of a project, so it’s not unusual for me to add a first draft of a possible storyboard in my treatments, too.

I enjoy building treatments a lot. I love that “white canvas” moment when you start to shape the tone and ponder the possibilities about what the end result could be. The journey of the search; it’s one of the few moments during a production where you can allow yourself the freedom to play with new ideas, to consider options and alternatives, and even maybe propose something new that could change the course of what the film could be. The beginning of a new project is always exciting.

LBB> If the script is for a brand that you're not familiar with/don’t have a big affinity with or a market you're new to, how important is it for you to do research and understand that strategic and contextual side of the ad? If it’s important to you, how do you do it?

Dave> I’m a Google nerd. I can’t stand not-knowing about something. My fellow directors call me “the reference kid” as I always have a reference in my mind for anything. So one of the first things I always do is google the brand to understand its universe.

I like watching previous campaigns of the client. In a quick search you can usually find how high the bar is set in terms of production value and visual storytelling. You can see if there is room for improvement in terms of how they communicate, or even if you have to amp up your game to be on par with what their goals and ideas already are.

And as a vegetarian-going-vegan, I wouldn’t work with any brand which I find out harms animals in any way. So doing this research to understand the values behind the brand is very important for me in many ways.

LBB> For you, what is the most important working relationship for a director to have with another person in making an ad? And why?

Dave> This one is tricky. I enjoy building teams and collaborating with other people, and I love developing relationships with every player in the roster, really.

If we’re talking about the relationship with the Agency, I believe it’s super important to feel a connection from the start. I love it when a kick-off call derives from talking about the project to suddenly discussing what movies we like or what our favourite music is... whenever you can feel you’re riding the same vibe, that’s definitely a plus for me. Besides understanding the goals and the motivations, also understanding the person(s) behind the ideas.

Regarding the team internally, even though the whole roster is important for me, there are key specific roles/moments where I feel everything is being set up for success or disaster:

1. Developing a first draft of the calendar + stages of the production with the producers right at the beginning. It’s really important for me that we all understand from the start what tasks to prioritise and how it all is going to fit inside the time we’re given. 

2. Drawing the storyboard. Trusting in an artist that understands your view and your style and can translate framing, angles, transitions and ideas into a simple drawing is fundamental. Most often than not the final film resembles the first storyboard a lot, so nailing it in the beginning is very important for me.

3. Sitting in the editing room with the editor to build the first draft of the spot. As a former editor myself, I put a lot of effort into thinking how the whole thing is going to flow. Most of the time I end up editing the spots myself, or at least have a huge part in building the first boardmatics and/or the first draft of the offline.

LBB> What type of work are you most passionate about - is there a particular genre or subject matter or style you are most drawn to?

Dave> There’s this word I use a lot in Spanish, but I don’t see it often used in English: “oneiric”. I love it when a script has a moment where we can get away from reality for a while. Be it animation or live action. I enjoy having the opportunity to convey feelings or emotions in an abstract, surreal way. Visual metaphors are precious to me.

I enjoy it a lot when I find myself challenged by an idea: in the animated short editorial for TheNewYorker, for example, we had to touch on a very sensitive, serious topic, told only by abstract shapes. It was a real challenge to nail the right tone, and the exploration took us to very interesting places. We experimented with 2D, 3D, and procedural animation, and ended up using a combination of all those to achieve what we were envisioning.

In general, I guess what tips the scale for me is whenever I see potential for doing something unique, visually or narratively. Or at least it’s nice when you catch a feeling that nobody is going to get scared if something a bit crazy is proposed in the treatment.

LBB> What misconception about you or your work do you most often encounter and why is it wrong?

Dave> People outside this medium often tend to believe that the director is the person that did everything, But Spielberg wasn’t the guy building the T-Rex animatronic with his bare hands...

Most audio visual endeavours are a huge collective task. I struggle sometimes to receive the whole credit for a film, when I know how many people spent their precious time and put their passion at the service of the piece as much as me. I love being the leader of a team, I build new friendships with every project I direct, and I admire most of the artists with whom I work. So I try my best to give the proper credit to each one of them every time I can. 

