THE PARENTS

Short List
TitleTHE PARENTS
BrandVOLVO CAR CORPORATION
Product/ServiceVOLVO XC60 / XC90
Category A05. Cinematography
Entrant FORSMAN & BODENFORS Gothenburg, SWEDEN
Idea Creation FORSMAN & BODENFORS Gothenburg, SWEDEN
PR FORSMAN & BODENFORS Gothenburg, SWEDEN
Production NEW LAND Stockholm, SWEDEN
Credits
Name Company Position
Karl Risenfors Forsman & Bodenfors Art Director
Sophia Lindholm Forsman & Bodenfors Art Director
Leo Dal Forsman & Bodenfors Art Director
Hampus Elfström Forsman & Bodenfors Copywriter
Nicholas Düfke Forsman & Bodenfors Copywriter
Magnus Wretblad Forsman & Bodenfors Account Supervisor
Katarina Klofsten Forsman & Bodenfors Account Executive
Lena Sellman Forsman & Bodenfors Agency Producer
Bjarne Darwall Forsman & Bodenfors PR Strategist
Daniel Sjöstrand Forsman & Bodenfors Planner
Martin Joelsson Forsman & Bodenfors Designer
F&B Inhouse F&B Inhouse Web Design
Niclas Larsson New Land Director
Joel Rostmark New Land Producer
Adam Holmström New Land Producer
Linus Sandgren New Land D.O.P.
Sophie Tamm Christensen New Land New Land
Carla Luffe New Land Editor
Chimney Chimney Chimney Online
Patrik Johäll Superstudios Photographer, Stills
MUSIC Performed by: Pete Seeger Smithsonian Folk Ways Recordings Music Composition
MUSIC Performed by: Pete Seeger Smithsonian Folk Ways Recordings Music Composition

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

The Parents begins with a couple attending an ultrasound screening, realizing that they will be having twins. The film jumps forward in time and the parents are now dealing with early mornings, towers of diapers, and new problems once the twins learn to walk. The mom and dad hastily baby proof the home, protecting the children from potential dangers. Their lives become an unrelenting stream of work, sleepless nights, diaper changes, and chasing toddlers. Towards the end, the film reaches a pivot point when the mother heads out to buy diapers. As she drives the mother doze off, drawn to sleep by the brief moment of serenity. She is slowly drifting into the opposite lane of oncoming traffic when the car alerts her and automatically steers back into its lane, avoiding a dramatic accident to happen. Supers appear: The car that looks after you, like you look after others.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

The portrayal of parents in the media is often unrealistic, creating impossible standards to live up to and a harsh social media climate. This image often leads to “parent shaming”, when moms and dads are guilted when they don’t live up to this unachievable standard. We wanted to go down a different route: to show that even the most exceptional parent gets tired and makes mistakes. To fully utilize this idea in social media, we used an online phenomenon, so-called “parent saves”, and combined it with our own footage to create humorous short clips. And to break category language in still images, we combined beautiful car photography with chaotic family life. All assets led to the same powerful message: sometimes, we all need someone looking after us.

Tell the jury anything relevant about the cinematography.

With this piece, we wanted to communicate a serious topic, distracted driving, with a humorous and relatable tonality. It was important to achieve a balance between the established high craft image of Volvo as a brand, but with scenes that would make the viewer smile at the funny situations but also relate to the stress and exhaustion. To achieve this, we worked with a world renowned feature film cinematographer, making sure that all scenes felt authentic and real, but with natural lightning and a layer of feature film magic. The camera angles and movements were also an important way to add humour to the film and to highlight the intensity of life with toddlers. It was filmed on 35 mm, which allowed us to create the in-camera-time-lapse effect throughout the film, that reinforces the feeling of repeating stress and lack of sleep, building up to a crescendo at the end.