He’s Ruff and he’s ready

Josef Ruff calls ’em as he sees ’em. The executive producer and part owner of ReVisions Partners’ takes a look at the number of large advertising agencies based in Canada, notes that the vast majority are u.s.-owned and figures they will continue to cut down on the volume of original creative produced out of their Canadian offices. That means, and has meant for some time of course, less work for Canada’s commercial producers and, to a certain extent, less revision work.

What’s a man to do? Diversify.

While commercial revisions – including replacement product shots and voice-overs (French and English), revised audio and all required post work except online – will account for most of its projects, ReVisions is also selling itself as a facility for full productions, on a low-budget basis. The company runs a tight ship with a staff of three, including Ruff, producer Petra Burka and editor Neil Durie. Overhead costs are minimal and the shop has access to personnel from The Partners’ Film Company. Ruff says Partners’ dop George Morita shot 80% of the non-revision work with Chris Holmes behind the camera on the remaining 20%.

With half a dozen full productions in hand from 1993, ReVisions now has a new director in place, a food specialist with a video reel showing off stills of delectable palate-pleasers. The shots belong to Doug Bradshaw, a stills photographer who will serve as a ‘director/ lighting director.’ Bradshaw shot his first commercial job mid-March for Enterprise Advertising client Tim Horton, for which he has also done stills work.

The move into full productions seems a natural evolution for ReVisions, but it wasn’t a move Ruff had planned when he went to Don McLean at Partners’ five-and-a-half years ago with a proposal to launch ReVisions. At that time, Ruff had spent 20 years in the production business, working on all areas except as a dop. He had a background in agency production from dmb&b, and had owned a post house called Ruff Cut, so Ruff figured he could devise an attractive operation combining production and post to give clients one-stop efficiency.

All manner of clients

ReVisions’ reel features work from all manner of clients and agencies. Taking a Bounce spot as an example, Ruff explains how fairly simple techniques, and extensive input from a knowledgeable dop, can produce effective ads without excessive costs.

In the spot, a couple of women, in separate scenes, try unsuccessfully to rid their skirts of the infamous static cling until they’re rescued by that Bounce effect. But the way it’s posted, the women look as if they’ve both walked away and left their cling-on selves behind.

These effects are easily done, Ruff says. First, the live-action is shot so that a woman walks, say, out of a store and stops at an exact point to bend and try to smooth the static cling. Then a second sequence is shot against a black background. She stops at the same spot, bends to smooth, gets static cling relief, then straightens and walks away.

Matte disappears

In post, the black background becomes a matte which disappears and the two sequences are composited so that the woman appears to be walking away from herself. Ruff says careful planning by the director/dop (in this case Morita) allows an effective visual to be done inexpensively.

Teamwork. Like Ruff and Burka on separate business calls. Their voices bounce back and forth in an almost uncanny tandem – ‘Yeah,’ says one. ‘Yeah,’ the other. ‘Yeah,’ the first. ‘Yeah,’ the other.

Friendly approach. Experience. A practical point of view. And, as Ruff stresses, ‘we’re very flexible on price.’