This is also why I love to watch Behind The Scenes of my favourite movies and commercials. Find out how big the team was, what challenges they encountered, who did what (who was the DOP on this spot? Who made that awesome scale model? etc.). It’s nice not to forget how much time and effort it takes to do what we do. I appreciate every single project that I am trusted to lead.

LBB> Have you ever worked with a cost consultant and if so how have your experiences been?

Dave> To be honest, I’m not 100% sure what a “cost consultant” is. Even after googling it. Perhaps we call it a different thing around here? What I do know is that I’ve had the pleasure to work with several talented Producers and EPs, and I love going through that pre-production stage where we lay out the initial plan and refine the calendar to make sure everything goes smoothly afterwards during the production and post-production stages. I’m a sucker for well-thought-out, detailed planning!

LBB> What’s the craziest problem you’ve come across in the course of a production – and how did you solve it

Dave> I wouldn’t call it a problem per se, but there was this time where I had a crazy live-action shooting of several dogs with costumes (astronauts, mimes, suit-and-ties, wigs, hats and whatnot...) and it was all in front of a green screen (!). Oh, and it was also one of my first commercial jobs as a director. You can already imagine it was all very fun, but anxiety inducing. 

I love animals with all my heart and it was an amazing experience, but it’s really hard to make them stay still! We had this scene where they had to be seated at a table, and of course it was a nightmare to achieve. They kept taking their hats off, licking themselves, playing with each other, climbing on top of the table... It was a funny mess of a shooting day.

It was not a huge production (the end result was several short vertical videos for social media), but each one had a different setting and a different costume, so they were all different kinds of tiny headaches.

The editing and post was a real challenge, too. Rotoscoping those moving dogs and finding the takes with the right “acting” was very amusing but stressful. I have fond memories of those late night 2am sessions sitting in the studio with my post-producers.

I hope another crazy script like that arrives in my hands someday soon!

LBB> How do you strike the balance between being open/collaborative with the agency and brand client while also protecting the idea?

Dave> Oftentimes the idea actually comes together with the first script. I’m just there to try and make it the best version of it that it can be. This is something that is good to have in mind between both sides from the beginning. I get frustrated when it becomes an ego fight (sometimes it happens!). But we don’t have to forget we are working together... whenever I propose something new or different, it’s in service of trying to tell an improved version of that same story. It isn’t me trying to force a different idea into the mix just because I like it. Granted, some directors may have their particular caprices and quirks, which is not a bad thing at all, but at least in my case the ideas that I bring to the table are always triggered by the script, so they are specific for that project. I do my best to get this point across clearly, as I don’t reuse ideas and even work hard to try to never repeat myself.

I think the best results I had were the ones where the whole team understood this and we all kept our minds open and collaborated together to achieve a common goal.

LBB> What are your thoughts on opening up the production world to a more diverse pool of talent? Are you open to mentoring and apprenticeships on set?

Dave> I think diversity is key. It’s great to add the perspective of someone else who comes from a different background and embrace how they respond to what you’re doing. And I don’t mean only genre or racial diversity, but also maybe you show your work to an architect, or a chef, or a musician, or whatever other creative of any kind, and they see things that you don’t. So that external view opens your mind to new possibilities. New ideas emerge from those paths crossing.

I do have to say I think it’s a bit worrisome how brands overuse “diversity” as a marketing strategy nowadays. Of course it’s fundamental to add points of view that are different from your own, challenge one’s ingrained beliefs, as well as it’s important to see everyone represented on the screen. 100%. But when brands try to force the concept of diversity into a campaign without being supported by real actions and honest intentions, everyone can immediately call bullshit on that, which ends up being detrimental to the whole purpose.

Regarding mentoring, I myself was for several years working as an editor for other directors, and I learnt almost everything I know by watching them work, both in small productions as well as larger ones. I had my fair share of chances of hanging around other people’s sets without an actual role in the production. As long as you’re clearly aware about not becoming a hassle or a focus of distraction for anybody, I think it’s awesome to be able to absorb knowledge by watching other people do their job first hand. Especially when you are starting out in a career.

