Looking to shoot your next project outside the U.S.? Four hot spots for on location lensing–Argentina, Brazil, South Africa and Australia–are highlighted in this week’s issue. Each offers great shooting advantages–favorable exchange rates, varied locations, and experienced crew and talent.
ARGENTINA & BRAZIL
Top agencies routinely shoot in both Brazil and Argentina. The New York and Los Angeles offices of TBWA/Chiat/Day have been in both countries–the L.A. office shot a Sony PlayStation 2 spot in Argentina with the Buenos Aires office of Miami-headquartered Mia Films, and the New York office brought production for a Starburst job to Rio de Janeiro. Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B), Miami, has also shot several jobs in Brazil.
Of late, Brazil has been garnering a great deal of U.S. work, including the Mini Cooper “Counterfeit” campaign out of CP+B, directed by Bryan Buckley of bicoastal/international Hungry Man. Earlier this year, Hungry Man opened an office in Brazil, Hungry Man Rio, headed up by Alex Mehdeff, formerly of Jodaf Mixer, Rio de Janeiro and Sá0 Paulo. The office has been busy, shooting jobs for MasterCard via McCann Erickson, New York, with director Jim Jenkins, and Burger King with directors Buckley and Marcos Siega for CP+B.
Harry Tracosas, founder president of the Los Angeles-headquartered Global Production Network, a company that connects producers to top-tier production services shops, notes that Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro can easily double for U.S. and European cities. “Since Brazil is so massive, it has all kinds of landscapes as well–everything from jungles to mountains to deserts and seascapes,” says Tracosas, who works with a company called Ocean Films in Brazil, which recently wrapped a Luvs project with director Garth Davis of bicoastal Anonymous Content. “Being closer to the equator, Brazil also has a tropical look and feel that can double for the Caribbean.”
Both Tracosas and Justin Bird, executive producer of Utopia Films, which has offices in Rio de Janeiro, Miami and Los Angeles, note that talent-wise, Brazil has a lot to offer. It’s possible to find Italian, German and French-speakers in the region, and speaking and understanding English, at least conversationally, is fairly common. Utopia recently worked on a Bacardi spot called for McCann Erickson, New York, with director Moshe Brakha of Commercial Head Films, Los Angeles.
Argentina has long been a favorite destination for U.S. productions. Tracosas, who works with a company called BenitoCine, Buenos Aires, notes that like Brazil, locations in Buenos Aires can easily double for U.S. cities, and the exchange rate is incredibly favorable to the U.S. dollar. “Financially, the other advantage of shooting outside the U.S. is always the talent buy-out,” he relates. “In Argentina, there a very ethnically diverse and very professional talent pool.” Recent projects produced through BenitoCine include: Xbox for McCann Erickson, San Francico with directors Noam Murro and Tim Godsall of Biscuit Filmworks, Los Angeles; and Quaker from director Jared Hess of bicoastal/international Moxie Pictures.
SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa is home to a thriving creative community, and has long been a desired destination for spot producers from the U.S. and other countries. Exchange rates are favorable, as is the climate. Its seasons are opposite from North America, so winter here is summer there. Bianca Mpahlaza, marketing manager for the Cape Film Commission of Cape Town, reports that filming is up in the area. “Overall, for the last quarter–June through November–there has been an overall increase of 18 percent in film activity in the region, with an estimated 15 percent increase in commercials in particular [over] last year.” According to Mpahlaza, some of the recent work to come to Cape Town includes ads for: Coca-Cola (U.S.), BMW (Germany), Mercedes-Benz (South Africa and Germany), Nike and Peugeot (France and South Africa), and Nestle and Pepsi (Russia). Agencies to come through the area include various offices of Saatchi & Saatchi, The London offices of JWT and Lowe Worldwide, and Dentsu, Tokyo. Velocity Afrika, which has offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg, shot Nike’s “Opponent,” out of Lowe Bull, Cape Town, directed by Keith Rose, in Cape Town City, Khayelitsha, and Elsies River.
Moonlighting Commercials recently came to Cape Town to shoot a Hyundai Getz spot with Outsider, London, and director Jorn Threlfall. The four-day shoot involved several locations–and helicopter shots–around Cape Town. “Few English-speaking destinations can offer such a variety of different locations that can replicate almost anywhere else in the world, within such an accessible radius–a one to two hour drive–of a major city,” notes Beccy Kellond, marketing manager at Moonlighting. “[There are] cities, a full range of architecture, beach, mountains, vineyards, lush green, arid ‘African’ desert, lake, sea, river–you name the location, you can find pretty much anything here. We are constantly ‘recreating’ Europe, the USA, Asia, and all over the world.”
The production industry is well entrenched in the country, meaning the depth of crew and talent is deep. Because the country has a diverse population, casting is fairly effortless.
South Africa also offers world-class directing talent of its own, including Velocity’s Rose.
AUSTRALIA
Australia is a go-to destination for film and commercial making, with a great exchange rate, good weather, and great facilities and locations for filming. Australia also offers premiere postproduction services, and is home to shops like Animal Logic, Sydney (The shop maintains an office in Venice, Calif.), and Digital Pictures, Sydney. (Animal Logic was behind the effects work in Carlton Draft’s “Big Ad,” a spot that is sure to loom large in the 2006 awards show derby; Paul Middleditch of Plaza Films, Sydney, directed for agency George Patterson Y&R, Sydney.) Fox Studios in Sydney–which opened in 1998–is a popular destination for films and other projects, having hosted features such as the upcoming Superman Returns, Stars Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and Mission Impossible II. It hosts countless commercials, and is also home to the offices of several major Sydney production shops, as well as post facilities.
The country also offers great directorial talent, like Bruce Hunt of bicoastal/international @radical.media (which has long maintained an Australian base), and Steve Rogers of Revolver, Sydney, and Biscuit Filmworks, Los Angeles, who has been creating buzz in the U.S., and the aforementioned Middleditch, who is repped stateside via bicoastal HSI Productions, to name just a few.
Jennifer Millington, marketing and development executive at AusFilm, relates that each of Australia’s state capitals–Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide–“are popular as they offer facilities. Because of the diverse locations on offer here, we have crews going into many areas of each state depending on their creative.” AusFilm is a non-profit organization comprised of 40 corporate members, Australia’s state film offices, and the Australian Department of Communications, IT and the Arts, whose goal is to attract more production to the country.
