Tom Green & MPC on Crafting Oxfam's Hospital Heist

Tom Green, director, Stink Films 

You’ve directed several hard-hitting charity spots/PSAs already, why did this particular script appeal?

The script tackled a huge issue that isn’t perhaps as obviously connected to the charity sector as you might imagine. As soon as you scratch the surface, it becomes obvious how impactful it is. Here was an opportunity to make something arresting, whilst making a significant point, without having to use the stereotypical NGO route of a call for action for donations. This was a genuinely interesting conversation, a kick-starter; an opportunity to shine a light on an issue that has enormous and devastating consequences that aren’t discussed enough by either society or government. It’s an absolute disgrace that it goes on and it felt like we had the chance to make an impactful film that resonates with the audience and could start a conversation – calling this kind of tax avoidance to account.

Did you know immediately how you wanted to approach it? 

I did. It was simple in terms of the writing of the script. Initially it was about removal men coming into a hospital, and that was pretty much where it began and ended. The idea was there, and the structure was there, but as soon as I read it, it read to me like a heist movie. It wasn’t written like that in the script so that was what I pitched straight back to the agency and creatives. I very much wanted to approach it in a cinematic way - that it would feel like a hybrid between a music video and a heist movie that would draw audiences straight in. I felt that that was the most accessible way of making the audience engage with the subject matter.

Tell us a bit about the location – was it shot in an actual hospital?

No, it wasn’t. We shot in the Ukraine, in Kiev. The interior is an old university building, which had loads and loads of different and varying spaces from the Soviet era – monolithic architecture that I felt gave it a slightly otherworldly quality. The exterior was another building in Kiev, a museum that we did some VFX on. The reason that we chose these locations was that the brief was very much about it being representative of a generic or non-specific world. It wasn’t targeting any one individual country. My approach was to create a slightly dystopian feel that would allow you to recognise and relate but also make it impossible to pinpoint where you were.

There are some pretty harrowing moments, culminating in the shot of the baby’s incubator being turned off – did you have to tone anything down in the final edit?

The area that we did have to work hard and look at with the client was the ending and the sequence around the baby and the incubator – for obvious reasons. That is the scene that distresses people the most – we didn’t want it to feel like a cheap shot but it did need the drama of the piece to land the kind of punch to fully highlight the very direct consequence’s of tax avoidance. It felt like it needed to land that dramatic blow at the end, taking it to that place. It’s what the film needed to do – to really move people. That it affect them enough to take some sort of action and to inspire them to ask bigger and more important questions of the companies that aren’t paying tax.

What was the most challenging part of the production process?

That we had a very small budget and one day to shoot. We had an incredibly dedicated team of superb HOD’s who just worked themselves to the bone for no money. We received incredible generosity from all of the crew and from MPC, Whitehouse Post, SIREN and Factory – everyone did it for the love of it – one day, a very small budget, it was a huge challenge. 

George K, senior colourist, MPC

The grade also played an important part in setting the tone of the ad - tell us a bit about that.

We approached the grade as if it were a film trailer / movie, keeping the mood cinematic and moving towards darker tones to create its sinister feel, at the same time remaining sympathetic to the subject matter. We didn’t want it to feel too oppressive - initially we went for a steely palette, but found this made the wards look too bleak and the patients’ skin tones feel too cold. Overall, I think we achieved a look that is in keeping with the film’s narrative.