Computer Arts: How did you get involved with the D&AD Awards?
Klaas Diersmann: It was part of one of our modules, so our whole year entered. The brief was to create an iconic adaptation of the MTV logo to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the station.
CA: How did you come up with the idea of the cake turntable?
Haino Sakurako: We had a few different ideas in the beginning; we had the idea of the cake and lots of themes to do with birthdays. We wanted to do something unexpected at the end and something related to music. Because the cake was round, and so are records, we thought, why not scratch it? We'd had other ideas about making different cake mixes - like a 1990s disco cake mix, and we were going to design all the packaging for them. But in the end we decided to make a TV spot instead. We had loads of fun doing it.
CA: How did you come to work together?
HS: It was the first project we worked on together - Klaas invited me to work with him. I was a bit nervous, because I usually work alone. Last year I entered on my own, and won a brief for the Arjowiggins paper company, so I felt pressure to enter. I specialise in illustration, but I really like problem solving. Klaas specialises in filming, so I drew sketches and we thought about animation, but we decided it would be better to film it.
CA: How did you plan the shoot?
KD: We drew a storyboard and then shot a test film. We then thought about camera angles. It took one week to plan out and prepare the spot. We shot it over a weekend and spent five days editing.
CA: The piece has a similar style to one of your earlier pieces about Detroit, Klaas. Can you tell us more about that?
KD: I worked in Detroit and I was interested in it as a place. It has a lot of empty space and I wanted to find out how that happened. We were given a brief to create a self-initiated project, so I created an animated documentary about it.
CA: How was the MTV spot received?
HS: We hoped that if our entry was good they might put it on MTV, although we didn't really expect it, but they broadcast the spot every hour on the anniversary, which was really good. We've now been asked to work on an ident for MTV Flux.
CA: Do you have any more plans to collaborate? And who with?
KD: We're creating a little T-shirt/fashion label called Stachemou. The T-shirts will have Sakurako's illustrations on it. Plastac is a creative team made up of Sakurako, Per Nielsen (who studied with us) and myself, so this will be our portfolio website.
INFO For more information about the D&AD Global Student Awards, visit www.dandad.org/education/student-awards/. You can also see more of Klaas Diersmann's work at www.dartstyles.de/neu. Look out for updates from www.plastac.net.
