Cavan director's film advert nominated for award
Discord The Movie has been shortlisted for the animation used in the epic promo in the Mixed Media category of Design and Art Direction.
The star-studded short film promoting online platform Discord, designed by Cavan filmmaker and cinematographer Finn Keenan, has been nominated for a prestigious industry award.
Discord The Movie has been shortlisted for the animation used in the epic promo in the Mixed Media category of Design and Art Direction, a British educational organisation that was created in 1962 to promote excellence in design and advertising.
The company which led took the lead in applying the animated enhancements was Paris-based VFX, animation and motion design studio, Mathematic.
The company worked with Keenan of production company Riff Raff, who secured the assignment through AKQA London.
The extended advert features flying cows, an egg-filled DeVito heaven, a family-owned pizza joint with sock puppets, a pirate ship adventure on the high seas and more fill the wonderfully weird and down-right wacky scenes of a movie that embodies the company’s mission: to put its users first; highlighting the all the different ways in which people find their sense of belonging on Discord.
D&AD Awards are the most prestigious benchmark for creative excellence in design and advertising. This year's winners will be announced on May 25-26 in the live streamed D&AD Awards Ceremony on the D&AD website.
Filming saw the multi-award winning Kevin travel to Mexico and then onto LA to work side by side with feature characters- Danny DeVito (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Twins) and actress, rapper and comedian Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians, and Jumanji: The Next Level).
Speaking about the project at the time, Keenan credited his upbringing in Cavan as being vital to his willingness to push creative boundaries as being a critical part of
“It’s funny, because almost the reason I feel so comfortable going ‘yeah let’s do this’ is because of that community I grew up around in Cavan. The whole feeling was let’s make something happen, make something weird, not be afraid to see what happens knowing it’ll all come together somehow and make sense in the end. What’s the worst that can happen?”
Keenan most recently worked on a new advert for Direct Line’s new campaign showing Optimus Prime, the transforming semi truck and hero of Hasbro’s Transformers franchise, arrive at the scene of a car accident only to find that the UK insurance company has the situation covered.
What transpires is a surreal series of events where the leader of the Autobots decides to take some well-earned time off to enjoy beach volleyball, sightseeing and even a spa treatment.