CLOSE-UP: CAMPAIGN SCREEN - DIRECTOR'S CUT. Jay Pond-Jones comments on the best ads in the new issue of Campaign Screen.

Whatever media you are working in, high- concept, low-cost ideas fit the economic and attitudinal mood around the globe right now. And there are loads of examples among the ads, promos and short films in this month's Campaign Screen.

There isn't a much better place to start than with Michel Gondrey's spot for Levi's Type 1s, featuring the mutant mice people. Now, clearly, this wasn't cheap. There's post-production in every frame, because Gondrey insisted on using real mice. That said, by shooting on video, he has cleverly given it a non-glossy feel, which plays to the current mood perfectly.

Nellee Hooper composed the track. There's also some exclusive footage showing how Gondrey actually made it all happen technically.

MTV Aids Awareness spots from Mother bring a welcome new approach to promoting the use of protection. And there's an unexpected twist in TBWA/London's Transport for London ad promoting black cabs, directed by Mike Leigh.

I won't spoil them for you.

You'll even find lower-budget ads in Mark Tutssel's guide to the Super Bowl. That said, you'll also find some very expensive ones. For my money, and I suspect the clients', the cheaper ones such as Fed Ex's Castaway spoof win out.

The direction on Daniel Kleinman's Johnnie Walker 'human shoal', just to contradict myself and to show there are no rules, is money well spent and nothing short of amazing. And the Rupert Sanders 50-camera Nike ad for Wieden & Kennedy Portland, while pulse-racing for us, was presumably heart-stopping for the editor ...