FROM GRAD-MAN to AD-MAN

 A Dutch New York University Tisch School of the Arts Asia Alumnus Lands Dream Directing Job with International Advertising Agency

By: Stephanie Bousley

Rene Pannevis ’10 (MFA, Kanbar, Film) was so good at directing short films, he decided to do it full-time after grad school. For Nike and Coca-Cola.

Steph:  Coming from the Netherlands, what made you choose NYU School of the Arts Asia as the program to get your Master’s Degree in Film and why, then did you decide to come to Singapore?

Rene:  In 2006 – ‘07, I was creating my application portfolio for film school, and NYU Tisch was at the top of my list. I had lived in New York before, for more than a year, and had never been to Asia before; so as a European, coming to Singapore seemed a more interesting choice.

Steph:  What had you been doing prior to coming to grad school (and where were you if not in Holland)?

 Rene:  After working for a few years in a coffee factory, greenhouse, TV recycling factory where people often lost body parts on the clock, and also as a garbage collector, model, and caretaker of a 300-year-old building, I was ready to start [undergraduate] Film Study at Utrecht; with the ambition to become a filmmaker. In my final year I directed the worst TV Commercial for a tanning salon ever made and escaped to New York. Later I escaped again to Singapore (laughs).

Steph:  What were your first impressions of Tisch School of the Arts Asia when you first arrived and how (if any) did they change over your three years there?

Rene:  In its very first year, Tisch Asia was very minimal. It had no cafeteria, elevator, lounge, or library; there were no posters, paintings, gardens, or the now-popular foosball table. All of these things came during our [class of 2010’s] time there. But the curriculum had solid fundamentals with a lot of possibility. The faculty was imaginative and inspiring. By the end of my three years there, Tisch Asia had grown into a beautiful building I felt creative and at home in.

Steph:  What was the hardest thing about being in film school, and at film school in Singapore?

Rene:  What I did not expect about film school was the enormous workload and total devotion to film and our projects. I thought I would have time to write, shoot, and explore other creative disciplines like origami; but I was busy – day and night – making deadlines. I found it difficult not having a “normal” life outside of school, because life itself is a source for my films.

 

 Steph:  Students at Tisch Grad Film make three short films in Year One, one in Year Two, a Portfolio project in Year Three, then a thesis. Any major successes or failures with these projects?

Rene:  I found it difficult to find inspiring content in a new country that is so economically and politically organized, that leaves little room for deviating lifestyles and subcultures. I’m still super happy with my short documentary I shot during First Year in The Netherlands, about a small-time drug dealer who still lives with his mom. I look back at my films and can always see something that is beautiful to me; a shot, a look, the light, humor, story, and it’s up to me to ultimately combine this all into my next project.

Steph:  So from film school you segued into advertising. Tell me a little about what you’re doing now.

Rene:  I’ve been working on broadcast for Wieden+Kennedy – Amsterdam, since July 2010. I got hired as an editor and filmmaker. Besides editing mood films, pitch films, TV commercials, and cut-downs for clients like Nike, EA FIFA, Coke, Heineken, ESPN, and Nokia, I also direct and edit my own work for them too. I shot and directed two commercials for the Dutch Film Museum, the making of Heineken’s The Entrance, three more shorts with the UEFA Champion’s League, and a piece called The Heineken Legendary Case Study. My day starts at 9:30am and that’s early compared to my more party-enthusiastic colleagues. I just finished a pitch video for Beeline. The client likes it so they’re going to turn that script into a TVC that I will edit after the shooting.

Because my boss Erik Verheijen [Head of Broadcast] wants me to learn more about how film functions in the commercial realm, he’s hand-guided me through these processes, from developing a script to the online finishing of a TVC. On a typical day I’ll spend some time in a Sound Studio, directing a sound designer; some time on a shoot, to see the production; and then I might run to a color grading session. The last thing I worked on was Levi’s Go Forth commercial, which was interesting because it had a theatrical release, so I got to watch the grading get done in a cinema.

Steph:  Do you feel like coming to Tisch School of the Arts Asia somehow contributed to you getting the job?

Rene:  Well, yes; mainly because I met the Head of Broadcast, Erik Verheijen, in a supermarket in Singapore! I didn’t have money to pay my groceries and had tried using my Dutch bankcard, which got declined. He saw this and paid for my groceries. Afterwards we talked. He just got back from a feature film shoot in New Zealand that I knew the director of, so we sat down and had coffee. He then flew me out to South Africa to shoot a Making Of piece for Honda and that film became a little success. When there was a position available at Wieden they contacted me via Skype to do a job interview.

Steph:  And how does working in the commercial world compare to graduate art-school?

Rene:  Actually, working for Wieden feels like being back at school. The bar is super high yet people still know how to have fun. No matter how small the project is you have to perform, but how you do that doesn’t matter. Every week there are parties we [the employees] get invited to, with drinks and bands and whatnot, and if you can’t work with a hangover you’re out. I see the office as an orphanage for adults.

Steph:  I just have to say, when we were in class together you were probably the last person on earth I’d have guessed would go into commercial work.

Rene:  Haha, I know. I hate 90% of all commercials but the work we do is not bad. For example, our firm was at the MoMa AICP awards and I actually felt proud when we won a lot of prizes with Nike’s Write The Future and another campaign for Old Spice. I hate admitting it, bu I think that shows W+K stole a bit my heart.

Steph:  So do you think you’ll ever go back to making films?

 Rene:  It was never my intention to do commercial work but the opportunity presented itself and was too good to pass up. I’ve decided to see it as a stop or station along my journey of making films. Cinema is my passion and ambition and even though we [W+K] make some nice commercials with feature film directors like Innaritu and Mendez, commercials are little brothers to film. A film is not a vehicle to sell a product unless you talk about a James Bond movie, and a film has the time to get you emotionally involved with the characters something a TVC cannot do. I had hoped to make the step to cinema a bit quicker but due to the fact that the program was so expensive I need a bit more time to finish paying off my debts. But everyone has to work, and for just coming out of school I’m pretty happy with what I’m doing.

Steph:  How do you think your life would be different had you not gone to Tisch School of  the Arts Asia?

Rene: The experience I had in Asia took me out of my sole, Western perspective and opened me to Asian cultures that I’m still seeking out. I mean, Papaya or Mango salad is unforgettable not to mention eating a fresh coconut on a hot day!

But more importantly, NYU not only gave me a great life during the Program but also the skills and insights I needed to move forward in a professional business manner.

Steph:  What do you know now that you wish you would have known the day you got off the plane in Singapore to start grad school at Tisch School of the Arts Asia?

 Rene:  My biggest mistake at Tisch was that I did a lot of work by myself. I was too afraid to ask people to help me or I was not confident enough to let other people do things I needed. I know now is that other people’s input is crucial to your success. You think what you’re doing is great but somebody else can almost always make it better. The question of how to do that often lies in someone else’s mind or hands.

What I wish I would have known the day I got off the plane in Singapore is, that you can learn the tools to make a good film but making an excellent film is still a mystery. People hate to admit it but it’s true. You can only hope to get a little closer with each project, refining your skill sets along the way.