When Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall, nowhere in the rhyme did it mention him to be an egg. Yet, we are sure that Humpty is no other than a personified jacket-wearing oval zygote when we see him in the mind’s eye and not many identify him otherwise.

This is the power of a visually translated script.

An advertiser’s work is with the mind.

A filmmaker’s work is with storytelling to experience a recreated reality.

Together they make a powerful demonstrative combo that offers a sure impression to the decision makings behind our consumption.

Any ad film is an experience around what is being sold - a product, service, a philosophy, an idea for change. A carefully made ad film suspends disbelief as we imagine ourselves in the environment guided by the influence of a brand’s desires. The outcome is predetermined and success rests on the decision making of the market. In other words, the decision making of the mind! A delicate crafting of culture is taking place.

Are we conscious storytellers as ad filmmakers within the global marketplace? We insist on emotion, social connection and design to drive engagements to the films that we make, but just by participating in the creation of the ad, do we not also offer our patriotism to the brand we are communicating on behalf of? What are the brand’s intentions and ethics? What are ours? How do the brand owners see the world they want to build? How do we? Do their target audience truly benefit from their offer? Is it healthy? The clutter of media and communication is real but is each piece within it worth the watch? Can there be change towards a better, more inclusive, more conscious collective of creators?

It must be said that this subjectivity of a filmmaker’s mind is as delicate as a consumer’s decision making. And so, at what points in the process of releasing an ad-film can we bind our connection to it as ad-filmmakers?

A stitch in time technique is needed that allows room for conscious creation and goes deeper than our current processes around meeting deadlines. Just like research findings and the film’s treatment note become necessary documents for advertising approvals, so may a published certificate of intention from its makers.

A recipe that works world-over during the process of brand crafting is the idea of ‘double disassociation’ to make conscious storytelling possible. It means to watch ourselves watch the ads we make with the intention to sit with the effects of its influence on our own minds - ‘the viewing of the offline!’

With this, could there be room to stop a project in its track way into its process, or is it simply bad for business? Must we offer our craft and go on without interference, or is there a way to submit honest acknowledgement of the psychology at play?

Our human minds are forever at the brink of expansion with no one to monitor us but ourselves. Culture making strategies from brands like the Juul stand to anti-testimony here. Our role as ad filmmakers is not just its artistry and commercial sustenance, but also in its ethic; and the director’s approval deserves way more than its current worth in the film processes inside of the careful marketing strategies of companies that craft their presence.

The author is a copywriter, filmmaker and environmentalist. She continues our series, in which through a female lens, women ad film directors and producers share their thoughts about the industry.

This column first appeared in our November issue. Get your copy here. For subscription options click here.