On a chilly but beautiful day in the Queen’s Quay/Lakeshore area of Toronto, Apple Box Productions director Randy Diplock asks for the attention of the crew gathered, setting up for a shot of a makeshift 747 cockpit.

‘Everybody try to look like you’re having a good time – and pretend we are on time and on budget,’ he calls. ‘Playback is here.’

This is what Diplock does best. He creates a relaxed atmosphere by joking around and having fun on set. His attitude and easygoing demeanor are part of the reason he has become such a popular director. On this day, he is at the helm of a Labatt Blue Light spot, heralding the arrival of the ‘Freedom Friday’ campaign Labatt will be championing throughout the summer.

‘I think humor is so underrated,’ says Diplock of his comedic efforts to loosen up everyone on set. For example, he announces over his megaphone that an individual’s heroin has finally arrived. He is kidding, naturally, but his little improvised rant does the trick. The crew immediately starts laughing and then eases into a day of hard work with a little fun mixed in.

‘Just little stuff like that loosens you up,’ says the director. ‘Most of us, most creative people anyway, are frustrated comedians.’

The Blue Light spot, being shot by dop Simon Mestel, originates in the Toronto offices of Ammirati Puris Lintas. The creative team is comprised of art director Wain Choi and copywriter Neil McOstrich, with creative director Doug Robinson. Choi is on set, while McOstrich is not, as he recently departed apl for the creative director’s office at Palmer Jarvis ddb.

The focus of the ad is a team of young people who are carrying around a wooden deck with a chair fastened to it. They are trying to get people to cut out of work in favor of having fun on a patio, where they can indulge in a cold Blue Light and enjoy the summer properly.

‘The concept is basically we will transport you from structure to freedom outside and the best patio party all summer,’ says Labatt’s director of marketing Steve Silverstone. ‘We’ll be first airing the ad on the Victoria Day long weekend.’

Silverstone says the relationship between Labatt and apl has been very strong for years. ‘I think we bridge the typical agency/client relationship based on a partnership that is focused on a mutual understanding and looking out for each other’s businesses,’ says Silverstone. ‘It is a collaboration that takes place and it is a deep understanding of what drives the other’s business.’

Diplock and Mestel are positioned high above the crew on a crane shooting downward as the five or so young people they’ve hired to portray the Freedom Friday crew run back and forth holding the apparently heavy wooden deck. Their leader is running ahead of them brandishing a megaphone and screaming, ‘Hit the deck!’

The next shot involves the makeshift cockpit. Seated in the cockpit are two very authentic-looking pilots, one of whom (a fireman by day) is looking down, presumably at the freedom fighters, considering his options.

‘We’ve got stock footage of a 747 so it will appear as though these people are chasing under the plane trying to get the pilot to come down and join them,’ says Diplock. Tomorrow, Diplock and the crew will be shooting an interior scene where office workers will be leaping out of windows to be a part of Freedom Fridays.

‘These people are bored out of their minds and this one guy hears somebody yell ‘Hit the deck!’ and he gets up, leaves, goes over to the window and jumps out,’ explains the director. ‘When it airs it is going to look kind of interesting, but he is only really jumping a foot, so we have to stay really low. Because of a problem we have with the location we have to shoot it that way. It looks like he is going to jump out of one window, but the real window is on the whole other side of the building. There is going to be some flopping of film and a lot technology is going to make it all work together as one. It’s problem solving and it has been fun so far.’

The spot ends with a patio party scene where the deck being carried around by the Blue squad has fit nicely into a larger patio. Everyone is having a good time on film, but keep in mind when viewing, this was actually the first scene shot.

Michael Metcalf served as Diplock’s assistant director on the shoot, and Marc Paille headed up art direction for Apple Box. Clare ‘Cash’ Cashman executive produced and Mick Griffin will cut the spot at Flashcut.