Automakers have been at the forefront of efforts to advance broadband video advertising, but Mazda takes a step back with “The Awesome Adventures of Wild Child,” which is reminscent of famous movies from the past with car chase scenes.
“We took the major ideas, like a fruit cart being hit, from The French Connection and the ’80s hijinks movies,” said Dan Ravine, creative director at Sarkissian Mason, the New York agency that worked with Go Film, the production company, and Matt Lenski, an independent director, who is now a director at Epoch Films.
The spot, which is an ad for the MazdaSpeed3, a compact car, doesn’t feature real cars at all, but a bright red slot car that winds through a city at trailblazing speed, ramming into the fruit stand, knocking the door off a sports car and flying over two police cars that are positioned to stop it as pedestrians look on with amazement.
The spot is designed to look like a movie trailer with the Awesome Adventures title screen and credits at the end. Ravine said the goal was to run it in movie theaters, but it hasn’t been done yet.
“Mazda came to us and said we’re doing a new car for the younger demographic, youth oriented, fast and furious,” Ravine said. “We tried to shy away from the obvious by using a model of the car on an old race track. We went through old movies and came up with the idea for the over the top car chase, an action film that’s not straight ahead action, but with funny scenes, too, like the car spinning out in the parking lot.”
Lenski called the project a “dream come true to build a mini city and race slot cars through it.” It involved “an interesting production method because we did everything on a small scale. We used different cameras, different lenses, different speeds and shot it in overcrank in slow motion to give it the illusion that it’s going normal. We followed the frame per second conversion ratio for shooting at a smaller scale and had an amazing time shooting it.
“Lens flares and overhead shots were used to show off the car, but it was still a model,” Ravine said.
“The entire piece is built with film trickery,” Lenski said. “When the car shoots out from a shopping container, we built a close up shot of the container facing straight down and the camera pointing up, so it’s gravity pulling the car down.”
Lenski also lauded the sound effects, created by Ear Goo, New York, which included engines, screeching tires and horns to help make the piece authentic.
The spot, which plays at Mazdausa.com, was distributed on blogs and YouTube.
Robert Wherry, Go Film’s executive producer, said the company launched an online division, which it calls GOON, after it completed work on the Wild Child spot.
Director Hans Emanuel Joins Caviar For Commercials and Music Videos
Production company Caviar has signed director Hans Emanuel for U.S. commercial and music video representation. The film and advertising director fuses his keen--and Berlinale Film Festival Award-winning--eye for cinematic storytelling with a commercial background across multiple genres including beauty, automotive, dance, and visual effects-heavy projects, to produce creative for clients like Kia, Nivea, Nissan, L’Oreal, BMW and more.
Caviar executive producer Salim El Arja noted, “Hans has a unique ability to blend stunning visuals with heart and humor, rooted in his confidence as a craftsman. This allows him to focus on drawing exceptional performances from actors--including celebrities--and crafting films that are not only visually striking but also deeply engaging and often hilariously comedic. His sensibilities align perfectly with Caviar’s vision, and we’re excited to collaborate with him on work that pushes creative boundaries.”
Emanuel added, “Caviar is a renowned name, certainly since I began my career. They have a solid reputation for quality work, and I’ve always respected them as a company. Life is about where destiny makes you flow with the people you need; thanks to a series of projects, I was introduced to Florence Jacob with Caviar Paris first, and the rest is history. I feel they can support my career growth with their comedic expertise and filmmaking prowess.”
Prior to joining Caviar, Emanuel had been repped by production house Stadium. He was born and raised in Santa Monica, Calif., to a Mexican-German mother, benefiting from a culturally diversified upbringing that carried through his education interests. Knowing he wanted to be a filmmaker from the start, he began his career in the luxury and beauty field,... Read More