Director's Works
International OCD Foundation, Escape the Loop Martin Furze
Martin strives for cinematic ideas that push behavioural change. Coming from a family of directors and ad creatives, he started out as a creative and worked up in ranks of agencies, before becoming a director. This hybrid background enables him to see ideas from a conceptual standpoint, while always thinking about the execution of the final film. A consummate creative, Martin’s mind never stops exploring and the cinematic images he creates are unparalleled in both creativity, scope and depth. In spite of few years directing he has won awards across multiple campaigns and films in shows such as D&AD, Cannes Lions, One Show, Clios, Eurobest, Webby and LIA.
We wanted to change the perception around OCD stereotypes, and help suffering youths break the vicious cycle at an early stage by using a creative approach that would speak directly to them. OCD is a serious mental health disorder causing people to suffer from intensely negative and intrusive thoughts as well as repetitive actions – and the first signs typically shows when you’re a teenager. However, most teens or youngsters don’t seek help as they aren’t aware of the symptoms, and public opinion has shifted to taint the disease as a jokey, funny quirk. So how could the International OCD Foundation reach a notoriously hard-to-get audience with a serious message? We chose to create a piece of film that would put you inside the heads of teens suffering from OCD. Depicting all the different aspect of OCD, so teens themselves could recognise if something was similar to what they were struggling with, but at the same time the film aimed to provide awareness and insight into legitimising that OCD is a serious mental condition and should never be seen as anything but that.