Acord, who has acted as DP on countless music videos and commercials (many with his longtime friend and collaborator Spike Jonze) and feature films such as Being John Malkovich, Buffalo 66 and The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, has recently taken the director's reins on numerous car spots, including Mercedes SL for Springer & Jacoby, Hamburg (see Boards, October 2001), a Volvo campaign through MVBMS, New York, and a Saab campaign through Lowe Lintas, New York.

"Directing allows you to see other aspects and is a window into decision-making processes. Thinking not just about look and style, also more about content has made me a better cinematographer. I am drawn to work that holds visual possibilities and experimental opportunities," says Acord. "The political aspects of being a director are the hardest to deal with, endless conference calls, et cetera. I am most relaxed while on set."

He describes his move into directing as "casual and progressive" rather than premeditated. Acord's first commercials were spots for Gucci and ICB, concentrating on beautiful and visually arresting imagery, followed by videos for the likes of Sheryl Crow and Tranquility Bass. As for his current work, Acord's black and white Mercedes SL spot was filmed in Brazil and Maine and combines two related emotional keys.

"The two aspects were capturing the energy and anticipation of being a sports spectator and of trying to get that in a natural, real, first hand kind of way," says Acord.

Seeking an international flavor, Brazilian soccer fans were chosen to illustrate the raw jock energy of sports. Shooting in a São Paulo stadium that seats 200,000, Acord and company filmed actual fans at a game, with a few ringers cast to add variety. The fans were shot at regular speed and in slow motion, with freeze frames of hyped-up fans interspersed. The second half of the spot was shot in a Maine State Park; high-speed road footage works to establish the SL as an automotive embodiment of sport.

"That spot was trying to convey subjective photography and avoiding standard copter or crane shots. You see mind-blowing footage of cars on TV all the time," says Acord.

"You can go two directions with cars. One is to continue to up the ante with new and interesting ways of shooting, the other way is the BMWFilms.com route, contextualizing the whole thing, incorporating the car into the story so each shot matters."

In his recent jobs for Volvo and Saab, Acord has used both approaches. Working with creatives Yvonne Desanti and Michael Feinberg from Volvo's agency MVBMS, Acord represented the car's features through visual metaphors. "Security" for example, has two men-in-black jogging along side the car, bodyguard style, as it rolls through a desert environment.

"'Paper Airplane' stood for simplicity of design but also agility and performance, while another, 'Moon' stood for cross-country travel into the unknown. We filmed it in the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah," says Acord. "I worked with Stefan Sonnefeld of [Los Angeles'] Company 3 on the grading of the film to reduce the colors to a minimal level."

The Saab campaign for Lowe Lintas included two spots, shot in LA, which revolve around Saab vehicles being test-driven. "The Red One" has a driver who so enjoys the car that he keeps returning to the dealership to sample different colored rides, while "Carried Away" is a about the salesman-driver relationship, somewhat one-sided since the driver's test drive lasts all day.

While Acord finds himself more drawn to shooting features, he believes he can strike a balance between this pursuit and directing commercials.

"With commercials the potential to experiment and explore new and different ways of image making is always there. Sometimes the stylistic aspect can be over-emphasized but this works in the 30-second time frame. In a long form piece, the decision making process is never arbitrary, it's always motivated and thought out," he ruminates. "That kind of very controlled approach to work is a good practice and I think it develops skills you would never develop shooting commercials. If you can bring that to commercials, the piece you are working on will have a stronger point of view."

Acord traces his interest in cinematography to work ge saw on Video West, a late night public TV show in pre-MTV San Francisco. An interest in punk and experimental music led Acord to the video installations created to accompany the ambient pieces of Brian Eno and to explore the work of performance/video artists such as Chris Burden and Nam June Paik.

An interest in photography, film and performance art led Acord to San Francisco's Art Institute where he studied under George Kuchar in the film department and eventually ended up behind the camera in the often the "bodily function obsessed" projects produced by his class. A fine arts emphasis exposed Acord to expressive filmmaking with the emphasis less on narrative, more towards experimentation and personal expression, working extensively with the school's Arri and Bolex camera gear. Already he knew his entry into filmmaking would be cinematic.

Post-graduation, Acord moved to New York and began to shoot commercials, shorts and doc footage for filmmaker and photographer Bruce Webber. Acord worked with Stephane Sednaoui on videos for Bjork and Mc Solaar, Mike Mills on Frank Black promos, and began to work with hip-hop director Diane Martel, shooting East Coast hip-hop acts including the Wu Tang Clan, Redman, Mary J. Blige, Gangstarr and Onyx.

"They were a lot more soulful than rap videos now. The aesthetic was very street, stripped down with heavy Scorsese references and practically motivated lighting, not as stylized as rap videos now," says Acord. "Out of that I started shooting commercials. There was a happening art scene around Aaron Rose and the Alleged Gallery on Ludlow Street back around 1993. I met Spike there at an opening."

Soon, Acord began to work closely with Jonze, connecting on the set of Sonic Youth's "Bull In The Heather." Years later, the pair and a group of repeat offenders including production designer KK Barrett, producer Vince Landay and costume designer Casey Storm have collaborated on videos, spots (including Levi's "Crazy Legs," see Boards, February 2002) and Jonze's features, including the upcoming Adaptation, which should premiere at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.

"We've wrapped principal photography on Adaptation and working with the same team was great. We all share so many references and in some ways it simplifies the process because communication is so clear and to the point," says Acord.