‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house…

The oven’s on fire, dad’s dangling by his ankle from the roof after a botched attempt at hanging the lights, the tree is clearly too big for this room, and will someone please get the goddamn dog away from my stocking!

This year the TBWAChiatDay creative team of Daniel Vendramin and Darren Clarke has put together a pair of spots for client Shoppers Drug Mart that properly depicts the madness of the season. Together with Apple Box Productions director Randy Diplock, the team is shooting the holiday-gone-wrong-themed vignettes over two days for holiday airing, with the intent to show shoppers that Shoppers is more than just toiletries and snacks during the holidays.

‘Shoppers isn’t generally thought of as a place to get Christmas gifts, and they want more people to know that they have great gift ideas,’ says Vendramin. ‘It’s a very hectic time of year and a lot of things could go wrong, and the result at the end of it is: this year make one part of Christmas a little easier and shop at Shoppers Drug Mart.’

And a lot of things do go wrong. In addition to the dog (named Replay) hanging from and violently tugging at a stocking over the fireplace, and ‘dad’ hanging from the roof in scenes to come, the shot currently being set up is another challenge for director Diplock and his ABP crew. As ‘mom’ sets a beautiful table in the dining room, which is the perfect picture of quaint holiday loveliness, the shot moves back into the kitchen to reveal flames shooting from the oven where the turkey is fast turning to charcoal. We never get to see the bird, however, which was part of the master comedic plan for Diplock and the creatives.

‘You could take this way over the top,’ says Vendramin. ‘You could get really wacky with it and almost go like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. We could have revealed a black, charred turkey, but that isn’t as interesting as seeing the flames and hearing the sound effects and the [holiday] music. This is all about really beautiful Christmas moments with just that little thing that has gone wrong.’

It was the potential beauty of the spot that attracted Diplock, who recently signed a U.S. representation agreement with Manarchy Films in Chicago. He was intrigued by the idea of working on a spot that catered to so many of his strengths, including storytelling through pretty pictures and humor.

‘I’ve been wanting to get into stuff that is more visual, that allows for nicer film,’ says Diplock. ‘This is one of those projects that was exactly what I wanted to do. When I talk about doing stuff that is prettier, for lack of a better term, I don’t think that has to be at the expense of humor. It can be funny and still look great, but the concept is the key.’

‘[Diplock] saw it the way we saw it, which is a big factor,’ says Chiat’s Clarke. ‘We interviewed a couple of directors from other companies and a couple of directors from the States, and Randy came in with a great presentation and saw the spots more understated, more elegant and more Hallmarkish, with something going wrong. We had the same vision of that.’

After a series of takes involving flames and smoke spewing from the specially made oven, leaving the makeshift kitchen very warm, the creative team is pleased and ready to move on. Diplock says the multi-takes are something he has become notorious for, but it is only to provide the editor with as much ‘ammunition’ as possible. In this case, School’s David Hicks will take the reins in post.

On the shoot’s second and final day, spent filming the exterior shots, including ‘dad’ hanging from the roof, Diplock marvels at what is going on around him. The entire house and surrounding property is covered in fake snow and it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, albeit in the middle of October.

‘I was standing here with Emily [Pengelly, ABP producer] and thought it is so neat to be middle-aged and be able to stand here and have people making snow for you so you can mess around like you’re in grade seven,’ says Diplock. ‘Life could be a lot worse.’

Pengelly produced the spot, with ABP’s Clare ‘Cash’ Cashman executive producing. Angela Carroll produced for the agency. Simon Mestel served as DOP, with Marc Paille art directing.

-www.appleboxproductions.com