Yael Staav finds it easier to talk about work than about herself. But sometimes the two can overlap in revealing ways. Such was the case with 2006's Dove "Evolution" for Ogilvy & Mather, Toronto. The viral is a stunning exposé of beauty as manipulated by the media. It's also a diligent reminder for Staav.

"Watching it, I felt like I wanted to show it to guys. I wanted them to see - 'Why do you have these unrealistic expectations of the way I should look or the way your girlfriends should look?'" says Staav. "I've been very honest about this part of my life. I still have bad days. Even after doing a project like that, I still look at the magazines and think

'I want to look like that.' I forget."

An Edmonton native, Staav began experimenting with music video production as a new media student at Toronto's Ryerson University before signing with now defunct Toronto prodco Reginald Pike in 2003. Along with "Evolution", her commercial work with Pike included quirky meditations on boredom for YMCA ("Hose," "Fan," and "Light" from Happy Farmer, Toronto), and emotionally evocative spots like "Hugging" for the ALS Society of Canada (BBDO, Toronto), which won a Bronze Lion at Cannes in 2005, making her the first Canadian female director to ever win a Lion. She's also helmed videos for Joel Plaskett, Broken Social Scene and Howie Beck through Soft Citizen, Toronto, which until recently only repped her for videos. In April, Soft Citizen signed Staav for Canadian commercial representation, as did Furlined for the US market.

With the buzz mounting over "Evolution", touted as Canada's best chance for a Lion, we caught up with Staav before she went off to shoot a video for Canadian artist Lily Frost, to talk about her own evolution from erstwhile craft service specialist to message-oriented director.

I was more extroverted as a child than I am now. I was a performer, I did theatre. Now I would never walk on a stage alone. Even in learning how to play instruments, I learned how to play the drums. Idiosyncrasies? A lot as a kid because I liked to be in front of the camera. I was pretty hyper.

Literally, the first set I was ever on made me want to be a director. It was a music video shoot for [Canadian indie-folk artist] Hayden. I had a college radio show for two years at CJSR in Edmonton. Hayden was someone who I'd interviewed. Before he had his first album out, I came to Toronto to visit and he was shooting his first video. I went on set and I was like, "People do this for a living?" So I quit university, came to Toronto and applied to Ryerson. It was really just exposure. I couldn't believe how much fun people were having in their jobs.

James Davis, who owns Untitled and Reginald Pike, offered me this amazing opportunity to start to develop a commercial reel. He signed me and really developed me. In the beginning, a lot of my commercials were very musical in nature as well. So, it was a crossover.

The advantage that I have with my name is that a lot of people don't know that I'm a woman. For people who know, they send you the Soft Soap scripts and things like that but, honestly, I haven't gotten a lot of that. At the end of the day, good work is good work. It's true that you have to work twice as hard to be considered half as good as men but we all know that and I'm past that. At this point, you don't even think about how hard you're working because you assume that everyone else is doing the same.

Dove "Evolution" was exciting because it came with a package of potential films. I knew that the whole thing was open for interpretation and it was a chance to get out of the 30-second realm. It was a concept that I believed in. It ties into being a woman. You have sensitivities toward trying to put out a positive message. Even in casting and in wardrobe in other spots, you're constantly thinking, "I would never dress a girl that way." Of course, if it's part of her character I would give her bad clothes. But, I could never imagine dressing a "beer girl".

Tim Piper, [the art director and associate creative director], knew exactly what he wanted. We had an amazing fashion photographer working with us and Tico Poulakakis was my DP. It was so collaborative that it was really smooth. We were working with Tim's girlfriend. She was the model in the spot. We went through casting models but at the end of the day, everyone knew everyone, so it made sense to use her. Because we were shooting digitally, we had more latitude and we had more allowance because it was going on the web. All the technical things gave us a little bit of freedom.

One thing that confirmed I wanted to do this job was recently doing craft service on my brother's film. It was the hardest job I have ever done in my life. In the middle of it, I stuck my finger in the Cuisinart and got my first set of stitches. This was not even two months ago. So I no longer pretend that I want to do anything else. I feel like I have the best job and I'm happy to do it.

Soft Citizen http://www.softcitizen.com
Furlined http://www.furlined.com