Not To Scale Completes TV Campaign For Grey And Fortis

Chris Ketchell, from London-based production company Not To Scale, has completed an international TV campaign for Grey and Fortis, the international financial services provider and banking and insurance firm.
During the film, we hear the wise, avuncular narration of a distinguished man, set against Nino Rota's timeless score for Federico Fellini's film 'La Dolce Vita'. The narrator, kindly imparts his wordly wisdom to us about the inevitable peaks and troughs of our existence. "Life is a curve," he tells us, "full of ups and downs," and he calls on us to reflect where we are now standing on this curve, and challenges us to take control of the curve now and consider our financial needs for the future rather than just letting life happen to us.
The brief, from Creative Directors Colin Lamberton and Seyoan Vela to Ketchell was that the film was all about these priceless pearls of wisdom, and the visuals should support the voice not lead them, so that we the audience get the sense that, this is almost a found recording, an audio archive played to those willing to listen, passed on by word of mouth from thoughtful friend to friend.
To add points of interest to the simple undulating line the off comment is picked out for emphasis, a dice represents fate, a crossroads of question marks present us with choices we need to make, and a charming little animated slick man enters frame to symbolise our own struggle. He travels up the line easily without thinking about his future and potential downfall an easy escalator ride, which conceals the pitfalls ahead. The character charmingly animated by Chris Ketchell plays to Ketchell's strengths as a director. His much lauded and widely shown short film 'Cosa Recommanda Lei' was a festival hit in 2007.
'Life is a Curve' is the launch film for a much wider campaign. Ketchell is already deep in pre-production for another four films and directing duo Ubik are also working on the massive campaign, chipping in with another five films, all discussing different scenarios and moments in life where we should consider if we have the right insurance and financial planning for what life might throw at us later.
The Grey network: including agencies in London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Düsseldorf, Warsaw and Istanbul are all working on the campaign which is the first fully integrated campaign in the wake of the appointment of Grey to handle Fortis' £100 million global creative account last October.
Further information is available at: www.nottoscale.tv.
(KMcA/JM)