We were immediately impressed by the recent Mini Clubman spot. Unconventional and non-formulaic, the film doesn’t make use of the dramatic stunt driving, beautiful landscapes, celebrity spokesperson nor trendy fast visuals so ubiquitous in Chinese car commercials. The simple film focuses only on the car, with the narrative following its journey and transformation.
While it is no surprise that the mastermind behind the spot was a somewhat unconventional director, we had not expected to learn it marked his directorial debut.
一看到最近的Mini Clubman广告，我们就立刻被它所吸引。片子打破传统，不落俗套，没有酷炫的车技，没有美丽的风景，也没有名人代言，亦没有赶时髦，追逐中国汽车广告片中泛滥的快节奏视觉感。只是简单的一台车，跟随着它的足迹和变化而展开叙事。
虽然不难想象这个广告片的幕后大师一定是一位打破传统束缚的导演，但是我们没有想到这竟然是他首次担纲导演。
Peng Yang Jun has many strings to his bow – freelance photographer, media expert, curator, and founder of the slick iliangcang lifestyle and design magazine and online shop, which he founded with his wife, Chen Jiao Jiao, in 2013. The site has since built a community connecting with hundreds of lifestyle publications and organizations across the globe.
In his new role as film director, Peng is already earning critical acclaim. SHP+ caught up with Peng to learn more about his background and his first commercial film experience.
彭杨军身兼数职 – 自由摄影师、媒体专家、策展人、良仓网创始人，良仓网是一个集生活方式、设计和网店于一体的平台，2013年由彭杨军和妻子陈皎皎共同创办。自此便打造了一个联动全球数百家生活方式媒体和机构每日播报全球最前沿的格调生活、创意设计资讯的社区。
有了导演这个新的身份之后，彭杨军已经获得了诸多好评。SHP+有机会采访了彭杨军，了解他的背景和创作首部商业广告片的体验。
Peng Yang Jun & Jiaojiao Chen at their house 2014.
SHP+: This is your first commercial film. How do you feel about it?
Peng Yang Jun: I feel pretty good. Although the film looks very simple, executing it was actually difficult. By the time we completed shooting, I had begun to enjoy it and wanted to shoot more.
SHP+:这是您的第一条商业广告片，感觉如何？
彭杨军：是的，这是我第一条商业广告片，感觉还不错，没那么难，也没那么容易，拍的过程中觉得辛苦，拍完了觉得还挺好玩，还想拍。
SHP+: How did you get this first job as a director? Did you pitch an idea first before getting it? What was Mini Clubman’s brief?
PYJ: Mini Clubman China has always tried new things and made unique TV commercials. Their project manager and I have been friends for a decade. He’s an interesting character; you would think he is an artist instead of someone that sells cars. We have collaborated before, mostly on print and web design. They had seen the documentaries and brand commercial we’d made previously, so they asked if I would want to direct the commercial for their new product. I thought it would be fun.
They gave me a brief outlining the size of the car and the interior changes and we pitched an idea based on that. We got along well, agreed on the direction and everything just clicked. Their team was very courageous, encouraging me to be more edgy. Like cutting the car for example – there were only two new cars at that time, but they still encouraged me to dismember one. They were supportive of my creative direction the entire time. There were so many unpredictable obstacles during the shooting process. They would text me and tell me that it would be okay to compromise on things, that they knew I would do my best. I was really touched, but responded, “if you think I’ll compromise, you don’t know me.”
SHP+：您是怎么得到这个第一次担当导演的机会的？是您先向他们推介自己的想法，然后他们才决定用您的吗？Mini Clubman的广告文案是什么样的？
彭杨军：mini中国的团队一直在尝试做一些不一样的视频片, 他们有一次问我们想不想为他们拍一支视频，关于他们的新车，我觉得很有意思。mini中国的项目负责人我认识了十年，我们本身是很好的朋友，他是一个非常有趣的人，感觉不是混汽车圈，而是混艺术圈的人。因为之前喜欢我们做的杂志和网站，有过很多平面和网站的合作，这次因为看过我们良仓视频组之前做的一些纪录片和良仓的宣传片，就试着看能不能合作一把.