I consider myself a sponge when it comes to learning, most of the things I know I’ve learnt in a subconscious way. I see something that catches my attention or triggers my curiosity and I immediately assimilate it. I believe it’s a very intuitive way of growing, so I would encourage anyone who is learning anything to find a way to get closer to the actual job as soon as they can. I once read that Spielberg used to sneak into Hitchcock’s movie sets when he was young, and if true, I think that’s amazing. Of course reading, watching, and understanding theory, is all very important, but without the experience of practice, growth is much slower. I will always be open to welcome the enthusiasm of someone who is just starting and is eager to learn.

LBB> How do you feel the pandemic is going to influence the way you work into the longer term? Have you picked up new habits that you feel will stick around for a long time? 

Dave> I think it’s harder for me to go out of my house now, haha. Even though I hope Zoom meetings do not stick around for that long of a time, I do have to appreciate the fact that now it seems easier for everyone to work regardless of where they are based geographically. For a boy like me living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, it’s really important to have the possibility to work with people from all around the world, especially Agencies and Clients, but also artists with whom you can team up with. The market has expanded in that way... the pool of potential collaborators is bigger than ever, and that’s awesome.

I also hope we can finally normalise working in our pyjamas haha... jokes aside, the pandemic opened my eyes regarding self-care. I feel like I’m always on the verge of burnout, and during these times where we were forced to stay inside longer and grow our relationships with ourselves, I learnt to try to save some time for myself. When you love your job and are passionate about what you do, it’s easy to work more hours than actually needed, to stay up late or disregard the benefits of quality sleeping altogether. And last year I started actively seeking moments of peace, fighting hard against feeling guilty for it. I try to play my guitar at least a little everyday, draw for fun, play some basketball... and recently I discovered transcendental meditation and I’m pleasantly surprised by how good it is for me.

Clearing your head from time to time also helps you be sharper, more focused and work better. I’m doing my best to remember that.

LBB> Your work is now presented in so many different formats - to what extent do you keep each in mind while you're working (and, equally, to what degree is it possible to do so)? 

Dave> I love this question. It’s finally time that we acknowledge the elephant in the room of the multiple formats situations and all the difficulties that it creates for the production. I can’t wait for the day when a script comes my way and it says: this is the idea for the horizontal 16:9 format, and this is the other idea for the 9:16 vertical format. Taking advantage of each platform instead of forcing a one-for-all approach.

I, for one, love working for the vertical format. I really do. I think there’s still a lot of room for finding different ways of storytelling inside a smartphone or a tablet. But it’s really hard to make the point across to agencies and clients that you can’t actually frame for both horizontal and vertical at the same time and expect the end result to be top notch. In those situations something’s gotta give, and then it becomes frustrating for everyone. From the client who feels it isn’t quite working, to the DOP who is conditioned to frame the scene a certain way (hint: not the best way), to the editor who has to come up with all the different variations of the same film...

If we all want the final piece to be the best it can be, we have to take into account the device in which it will be presented, and make good use of it, instead of getting constrained by it.

LBB> What’s your relationship with new technology and, if at all, how do you incorporate future-facing tech into your work?

Dave> As I mentioned earlier, I’m a believer that new formats open the possibilities for new ways of telling stories, and reshape the way we work, and the way we think about what we do. Whenever I do something, I can’t avoid thinking about the device where the public is going to experience it and work towards giving the best possible experience specifically crafted for it.

VR, for example, is a format that I would like to someday experiment with. Fellow director Nico Cassavechia did an amazing job with his short film Battlescar. Everyone interested in this medium should check it out whenever they have the chance. And I’ve always had a loving relationship with videogames, so interactive storytelling is something that sounds exciting for me too.

Gotta admit I’m kinda curious (scared?) about this possible near future when the virtual world becomes as important as the physical one. Can’t wait to see how it unfolds, and hopefully be a part of it in some way, even though I will forever need that tangible analogue feeling of being in the same room with other people. I thrive when I interact with people in the real world. My body language, my tone of voice, the way I move on set, the way I give out directions to the crew... I don’t want to and hope we don’t lose that, but I'm hopeful there could be a way to incorporate the best of both worlds.

Lastly, I would love to experience Virtual Production one day... to work with real-time led screens instead of green screens sounds amazing. It’s an idea that I had in my head for almost 10 years and once I saw it in The Mandalorian it was as if someone else was fulfilling my long time dream. So there's another aspect of new technology that gets me really excited for our everyday job.

