THE AD ISN’T THE PROBLEM.
BORING IS.
We’re a Toronto creative production studio making commercials and branded films with strong concepts, human stories and a healthy sense of humour.
We believe the best ads don’t just deliver the message. They find an interesting way to get you there.
Sometimes that means making you laugh. Sometimes it means making you feel something. Sometimes it means letting you think you know where the story is going, then taking a left turn.
The idea comes first. The filmmaking makes it land.
TWO FILMMAKERS. DIFFERENT OBSESSIONS.
Untold Stories is led by director/producer Arvian Ordonez and DP/co-director Anthony Nguyen.
We don't approach filmmaking from exactly the same place. That's kind of the point.
ARVIAN ORDONEZ
DIRECTOR / PRODUCER
Arvian gravitates toward concepts, performance and comedy. He likes setup and payoff, awkward moments, unexpected turns and finding the human behaviour that makes an idea funny.
If a story looks like it’s heading one way, he’s probably wondering what happens if it doesn’t.
WHAT WE’RE HERE TO MAKE
Commercials shouldn't have to choose between selling something and being worth watching.
That's the territory we're interested in.
Strong concepts. Human behaviour. Comedy when it belongs. Emotion when it earns it. Craft that serves the idea instead of getting in its way.
We’re still building our body of work, deliberately moving toward bigger commercial productions and a stronger specialization in performance-driven comedy.
We'd rather earn that reputation than simply write it on our website.
ANTHONY NGUYEN
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Anthony gravitates toward image, emotion and atmosphere. He believes cinematography should do more than make something look good. It should help tell the story.
Light, composition, movement and texture all have a job. If they aren’t helping the idea, they probably don’t need to be there.
SMALL CORE. RIGHT-SIZED PRODUCTION.
Untold Stories stays deliberately small at its core.
Every project is different, so the crew should be too.
We build each production around what the idea actually needs, bringing in trusted producers, production designers, stylists, gaffers, sound recordists, editors and other specialists when the work calls for them.
It keeps the production nimble and puts more of the budget where audiences can actually see it:
on screen.
GOOD BRIEFS.
BETTER STORIES.
If you're an agency or marketing team looking for a production partner who cares about the idea as much as the execution, we'd like to hear what you're working on.