我带了一些我认为好的片子去跟他们聊，然后他们就给了一些brief，比方变大变长，5门变6门，内饰变得更好。我就根据这些brief给了我认为有意思的视觉解决方案，当再跟他们提方案时，我们很快就达成了一致。而且他们反过来会刺激我，让我更大胆，比方说拆车。现在来看，他们团队还是挺胆大的，在讨论拍摄的过程中，他们一直很保护我的想法，特别是我们切割了一辆新车，这都是他们的主意，因为当时中国就两辆新车，我都劝他们算了，他们最后还是狠心切了车，片子拍到一半的时候，状况频出，他们居然发消息给我说：“彭，我们知道你尽力了，该妥协一点就妥协一点，我们完全理解。”我当时特别感动，就回给他们：你们太不了解我了。
Director Peng Yang Jun on a shoot in Inner Mongolia
SHP+: In most car ads, we see cool stunt driving skills, exaggeration, or, most commonly, a celebrity spokesperson. None of those elements are present in this Mini Clubman commercial. What was your vision for the spot?
PYJ: There are two types of good commercial. First, there are the interesting, fun, emotional kind, in which you do not talk about the product but rather focus on the brand history and spirit. Secondly, in which you do both, and talk about the product. I like the former, but prefer the latter.
I am an automobile enthusiast myself, especially the classic cars from the sixties and seventies. I even have two of them in my collection. I like to appreciate cars through the changes they have gone through over time, so for this spot I chose to compare and contrast the three generations of Mini Clubman. The new generation is larger in size, has more doors, and an upgraded interior. I chose to tell the story from God’s perspective, and to make the frames extremely symmetrical. By doing so, I hope to present Mini Clubman from a totally different perspective. It’s the easiest way for people to understand. One thing that is for sure – we have created an automobile commercial that is different from any other in China. I also want to give the copywriter a big shout out.
SHP+：在大部分的汽车广告中，我们看到很多酷炫车技，夸张手法，或者最常见的就是找名人代言。而您为Mini Clubman拍摄的广告片中，这些元素我们都没有看到。您对这条广告片的愿景是什么？
彭杨军：我觉得好广告有两类，其中一类是有趣，有情怀，不说事，说品牌精神，我喜欢这种，但我更喜欢的是顺便把事也说了的。所以我就在想，我怎么来讲清楚这些事情，我自己是很喜欢车的人，特别是60，70年代的车，我自己就收藏了两辆古董车，我喜欢看车在不同年代的变化，和呈现出来的美感，所以我选择用三代车的对比来表示新一代MINI CLUBMAN的变大，门变多和内饰的升级，我选择用上帝视角，并且画面极度对称，就是希望用完全不同的视角来呈现，来做类比，包括用数据，秒表，这既是一种形式感，也是最容易让人明白的方式。这条片子至少有一点做到了，就是跟中国其他汽车广告完全不一样。还有一点我必须提到，这次的文案给整条片子加分不少，在这里表示敬意。
SHP+: There is a lot of aerial filming involved, and the shots are extremely symmetrical. How did you achieve that? What was the process?
PYJ: Normally, aerial shooting involves lots of frames; it seems to be a difficult thing to do. But this kind of same speed tracking is equally difficult. It’s like putting a track in the sky. From start to finish, everything has to be accurate and precise.
In the scene with three cars driving on the highway in Inner Mongolia, we used a Yatuo 800E drone to do the aerial filming because it was windy and we had a long way to go. This helicopter lookalike is mostly used for chasing scenes – it’s fast, has a good engine, can travel a long way and is good with windy conditions. When shooting the big cement scene, we had to accurately track and hover. We chose Dajiang s900 six-axis drone for this. It was perfect for controlling in a small space. There were countless shots and with the wind, our workload was doubled. In the end we needed two postproduction companies. It took a long time just to stabilize the camera. Our post-production team called this ‘Fascist aesthetics’. Very few people could understand it. Thankfully, the final product is great and everybody’s happy.
SHP+：片中用到了很多航拍镜头，整个画面都是严格居中的，是如何做到的？流程是什么样的？
彭杨军：一般航拍都是各种飞，镜头串来串去，看起来好像难度很高。但其实反而这种看上去似乎没有任何变化的同速跟踪拍摄难度非常高，就像在天上架了个移动轨道，起停行都得非常精准.
