Cat videos are a staple of the Internet. But this Volkswagen Marketing Leasing spot provides a role reversal twist–with people dressed as cats and performing feline antics. You’ll see one person as the Japanese cat that jumps and slides into boxes, a woman who’s the Roomba vacuum riding cat, a guy who climbs the window curtains, and yet another who portrays the wise ass cat who knocks over a vase.

Then a “real” cat appears behind the wheel of a Volkswagen, informing us that you don’t have to be a cat to get on the Internet–just like you don’t have to buy a VW in order to drive one. Leasing is a purr-fect option.

To keep the homemade, viral cat YouTube video look of the genre intact, all the people-cats were shot on an iPhone 6. The end cat and car shots were lensed with a professional industry camera.

“A lot of what we think of as bad footage on YouTube really dates back along way to early days of camcorders and bad phones,” said Curtis Wehrfritz who directed the spot via Tony Petersen Film, Berlin, for agency Mangan Berlin. “To keep the film look true to that of the average viral cat video was important to me. So after some video tests, I felt it important that we not try to achieve the look in post, but rather figure out a workflow that allowed us to shoot HD on an iPhone 6. I did however employ a handheld GIMBAL ISEEI by SHAPE. It’s a type of a handheld steady device that allowed us to control the light weight of the iPhone and use it more like a traditional camera.”

Wehrfritz added, “We began this project with an intense casting session and pre-production planning that included a stunt coordinator and a special rig to simulate the curtain gag,” said Wehrfritz. “Cats act like diva rock stars, their demeanor is so dry, and unaffected. It’s not that the cat drops the vase but rather his ‘who gives a shit’ attitude that really makes them funny. We wanted to make sure we captured that.”

Credits

Client Volkswagen Marketing Leasing Germany Agency Mangan Berlin Christian Fries, copywriter/concept; Christian Peters, Felix Szymoniakn, art directors. Production Tony Petersen Film, Berlin Curtis Wehrfritz, director; Stefan Austmeyer, DP; Fabian Barz, exec producer; Stefanie Schuster, producer. Cat Animation Fido, Sweden. Casting Ana Davila Production  Design Andres Heldmann. Styling Katja Hoft. Editorial Hannes Andresen, editor. Post NHB Studios Berlin Pana Argueta, color grading. Music Steve Ibsen

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