Happy, an unsigned, New York-based creative/directing collective consisting of Guy Shelmerdine, Richard Farmer and Lucas Spaulding, recently created "Fixation," a trailer for the novel Henry's List of Wrongs, from maverick publishing house Rugged Land.

Shelmerdine (an art director with Cliff Freeman & Partners, New York), Farmer (exec producer of Los Angeles' Mindfield) and Spaulding (editor with MacKenzie Cutler, New York) collaborated on writing, producing, editing and posting "Fixation." Released in April, the spot shows a man whose eyes are locked to the book as he goes about his daily business, ultimately resulting in physical injury. To view the spot visit http://www.boardsmag.com/screeningroom.

Shot in Maspeth, Queens, New York on 16mm by DP Rob Barocci, "Fixation" was produced for less than $13,000 US, although the goodwill of friends and production contacts allowed for increased value such as the book rig that allowed a constant locked off, reading shot. Human, New York, did music and sound design.

Happy was founded in 2001 by Shelmerdine and Farmer, who met while working at Los Angeles' Ground Zero. Spaulding, who brought "Fixation" to the group is a more recent addition to the collective, while production designer Tom Wales keeps things Happy in the UK. Ultimately the group hopes to work in commercials, videos, short films and features but all are currently happily employed at their respective gigs.

"Currently we are looking to get behind the camera as much as possible. This year was a building stage for us and we are very excited and appreciating every moment. On the writing end, we are pitching television and feature film concepts to networks and executive producers," says LA-based Farmer.

Shelmerdine, cites directors like Traktor, Jake Scott and Mike Mills as mentors.

"You see how they work and pick things up. As a creative at Cliff Freeman & Partners, you have a hell of a lot of control, probably too much. You are working with them and the preparations and are behind the camera while thedirector is shooting," says Shelmerdine.

"Lungs," directed by Wales and Shelmerdine, is an anti-smoking spec spot showing a set of tortured lungs being coughed up by a smoker and then crawling out of his carcinogenic grasp. Wales was instrumental in getting production support for "Lungs" from Arden Sutherland Dodd, which incidentally is the London production company representing Zak & Dan.

Zak Emerson and Dan Gifford recently shot a campaign for Finnish Post out of TBWA Finland consisting of three spots, "Code 6," "Envelope" and "Ghostbusters." Shot in Prague via Stillking with the assistance of She Stockholm, the three-spot, £350K campaign draws on science fiction and dystopian themes and visuals, using B2B services as tools to modernize the image of Finnish Post. For example, "Envelope" shows a bureaucratic barn full of envelope lickers who occasionally have their tongues institutionally moistened by a desk-mounted water dispenser; their lives are of course improved greatly.

"Dan and I were quite excited when we read the scripts because they'd give us the opportunities to tell stories in a photographic way with a bit of scale. There are not a lot of opportunities to do that for youngsters," says Emerson.

"Scandinavian agencies give young guys a chance. If you can impress them with your initial ideas and treatment, they stand back and let you do it."

Creatives Jukka Rosti and Petri Uusitalo stood back while Zak & Dan and DP David Luther shot in diverse Prague locations like a crumbling Bolshevik Mausoleum, The Czech Ministry of Culture and the Prague Museum of Modern Art ("we were an exhibit for one day," quips Dan.)

"Zak & Dan are young and ambitious directors eager to take hold of an opportunity when they see one. Right from the beginning, when we asked for treatments from a couple of directors, these guys were obviously most into this job, giving the best input. Meeting and talking with them instantly gave us a strong feeling of common ground," says Uusitalo. "It also helped to make the decision that another team from our agency had a good experience working with them in January on a job for Pohjola Insurance."

Uutisalo adds that using Kafka-meets-Orwell-meets-sci-fi is the agency's way of re-branding 350-year-old Finnish Post with a touch of IT savvy. The campaign was edited by Tim Fulford, Red Square, London, with effects from MPC London's Alex Lovejoy and Graham Bird. Parv at Wave, London handled sound design while Gordon Halajkijevic composed.

To view the spots, visit http://www.boardsmag.com/screeningroom

Webfiles:
Henry's List Of Wrongs> http://www.henryslistofwrongs.com
Rugged Lands> http://www.ruggedlands.com
Arden Sutherland Dodd> http://www.asdlondon.com
PHS TBWA> http://www.phs.fi