在内蒙拍摄公路上三辆车行驶的那段镜头,因为内蒙地势平坦，风大，我们行进的路程较远，所以我们选用的是雅拓800E遥控航拍机,这种外形酷似直升机的航拍机特点是机动性好，抗风，飞得快，飞得远,一般用于大场面追逐拍摄比较合适。在进入大水泥空场那一段时，我们要做的是精确追踪和稳定悬停，所以我们选择了大疆s900六轴飞行器，这个机器特点就是适合在狭小空间或区域做精准控制。
NG无数次，加上有风，在做后期时，发现整个工作量翻倍，只好分成两个后期公司，光做镜头稳定就做了很长的时间，所以最后的影片几乎感觉不到任何晃动和偏移，画面和被摄物体严格居中。在跟后期制作团队沟通时，他们称我这个是变态的法西斯美学，当时很多人不理解，好在最后片子出来效果不错，大家都挺开心。
Film crew of Mini Clubman on the shoot in Inner Mongolia
SHP+: Photography is about documenting something as it is, leaving the audience to do the thinking. Advertising is about instilling an artistic style and adding effects in post production. Do you think your photography background conflicts with making commercial work?
PYJ: My photography work focuses on documentary photography and culture which seems quite different from commercial work. However, when I first started out I did fashion photography for a long time and from that I learned the rules of commercial expression. Besides, my main thing is media. I have worked in the magazine publishing industry for ten years. I was the chief photographer at Vision, then the chief creative director of the Italian magazine Colors and now the chief creative director at The Outlook Magazine. I have always been a media guy which has taught me to think multi-dimensionally. I believe that the sense of form serves the content, and the content creates the visual. I am very aware of the differences between making my own creative work and commercial work. I think that rather than conflicting, my past experiences interact and complement one another.
SHP+：摄影是去记录事情本身，留给观众思考空间。而广告则是注入艺术风格，加之后期效果。那您觉得您的摄影经验，是否与制作商业广告片有冲突？
彭杨军：我的摄影风格是偏纪实和人文，看上去确实和商业广告片看上去有很大的差别，但是我在刚工作的时候做过很长一段时间时装摄影师，所以很早就了解商业的规则和接受这种商业的表达，同时我最主要的身份是媒体人，我做了10年的杂志，从《视觉》的首席摄影师，到意大利的《colors》的创意总监，现在还在做的《新视线》的创意总监，媒体人的身份让我一直从多维度来思考问题，我一直推崇形式感为内容服务，内容决定视觉。所以我会把我自己的创作和广告片分的很清楚，同时我作为摄影师，媒体人的思考对广告片一定有特别大的帮助。我觉得所有的经历，身份都是相互作用，是叠加而不是冲突。
on set
SHP+: How do you balance your photography work and commercial work? Will making more commercial films be your focus in the future?
PYJ: I am a very diverse person. I used to be anxious and confused about my identity, but now I’ve got it figured out. I am a freelance photographer, a media person, a curator, and founder of iliangcang. If I can manage to balance all of these, then balancing photography and commercial films is nothing. I will not take work I do not like but I want to have an open mind to do things. Everything is interconnected and inspires one another. Just like Steve Jobs once said, “creativity is just connecting things.”
We aim to operate our business comprehensively. iliangcang is a website, an app, a publishing house, a shop, a magazine, two shows, and a rich resource for artists. This leaves us a lot of room for imagination. Our online shop comprehensively defines the aesthetics of living and features the best design products sourced from all over the world. Our community has thousands of users, including Yohji Yamamoto, Han Han and others sharing things and products they like.In the future, we want to make more films, but not just directed by me. We hope to recruit and sign directors, good post-production teams and operating teams from inside and outside China.
SHP+：摄影与广告片两者之间，您是如何平衡的？未来您的工作重心会偏向广告片吗？
彭杨军：我是个很分裂的人，以前还会有身份焦虑，我到底是做什么的，现在我已经完全想明白了。比方说我的身份是自由摄影师，媒体人，策展人，良仓网的创始人，如果这些我都能平衡好，摄影和商业片完全在我能接受的范围里，但是这一切有个前提，我不拍我不喜欢的广告片，我希望自己是一种开放的心态来做事情，这些事情相互关联，相互作用，相互启发，乔帮主不是说过一句话吗？创造力就是寻找事物和事物之间的联系。
我们一直希望是一个全平台的模式来操作公司，我们有良仓网站，app，出版，线下商店，新视线杂志，杂志的app，网站，两个展览，还有众多艺术家资源，所以，我们可以想象的空间很大。良仓商店精选世界各地的好设计，从家居、到服装、生活用品，全方面定义美学生活，App和网站支持直接下单购买，制作心愿清单；良仓的达人社区聚集了山本耀司、韩寒等千位意见在这里分享他们的心水之物。未来，我们不希望仅仅是视频制作，而是包括良仓的媒体平台和发布渠道为一体视频营销模式，以后不光是我来执导，还有会签约更多的优秀的国内外导演，和优秀的后期，执行团队。
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