Dene Films

The client required a collection of quirky, character based TV commercials for the well-known Northern furniture business. The scripts were based on the “beliefs” of the company and feedback from their customers.

The challenges on this project were many: budget, locations, styling and the fact that we needed to shoot the commercial on film to get the required look. In addition Barker and Stonehouse TV commercials have a long-standing tradition of being unusual.

A great deal of work went into finding cast that were a little unconventional. The creative interpretation of Director Steven Boyle was to use simple sets in a photographic studio, combined with detail and direction, which exaggerated the characters' natural quirkiness.

The result was a two-day shoot on 16mm, with a well-organised crew, that produced a commercial that more than matched previous Barker and Stonehouse commercials.