Marcel Langenegger sits serenely, buried within a hotel at Marrakech, Morocco conversing with Boards."You suddenly understand why Zeppelin and the Stones have lived here for so long," says Langenegger on his surroundings. "Everyone smokes hashish and gets into a groove. It's really a place to sit on the floor, drink tea and just hang out."

A somewhat slouchy scene but give the guy a break; the last six weeks have seen Langenegger strut onto several commercial shoots including locales in Los Angeles, Toronto, South Africa, Milan and his latest manse, Morocco, where he is in the midst of shaping a campaign for an Italian phone company Wind, through D'Arcy and BRW, both Milan.

Now repped by Biscuit Filmworks globally (except for BRW's handling of his work in Italy and Chocolate Films representation in his native Switzerland), Langenegger has moved away from some turbulent times at his old haunt Propaganda.

"I had a dream to go there and did it," says Langenegger of his time at Propaganda. "I felt lost as it was a crazy place, but I don't want to complain because I had some solid work through its London office."

Langenegger began his studies in the more exacting world of mathematics and science before continuing his studies in visual arts and graphic design, graduating with an MFA in 1992. The following year, Langenegger opened his own design studio called Red House while freelance designing for Saatchi & Saatchi in Zurich (where his clients included Vogue and Jill Sander). In 1994 he was accepted at the Art Center College of Design in LA where he graduated with a MFA in film before joining Propaganda.

Langenegger's reel contains powerfully constructed spots offset with adventurous camerawork. Captive visuals satiate the viewer's eye while simultaneously heightening agency creative. His work also shows an aptitude for strong editing and timing in addition to carefully selected casting. Such was the case in "The Birds" for Migros through Advico/Y&R, Zurich, where casting curtailed what could have become a lackluster piece, helping raise the spot to a comical and memorable level.

A farmer steers a cumbersome tractor with a precious cargo of seeds behind. Crows suddenly swoop in from above, eager to grub on the grain in tow. As the birds approach, the farmer hits full throttle until an old geezer zooms past pedaling an even older bike with Migros bread in his grasp, revealing the true objective of the feathered fowl: to feast on the fresh loaf from Migros.

"It was important to use a real farmer, one who wouldn't be scared of a wolf yet if he's afraid of these birds, then they're really scary creatures," explains Langenegger on the tongue-in-cheek Hitchcockian spot, cast in a far away valley close to Zurich in order to uncover the toothless talent.

As for the editing aspect of Langenegger's work, the director squeezes every last ounce of creativity from each spot in complete silence:

"I prefer to edit in total silence then bring in several songs to the cut much later," expounds Langenegger. "This allows me to see how each melody would enhance or contradict the edit - then I present the songs to the clients/creative directors. By using this method you have a really off-beat edit which can be interesting because it becomes a surprise to the viewer."