Last December, six weeks after having an initial conversation with untitled and Reginald Pike executive producer James Davis about a career shift, Vancouver-based commercial photographer (and this year’s First Cut runner-up) Mark Gilbert found himself in a Toronto morgue shooting his first television commercial. It was a PSA for WISH (the Women’s Information Safe House) – a refuge for prostitutes and street people in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside – via agency Rethink.

‘It was wacky for that to be my first spot,’ says Gilbert. ‘It was a fairly somber piece.’

Gilbert says the PSA has since been dropped from his reel as it has a different mood and tone from the rest of the work he has compiled in his first directorial year. The reel is rich with comedy, featuring an array of clever and slightly twisted spots for the likes of Ikea, Pepsi, Guru, CMT and the Vancouver International Film Festival.

Gilbert says he can be particular about the commercial work he chooses because of his steady income as a photographer, and he intends to do both for the next while.

‘I have the luxury of doing the scripts I’m really excited about,’ says Gilbert. ‘Not all first-year directors have that luxury, because financially they can’t afford to turn down the work that comes in. James [Davis] supported me in that. It’s allowed me to build a reel I’m happy with and excited about.’

After just 72 hours in a director’s chair, Gilbert’s work began earning him international recognition. His second day of shooting was on a pool of three Guru ads through Taxi (which started out as spec spots for Red Bull), and they garnered Gilbert a place in the Saatchi & Saatchi New Director’s Showcase, part of the Cannes International Advertising Festival. He spent his third day on a commercial set directing three Pepsi Mini-can spots, two of which (‘Gramps’ and ‘Moustache’) were short-listed at Cannes as well.

Gilbert feels his experience in commercial photography helps to make him a better director, having learned about the value of the unspoken word long ago through a different lens.

‘I’ve spent a lot of time studying the unspoken forms of communication like body language and gesture,’ he says. ‘I think a lot of [directors] focus too much on just the spoken word, but what has worked best for me is marrying those things together. Irony, comedy and all those sorts of things come out of understanding both of those languages. Sometimes the unspoken form of communication is the more telling of the two.’

Gilbert says he is looking forward to continuing his career in commercials and filmmaking, seeking out work in the category of ‘quirky storytelling with an element of dry humor, or a misdirect, or something that doesn’t feel like it’s been done 50 times before.’ His most recent spots were shot in Amsterdam with agency KesselsKramer for Bol.com.