Long known for his skillful intertwining of archival footage with shot materials in documentary work, Errol Morris says the ad world has never specifically asked him to apply this specialty to commercials. Until AOL came calling.

"Since The Fog of War, people have become more interested in us combining stock with things we'd shoot," says the Moxie Pictures director. "Don't know why no one's ever asked before."

The AOL spots, "Good" and "Bad", each use a diverse series of stock and shot images to question the nature of the Internet as a force in modern society without providing an answer. "Good" highlights the virtues of the Net, while "Bad" highlights Internet evils. The VO for "Good" ends with 'Orwell was wrong...'; "Bad" ends with 'Orwell was right...'.

The requested cinematic style was an enticement to Morris, though the spot's message was the most attractive thing about the job. "The commercial has devolved into an endless series of infomercials about amounts of money and levels of service," Morris bemoans. "These spots involved asking questions about the nature of what we do in order to spark discussion."

Stephanie Wellesley, agency producer at Grey, UK, says the agency had Morris in mind when the idea was written. "We wanted that textual doc reportage feel; not like an ad, more real," says Wellesley. "Normally, you use stock because you can't afford to shoot, and then you try to hide it. For this project we embraced it."

The range of stock images used is huge: NASA space shots, KKK and anti-war rallies, nuclear explosions, marching troops, the Asian Tsunami, all contrasted against footage of babies, street scenes, a library and a graveyard, shot by Morris. "In some instances, we tried to make our shots look archival. We wanted different looks."

The stock was obtained from myriad sources, by both Grey and Moxie. "When you start looking, you realize how much creative skill there is in finding the footage," says Wellesley, adding, "Even when you find an image, you don't know how it will work with the whole." For his part, Morris says that in addition to being aware of the whole while trying one image combination over another, he looked for images that "had resonance as part of the culture".

Morris also notes that this project included his first porno shoot. "I put the assistant director in the scene but he didn't want to because he has children. The things we do for advertising. True dedication."

Inexplicably, the porno bit ended up in the "Bad" spot. Now there's a discussion.

Grey> www.grey.co.uk
Moxie Pictures> www.moxiepictures.com