Five Questions with… director Sam Cadman

Director Sam Cadman of Tool of North America steps up to answer Five Questions.

1. What are you working on today?
A prosthetic leg and a male nipple that looks like a number three.

2. What have you found is the best tool or innovation that has come out in the last year?
For most jobs I usually shot a test with my DV camera, getting my
producer, location manager or a runner to stand in. I then cut it
together on my laptop using Final Cut Pro – I realise this isn't
especially new or innovative but as a combination of technologies, I find my DV Camera, Laptop and Final Cut Pro software incredibly helpful with both the initial staging and timing of a film.

3. The project that has most impressed you in the last year? Why?
Now that I'm a parent, I don't get out so much, so I see most films on DVD – I recently watched Paolo Sorrentino's The Consequences of Love, which I thought was fantastic, especially the opening travelator shot and the young, track-suit clad hit-man character. There was an article in The Times that said his latest picture, Friend of the Family was a real highlight at Cannes, so hopefully it will get a release here in the UK. Going from the sublime to the ridiculous, I also watched every episode of Every Body Hates Chris!!

4. The best or favourite project that you worked on in the last year? And why?
"The Man" spot for I directed for Sprint has been popular, particularly
at this year's AICP show – which is great, but I have really enjoyed
making these Adcouncil films for ApoptUSKids – we had the time to be
really thorough with the casting and were lucky enough to find some
great actors who worked bloody hard in very little time to give some
really natural, funny performances.

5. Name the top 4 artists on your iPod.
Hard-Fi
The Clash
Led Zeppelin
Big Squeezy Lemon

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There are currently more than half a million children in the U.S. foster care system, with nearly 120,000 awaiting an adoptive family, and each child desiring a permanent home with loving, supportive parents. In its latest campaign to address critical social issues for Americans, the Ad Council has united award-winning advertising agency kirshenbaum bond + partners with Tool of North America director Sam Cadman to create four humorous PSAs, each of which lets prospective parents know that they don’t have to be perfect to be a perfect parent.

Each of the campaign’s spots was made available to cable and broadcast media outlets this week, and will be seen nationwide in the weeks ahead.

Over the past several years, the Collaboration to AdoptUsKids has been instrumental in driving adoptive family recruitment and retention. The Collaboration to AdoptUsKids is supported through a cooperative agreement between The Children's Bureau, Administration for Children & Families, the US Department of Health & Human Services and the Adoption Exchange Association. Collaboration partners include: Child Welfare League of America (CWLA), University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work, Northwest Adoption Exchange, Holt International Children's Services and The Adoption Exchange Inc.

The new PSAs entitled “Hamster,” “Phone,” “Gift” and “Consoling” ultimately direct viewers to www.adoptuskids.org and were conceived by kirshenbaum bond + partners’ executive creative director Rob Feakins; creative director, Steve Doppelt; art director, Daniela Vojta and copywriters Aaron Robnett and Susan Young.

One of the co-creators of Britain’s Trigger Happy TV series, since 2000, director Sam Cadman has earned the advertising industry’s top awards for his directorial work in the field of commercials. With his 2005 Sprint-Nextel “The Man” spot receiving multiple honors in the annual AICP Show, which debuted last week at New York’s Museum of Modern Art to showcase the best ads of the previous year ‘ and also being named among Adweek’s Best Spots of the Year ‘ he is rapidly emerging as a top international commercial director.

“These were great scripts, featuring a lot of funny moments that were simple and natural in feel,” Cadman said. “It was also an opportunity for some great casting and very subtle comedic performances ‘ qualities that really appeal to me.”

Cadman and his crew made great efforts in crafting each spot to make it feel as realistic as possible. “It was critical to me that the teenage bedrooms didn't become cliched 'posters-on-the-wall' type places,” he added. “So our location manager continued to search until we had what I think are two fantastic, absolutely genuine rooms ‘ we didn't dress-in a thing! The same was true for the casting: We saw a lot of people, both actors and street casting, to make sure we secured 'real' performances from likable, everyday people.”

The project came together under the overall direction of HHS’ Collaboration to AdoptUsKids. For kirshenbaum bond + partners, the campaign team included VP/director of broadcast production, Randy Cohen and producer Kayvalyn Tersch. Melissa Otero served as the Ad Council’s Campaign Director.

Tool's project team included executive producer Jennifer Siegel, head of production Amy DeLossa, director of photography Adam Beckman and line producer George Fares. Each spot was edited by Colleen Shea of MacKenzie Cutler in New York.