Trevor Cornish, this year’s recipient of the First Cut Award, has only just hit the directing scene with less than two years experience and has never worked on a spot with a budget over $30,000. Proof positive that directors do not necessarily need big budgets to demonstrate their skill.

‘Far and away Trevor’s biggest strength is a sense of knowing what’s funny. He’s good at picking up the strengths and weaknesses [of a spot] when he’s on a shoot or looking at a script,’ says Dan Scherk, creative director at Vancouver-based Bryant Fulton & Shee.

Scherk was impressed by Cornish’s music video work and gave the young director the opportunity to direct ‘Instinct’ and ‘Train,’ two of the three 2001 Vancouver International Film Festival trailers. Cornish gained Scherk’s trust working with him on the 2001 campaign, and in 2002 was able to work more collaboratively with Scherk on the writing and creative development of this year’s trailers, ‘Henchmen,’ ‘Bomb Squad’ and ‘Stalled Car.’ Twenty-seven-year-old Cornish has also directed a spot for B.C. Children’s Hospital.

‘[Cornish] comes across as wanting to be just a member of the creative team as opposed to trying to take over,’ says Scherk. ‘He is open and honest in an informal, casual way and I think that will do well for him in his directing career.’

The high-profile, pro-bono festival spots offered Cornish an opportunity to work with strong concepts and creatives on a project where the production values were very high as a result of the tremendous amount of in-kind and volunteer support, a rare opportunity for a young director.

In order to direct the VIFF spots, Cornish had to find a production house that was willing and able to fund the hard costs, which totaled about $15,000. He hooked up with Jason Hunt’s Vancouver house Rogue Artists, which in partnership with Head Gear, also based in Vancouver, was able to accommodate.

Conservative estimates for the actual budget of the 2002 campaign, including in-kind and volunteer support, would be between $350,000 and $400,000, assuming one spot was shot each day at between $125,000 and $130,000 per day.

Cornish’s work for VIFF 2001 was extremely well received, especially ‘Instinct,’ which parodies the interrogation scene in Basic Instinct, except the woman being interrogated is fully veiled so when she uncrosses her legs under the full weight of her burqua, it doesn’t quite have the same effect as the Sharon Stone version.

‘Instinct’ received a slew of awards including a Gold at the Bessies; two Merits at the Lotus Awards for best single and best campaign; best TV single at the BCAB Awards; and was a finalist for the best cinema award at the 2002 Cannes International Advertising Festival.

Jane MacDonald, director, communications and corporate affairs for VIFF, who overseas the trailers each year, says, ‘The festival is kind of famous for its trailers, so whoever is going to direct them has a bit of a hard act to follow.’ But she is impressed with Cornish’s work and the potential it exhibits.

‘His work was sophisticated and the timing was excellent. I think he’s got a great career ahead of him in filmmaking,’ she says. ‘If he’s coming out of the gate doing this quality of work at such a young age, imagine what can we expect from him in the future.’

Cornish, who comes from an agency background, spent seven years as a producer on music videos and commercials, including time at BFS, before he began to crave a more creative outlet and decided to have a go at directing.

Cornish began directing for Toronto-based Blink Pictures, where he gained experience directing music videos including one for Soul Members, which won a MuchMusic Video Award last year. He is currently repped by Blink for video work and by Rogue Artists commercially.