- What was the brief for the latest campaign for 30 Millions d'Amis (30 Million Friends)?
The aim was to renew the discourse after three films about abandonment, by looking beyond pets to highlight the foundation's work in favour of the entire animal cause.
- Do you think that, during the pandemic, attention was more focused on what was happening to people?
After confinement there was an increase in abandonment, because some people had taken a pet for company without considering that the decision is binding for life.
- Have animals suffered more in the current context?
I don't have any figures on that, so it’s best to ask the associations. But it seems likely that the psychological difficulties associated with confinement sometimes reflected negatively on pets, just as it did on people.
- Is this why the campaign puts the welfare of all animals back at the heart of the message, when previous campaigns seemed to focus only on pets?
The campaign is not linked to the pandemic, as animal abuse is a constant social issue. Today, public opinion is increasingly aware of the fate suffered by animals, in particular thanks to social networks and the work of associations. The challenge is to push politicians to take stronger action in the run-up to the presidential elections.
- What led you to choose the director, Bruno Aveillan?
The script featured very cinematic writing. We wanted powerful emotions and a very formal visual rendering: the opposite of the raw videos you see on the internet. The agency’s production department suggested Bruno Aveillan and I immediately thought it was THE good idea. We hoped he would accept, because he’s one of the profession’s star directors and he chooses his projects scrupulously. But it turned out that he’s very concerned about the animal cause and he was hooked by the script right away.
- The animal effects are spectacular. How much is reality and how much is CGI?
Everything was filmed live under the supervision of caregivers and veterinarians, to ensure the animals weren’t stressed and were treated well. For example when you see the monkey howl, in fact it’s yawning and we actually added its scream in post-production.
- What are the next steps ?
We’d like this film to be shown in cinemas so we’ll be talking to their advertising sales houses about that. The challenge for the Foundation is to mobilize public authorities so that animal suffering becomes part of the national debate. The movement is underway.