Brett Colliver’s Cannes Diary: Day 57
Brett Colliver (left), CD, DDB is representing New Zealand on the Cannes Cyber Lions jury. Colliver, along with most of the other NZ and Australian jurors, is reporting exclusively for CB.
Today the Cyber jury gathered in Cannes for the first official day of judging.
Except it wasn’t the first day.
The truth is that every member of the jury has already judged hundreds upon hundreds of entries.
Yes, gather round kids, it’s time for a story about the dreaded (cue horror music) prejudging.
I’d heard the stories and been I’d be warned, but I had never realised the extent of it. It started around 8 weeks ago and was relentless until about a week before we arrived.
Each of us had seen at least 500 pieces, which is a quarter of the entries. Think about that. When you’re giving each piece a fair shot (and trust me, all of us are desperate to) that’s at least 5 minutes per entry. Which sounds reasonable. Until you realise that even if you watch every video back to back, that equates to at least a day and a half worth of judging. Each.
So naturally it was a hot topic last night at the jury welcoming drinks, where there were all sorts of stories about how people had managed to fit in their portion. Some had diligently planned out sessions. Some had crammed it in over a couple of weeks. Others had grabbed small windows wherever they could. And some, I’m pretty sure, had simply asked for the Ludovico Treatment, like Alex in A Clockwork Orange
All of which is fine, because every juror is eager to find the best work and would sit through twice as many videos if required.
But it’s worth considering for a moment what prejudging means for your work.
It’s one thing to try to stand out in the jury room. Sure, there’s a mountain of entries, but at least in that environment you have a captive audience.
But now think about how your case study is viewed before it makes it anywhere near the jury room.
Suddenly you’ve got a different audience to contend with. Suddenly you’re trying to stand out to people who are in the middle of their regular lives. Suddenly, dare I say it, you’re talking to someone from the real world.
So you need to consider that your work might be watched by someone who’s only got 12 minutes to spare as they shove their morning Weeties into their mouth.
You might be talking to someone who, after working late on a last minute pitch, is less than jovial after getting home at 10:30pm for the third time that week.
Or perhaps you’ve caught someone who just got back from an overseas shoot and isn’t quite sure what timezone they’re in.
Who knows. But this is the new reality of the big award shows. It may not be perfect but, given the quantity of entries, it’s necessary.
So it’s never been more important to make sure you tell a bloody good story. To make sure it’s simple and that the viewer doesn’t need to fill in too many gaps for themselves. And to make it entertaining.
These are things that we all know but it’s worth a reminder. Because these days, the first hurdle for your work isn’t a jury. It’s a bunch of real people with real lives.