With rapidly advancing technology and the industry in flux, the commercial set we know and love could be very different 20 years from now. To get some perspective, Playback released the brains of several directorial talents. Freed to look into the future, their thoughts on the horizon of the business range from staid to near-apocalyptic scenarios based on implants and the end of privacy. In any case, there is no question: commercial production will undergo unprecedented change in the next 20 years.

Boris Damast, a director with Angel Films, has several thoughts about the future of the commercial set. For him, it is digital technology that will cause the most upheaval.

‘I don’t think we’ll be using film entirely in the future, if at all,’ Damast says. Also, what Damast calls ‘beaming’ of signals will definitely change the commercial set dynamic. No more agency producers or clients on set. They can all be multitasking their projects, ‘plugged into that set from a thousand miles away by virtue of digital technology. Now, is this a good thing? I’m not sure. I mean, you can have people tuned in to you and calling shots in from the sidelines.’

Although this kind of mass, scattered input scares Damast a bit, he also sees positive possibilities in this technology.

‘You can beam your stuff directly from the set to your editor – instantly. The communication between director and editor will become stronger and more immediate,’ Damast speculates.

Director Stephen Surjik of The Players Film Company believes

‘breakthroughs in brain research and in the ways people are able to image information without actually watching a television set’ will revolutionize the way commercials are delivered.

‘There is a lot of money going into medical research to try to connect your spinal brain stem onto a form of modem for downloading information for experience,’ Surjik says.

But he cautions: ‘Eventually, it will be more than just watching an exciting episode or going on a ski holiday inside your brain. It will be like you also have to enjoy various products.’

In Regina, Minds Eye Pictures partner/director Rob King feels actors may be in trouble 20 years fast-forward in the world of commercial production. Says King: ‘You’re not even going to need actors anymore. You’re going to encapsulate their look and the way they speak into a computer and be able to generate them.’

King also believes the commercial set will be a much quieter place in future years. ‘My fear is 20 years from now the commercial set is going to be two guys sitting in a room with all the latest technology and an art director from the agency. I could just see the big agencies saying to the client, ‘We could pull this off sitting in a room with technology. Never mind the volatile director, the gaffer and that stuff. We don’t need that anymore. We can create it all.’

u.s. feature film/commercial director John Frankenheimer is aware of the intense tracking that goes on in the digital realm, especially on the Internet.

‘[Clients will] know much more who their real audience is,’ Frankenheimer predicts. ‘Instead of having a general idea, they will know specifically to whom they are targeting their message.’

Beyond that, Frankenheimer says, ‘I think it will be a lot different than people think it will be.’ *