Oh, and also, please please let’s finally train AI to rotoscope for us, because that work is inhumane. We are losing valuable post-production talent everyday that could be doing greater things than that tiresome mechanic awful task. Haha!

LBB> Which pieces of work do you feel really show off what you do best – and why? 

Dave> Producers at 1stAve often call me the “swiss army knife” director, and I truly love that they see me that way, because I fight hard not to get locked into a specific style. I reckon not all of my fellow directors agree with this approach, and sometimes I find myself being encouraged to “find my style”, but I see my eclecticism (and my capacity to jump from one style to another) as a real strength, at least in the advertising industry.

During all these years, I had the luck to experience in flesh very different roles, from editor to art director, from graphic designer to comp. So I feel I gained the professional wisdom to know exactly what I want from every player in the team. When you’ve been there and done that, it’s usually easier to communicate your needs to each member of the team in a way that is not abstract to them, and have a real bird’s-eye view of what problems could arise during the production, or which link of the chain should be strengthened at any given moment. Being a director was the natural progression of my multitasking personality, and I see my multiplicity of skills as a superpower.

My fellow directors often call me “the reference kid” too, because they know I’m always on the lookout for the latest trends and trying to be aware of everything that’s happening in our audio visual surroundings... that’s why I usually understand pretty clearly what we’re aiming for whenever an agency/client comes to me with a script/brief/idea. Even though they may not have a clear reference or even sometimes are not quite sure of the end result they’re looking for, I can immediately tell where it lands inside the current audio visual zeitgeist.

This is also very useful for me because that’s how I sometimes end up with something visually different just by force of avoiding doing the same that everybody else is doing. I think that’s what I like the most about the videos I’m sharing here.

THE NEW YORKER

In the NewYorker, the initial idea was to bring to life the dots from the halftone pattern usually found in black&white printed pictures. But we took that starting point, and came up 

with a whole visual landscape influenced by that idea, strong enough to honour the subject matter, while at the same time conveying this metaphor of each dot representing a victim in a more serious tone.

The end result was very different from the first concepts presented by the Agency, but at the same time we respected the script and the assignment and built on top of it, so I’m very happy with the final piece.

MORGAN STANLEY

Something similar happened with MorganStanley IQ, where we knew from the beginning we had to build our animation from a single line, but we managed to find a style of our own, instead of doing what was initially obvious. We respected the script and included the brand’s colour palette, but luckily were given the freedom necessary to propose layouts and transitions that carried the narrative forward, always building on top of the initial premise/concept proposed by the Agency.

I was pleasantly surprised to see this one making the rounds on the internet. It got a lot of love and attention thanks to Ben Marriott featuring it in his “Best Motion Design” series on YouTube, and being featured on the cover of Motion Graphics on Behance. It was also praised by some Vimeo staff but for whatever reason didn’t make it to the Staff Picks (I know I will get my precious badge sooner or later!)

EUI — EYES GO

In the first music video I directed for EUI entitled ‘Eyes Go’, the initial idea was just to register a live performance, but in searching for a different way to do it, we ended up building a whole installation controlled in real time and with almost no post production except for some colour correction. Having been a touring VJ with several bands in my younger years, I treated myself playing with led screens in this one. To this day I kinda regret not having made this a single-take, but at that moment we decided it was better to have a bit of a montage, so I embrace that.

EUI — A.I.

During the last couple of months I found myself trying to reconnect with the DIY artist in me. I had the pleasure to partner with my friend Max Zas, who was living in France at the moment, and together came up with an abstract animated music video for EUI entitled ‘AI’, with the aim to do something that was lo-fi but sophisticated, audiorrhytmical but freeform. It’s an experimental, geometric, black & white, 5:30min madness.

It was a fully self-financed DIY endeavour with a tiny team of just three people, and it’s that exact context that gave us a level of freedom and joy that I haven’t had in a while. It was a very fun project without any real limitation. It kinda felt like “back to the roots” in a way.

This one got selected to be premiered at the Latin American Short Film Competition of BitBang International Animation Festival here in Buenos Aires, so it was kind of the highlight of the year for me.