AUSTRALIAN KEN KARPEL IS DIRECTING HIS WAY THROUGH IT ALL, UP TO XYZ

Award-winning Australian Director Ken Karpel

  Anyone who’s worked in advertising knows that there’s often a gaping chasm between the client’s frame of reference and that of their target demographic. Good direction is what builds the bridge between the two.

   Ken Karpel’s work as in-house writer/director for XYZ Networks is a case study in cross-generational communication. Karpel excels at synthesizing a message and delivering it in a way that resonates with the core audience. Whether it’s enjoying life to the fullest or making sun safety a priority, he speaks the visual language of millennials.

  Karpel’s focus was on content for youth and music channels: Channel [V], [V] Hits, MAX, and Smooth. Ken’s work at XYZ Networks not only captured the attention of the public, but also earned numerous awards for clients such as: Adidas, Hyundai, V Energy, and The Cancer Institute.

  Emily Copeland was the Head of Commercial Integration at XYZ Networks during Karpel’s time there. She declares, “From the moment Ken was hired it was clear that he was a talented director.  Every campaign that he directed for XYZ Networks brought not only the company great success, but also awards for the clients. Ken truly cares about every project he works on and this always leads to amazing content. He is a great story teller with a brilliant sense of realism and humour, coupled with an eye for authentic and cinematic visuals. During the years I was employed by XYZ Networks, Ken was the most impressive creatives I came across.”

  Karpel’s creativity and unique approach contributed a great deal to the success of XYZ Networks and its reputation for innovation. For Adidas, Ken wrote and directed two commercials promoting Adidas’ new range called ‘Adidas Originals’. Each spot focused on a different city and the unique people that make it original. The Adidas Originals line is about inspiring individuals around the world to come together & embrace their originality. Karpel focused on Melbourne and Sydney, creating an image spot for these cities. Following the diverse & eccentric people of each city, Ken set out to show how their originality creates the personality of the city in which they live.

  Explaining his own original approach to these spot Ken comments, “I took a documentary approach to the shoot. We shot in real locations, lending a sense of authenticity that we couldn’t achieve if we locked off the locations. I used real groups of friends with absolutely no acting experience, placing them into real environments over six days.  I found out the dynamic within the groups and played off this to create realistic performances and candid moments. For instance, if two of the people were roommates and I needed a heated debate at dinner, I’d get them to try to prove to the other who takes out the rubbish more often; for a dance scene in the street I told them whoever dances the craziest will win some Adidas sneakers; for the birthday scene, I asked one of the friends (without anyone’s knowledge) to grab the cake and try to cover the birthday girl in it. This approach resulted in realistic performances. To this day I still get asked how we cast actors that feel like actual friends.”

 

Producer Nikita Agzarian confirms, “It truly felt like we were just following our characters on a real night/day in their lives even though most scenarios were improvised by Ken when he saw things that would interest him. He would ask our ‘actors’ to step into the environment he saw and essentially perform scenes he would concoct for them. It was truly impressive to see how he could get these authentic performances from real people we cast a couple of days earlier on an open call out. From what I saw it just seemed like he’d find out about them, get a sense of their dynamic, and start an improvisation between the people based on these facts”.

  The campaign was so successful that it won a 2013 PromaxBda ANZ Award for Best Sponsor Integration…as well as many job offers for Karpel in Australia, Europe, and Asia.

   The campaign which Ken wrote and directed for V Rentals was recognized with a 2012 Promaxbda ANZ Award for Best Sponsor Integrated Spot. The V Rentals campaign launched new Australian talent Marty Smiley in his first shoot since winning Channel [V]’s Presenter Search. The humorous spot focuses on the use of ‘V-Rentals’, a series of absurd tools, to help Marty Smiley adjust to his new life in Sydney. Emily Copeland (former Head of Commercial Integration at XYZ Networks) professes, “This commercial proved that Ken is able to not only deliver visually striking work, but further showed us his abilities as a storyteller, and a humorous one at that. The visual comedy coupled with the script that juxtaposed with the images delivered on a tone that would be difficult to pull off if it wasn't for Ken's clear vision. In this type of commercial there is a risk of going over the top. It would be easy to play it big and ask for the laughs ultimately creating a 'cheesy 'work. Ken however underplays every joke and visual beat creating a sense of reality that resulted in a hilarious commercial with a unique voice that was recognized with an award.”

  When Hyundai needed to launch their “Voloster” to the Australian youth market, they enlisted XYZ Networks and Karpel. Copeland continues, “Hyundai came to us to introduce their new vehicle - the veloster- into the Australian youth market. The cars unique form factor saw it marketed as both 'cool' and ' smart'. The concept Ken came back with was to make a literal battlefield between 'cool' and ' smart' , where both these sides meet on the battlefield, becomes the literal representation of the vehicle. Through the styling of our actors the spot saw the preparation of both sides going to battle, we follow them through battles cries and as they run into each other there's an explosion. When the dust settles the car has replaced both warring factions. Seeing Ken execute this from concept to the final commercial it became apparent that as a director he has a single vision that guides every decision he makes. From the styling and costumes, to the location and the final VFX rendering it all served a singular aesthetic that was clearly in Ken's mind from the beginning. His ability to communicate exactly what he wants to all cast and crew to fulfill his vision makes him a truly talented director. His dedication and passion can also be seen in the fact that he was also able to do all this post surgery, whilst on crutches, as he broke his leg 3 days before the shoot and underwent surgery to place a pin inside his leg.”

  Ken’s work at XYZ Networks was not resigned to only product promotion. Awarded a 2012 PromaxBDA ANZ Award �" Best PSA, the 2012 PromaxBDA Global Excellence Award - Best Art Direction: PSA, and a 2013 PromaxBDA Global Excellence Award- Best PSA (Bronze); Ken directed a campaign for the The Cancer Institute to increase awareness of skin cancer and protection from the sun. Karpel explains, “The idea was to create a visual look book of a ‘sun safe’ dress options to wear during summer. I wanted it to feel like looking through a window display in real life. To achieve this, I decided to shoot inside a beautiful warehouse and put 4 actors on a rotating board that would move them around 360 degrees while the camera remained stationary. We shot at a higher frame rate to give the effect of real life mannequins moving in a 3D space.”

  No matter what the topic, Ken is able to connect with millennials and reflect a part of themselves back to them. Which is why his talents are in demand by brands around the world. As Emily Copeland, founder of Cedilla marketing agency concludes, “Ken is a great story teller. He has a brilliant sense of realism and humour, coupled with authentic and cinematic visuals. But most of all he knows how to connect with his audience and speak to them in a relatable way, which is why clients keep coming back to him”.