SCABs

Joe in Limbo – By @joeyfraser95

By Joe Fraser

 

Joe in Limbo

When I first approached the brief I was unsure about what direction to take. What do I say about a country that doesn’t interest me in the slightest? And how do I make a whole campaign about a place I have never been to and will probably never travel to? What I tried to do next… what I tried to do next was…

Joe F

Maybe re-read the brief?

Gémina

Ah, yeah. I did try that. Thank you.

Joe F

De rien.

Gémina

I re-read the brief as closely as possible. What was I missing? I could really say anything I wanted. I just had to bring tourism to the country. Which sounds easy but then I started really think about why people go on holiday. And I found a whole cacophony of sound and reason why people end up going where they do.

Joe F

A reading of Fraser’s expression made it seem like he was unsure of where he was. Perhaps he had previously eaten something that had not agreed with him. I knew from previously working with him that he could not eat peanuts. Perhaps that had put him in that state.

Alfie

I explained to my friend that I had to get out. Away from where I was previously found.

Joe F

A quick mention of a cafe –

Alfie

A quick mention of Sainsbury’s –

Patxi

A quick mention of Market House and Joe had left the building. He left quite abruptly which I think confused us. He forgot his scarf –

Marta

He came out to the entrance. The door did the loud slam behind him which made me turn around.

All good?

Gémina

I exited the building into grey air. Waved the smoke away from my face.

Yeah not bad. Do you fancy getting a coffee? I’m having writer’s block in there.

Joe F

No such thing as writer’s block.

I blew thick smoke after my first drag. It wasn’t the best cigarette but working in a three was –

Zoe

Yeah I know. No writer’s block. Just lazy writers. You are allowed to disagree with Peter Souter on some things.

Joe F

Just not on a lot of things.

Zoe

Just not on a lot of things.

Joe F

Joe seemed frustrated. He had his notes still in his hand. Even though his backpack was on. Why didn’t he put his notes in there?

Gémina

Why didn’t he put his notes in there? I would always try and look after what I’ve written down. He started explaining how his best ideas come in a cafe in Brixton Village. Near the Franco Manca. He couldn’t remember the name of the cafe but the people in there were from Spain and he liked to speak a bit of Spanish with them to practice.

Zoe

Joe mentioned how he had come up with everything he had worked on previously in there. Or at least he and his partner had. He spoke French with the people who worked there. I hated hearing French in London, or anywhere outside of France. If I wanted to hear French around me I’d stay at home. But I was interested in getting a coffee – I just wanted to get a coffee from somewhere normal. I didn’t need a special or indie coffee shop.

Gémina

They compromised.

Zoe

I didn’t have much of a choice. We had to compromise.

Joe F

It was really her choice though.

Zoe

It was really her choice.

Joe F

A great deal of relief came over the guy when he had left the building and was off to get a coffee. Was it really that important to him? Did it really help him that much to be creative or to at least get a couple of ideas? Sounds like a problem. Hopefully just getting out the studio was what helped him. But he had to have a proper excuse and – I guess – somewhere to go.

So an opportunity soon presented itself to him… in the shape of a coffee cup.

Max

I said goodbye to Max and Sophie and we walked through the Church grounds away from the studio and towards Pret a Manger.

Have you had any ideas?

Gémina

Nothing yet.

Joe F

The two were bouncing ideas off each other when they came into the cafe. It was a great thing to see. That’s how it’s done.

Alexandra

The two looked stuck in a rut coming into Pret. They looked like they were arguing over the same point over and over again.

Karolina

I had the sense that we were being judged by those around us for saying weird shit like “people only go on holidays because they’re superficial and want to share it on Instagram.”

Joe F

We had a really productive trip to Pret. We talked about Malta’s tourism attractions and how people felt after going there. I felt like we actually got somewhere with what we were talking about. Joe seemed less frustrated too but still was getting annoyed about how we couldn’t think of how people are friendly to each other. He looked like he was in Limbo. On one hand he loved where we had gone, but on the other he didn’t feel like it could go far enough.

Gémina

It wasn’t overwhelming but it still made me annoyed that I couldn’t quite make that creative leap.

Joe F

That’s what the mentors are for.

Gémina

Yeah?

Joe F

We’re not supposed to have the answers yet. That’s we’re at a school, le sot.

Gémina

Do I want to know what that means?

Joe F

No.

Gémina

Fair. But yeah, you’re right. I shouldn’t go mad because the ideas aren’t super clear or I don’t have a proper vision for how what we’ve come up with can fit into a campaign properly. Or smoothly.

Joe F

Exactly.

Gémina

I hated being stuck in the limbo world at the time. But looking back I think it was great for getting my ideas in order. When I was in that place I wrote everything down so I had it all in front of me. It helped calm my thoughts and get everything that was running around my head out and onto paper. It doesn’t matter how messy it was, I can read it which is important

That felt good.

Joe F

I agree.

Gémina

I think we’re onto something here.

We walked back to the studio with our ideas scribbled on paper but a helluva lot more kicking around our heads. At least, that’s what my take was.

Joe F

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