Instead of churning out a typical camera advertisement, Nikon and McCann put the former’s product–the new D800 Digital SLR–to the test by producing Broken Night, a 10-minute short film capable of displaying its advanced cinematic capabilities. Don’t worry if you’re not a camera geek. The project is meant to appeal to professionals on a technical level, but the film’s story stands on its own legs. Sundance, in fact, selected it for the festival’s 2013 U.S. Narrative Short Film Competition.

Personally, I’m not a fan of horror movies, but this is more cerebral and gothic than a blood-and-guts flick. Oscar nominee Guillermo Arriaga (Babel) wrote and directed the short, and Oscar winner/Steven Spielberg‘s go-to DP Janusz Kaminski (Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan) provided the cinematography.

If you’re fed up with the crap currently playing in theaters and reeling from the post-Super Bowl ad hangover, Broken Night is for you. Credits after the jump.

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McCann NY and director Paul Hunter are behind this :60 spot that promotes Sony’s Xperia ion, which marks the electronics giant’s first attempt at launching a 4G LTE smartphone in the US. The lad above has quite the adventure, albeit a short one, in this ad called  “One Block,” which comes equipped with the obligatory Amazing Spider-Man tie-in as well as some chipper Matt & Kim music and, why not, a raging war scene. Our smartphone-loving protagonist, though, is totally impervious (sound familiar?), weathering it all and finding comfort in the safety of his home, couch and furry friend. Uh, dude, look behind you. Credits after the jump.

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…And while we’re on the topic of McCann, we’ll refrain from using the word “quirky” this time around as we’ve learned our lesson after the last Wes Anderson/spot-related post. So, we’ll just tell you that the feature-film director is once again dabbling in commercials, this time for a new Sony Xperia campaign brought to you by, yes, McCann Worldgroup.

Here, an eight-year-old named Jake Ryan offers his take on the inner workings of the brand’s smartphone, which from his perspective, operates at the whims of a leader and his three tiny robots. The whimsical (wait, can we say that?) ditty channels the spirit of Willy Wonka and takes us inside the mind of a young lad, as we’ve been told the script is based verbatim on his thoughts. Kids informing major brand campaigns is all the rage these days, isn’t it? At least we give credit to the parties involved for tapping Sigur Ros frontman Jonsi to handle the music portion.

The above TV spot, which will debut this weekend, is complemented by a print campaign that’s already launched in European markets but will soon roll out globally. Credits and print asset after the jump.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.