www.lionsdailynews.com friday, june 24 , 2011

54
n
Director Felix
Fernandez de Castro
shot this spot for
Iberdrola over five
days in Asturias,
Guadalajara, Valle de
Aran, Madrid and
Salamanca
FRIDAY, JUNE 24,2011
FOCUS ON SOUTHERN EUROPE
“Those two companies present perfect examples of how our business
has been transformed by changing technologies and instantaneous
communication. We have a long-established relationship
making spots for Gucci, and their agency, REM, asked us to
make a stills-based behind-the-scenes [BTS] record of one of
their print campaigns by German photographers Mert and Marcus.
The work has since become more complex, and we have
ended up making a video version of the BTS that complements
and relates to the print campaign. “And for Pirelli we were asked
to make a corporate film that could also serve as advertising,
and which reflects both the company’s five-year plan as well as
how cool the brand is, and their range of tyres. It was shot from
the point of view of the tyres across multiple terrains.”
In Spain the local market is also “very quiet”, according to
TF7-TV executive producer Ivo van Vollenhoven. “Local jobs are
pretty scarce right now, and most of our work recently has been
coming from the UK thanks to the run-up to the Olympic Games,
plus we also have a steady stream of jobs from Harry Tracosas’s
Global Production Network,” he says.
“But our most challenging job in the last year was Nike’s
Write The Future campaign, directed by Alejandro Gonzalez
“TRYING TO GET WAYNE ROONEY,
DIDIER DROGBA, FRANK RIBERY,
RONALDINHO PLUS KOBE BRYANT AND
ROGER FEDERER THERE AT THE SAME
TIME WAS NEVER GOING TO BE EASY”
Ivo van Vollenhoven, TF7-TV
Iniarritu (21 Grams, Nine Lives, Beautiful). The production was
based in Madrid because Ronaldo was a key part of the plot, but
trying to get all the other players and actors like Wayne Rooney,
Didier Drogba, Frank Ribery, Ronaldinho plus Kobe Bryant and
Roger Federer there at the same time was never going to be easy.
“On top of that, the weather was so bad we had to re-schedule,
and find an indoor arena that could be made to look like an
outdoor football stadium in post-production. Eventually we ended-up
shooting for 13 days instead of five, but the end result was
spectacular and the film is in competition at Lions.”
TF7-TV also shot mini-documentary The Imposter with
director James Marsh (Man On Wire) about a professional conman
who impersonates adolescents who have disappeared. He
ends up being adopted by a family who have killed the son they
claim has gone missing. “There were a number of challenges
including a small budget and only eight shooting days, but I’m
proud of what we achieved.”
Paula Mattei, international director for Spanish service
company Puente Aereo, is based in Buenos Aires but has been
charged with broadening the international business
of a company that previously largely drew
its business from Spanish agencies.
“I’m selling the company’s directors all
over the world alongside a colleague in the
Barcelona office,” she says. “Puente Aereo was
always well known for its directors, which includes
people like Felix Fernandez de Castro. Felix was
one of the original founders of the agency SCPF
and is one of the most admired directors in Spain.
He recently shot a beautiful spot for Iberdrola
over five days in Asturias, Guadalajara, Valle de
Aran, Madrid and Salamanca.”
Other work from Puente Aereo currently
on show includes a spot for Pepsodent by Sebastian
Alfie. “It was shot in Argentina as well as in
Jakarta and India,” Mattei says. “It’s particularly
memorable for the scenes with the father and
son who are constantly in the bathroom grooming
themselves.”
In Portugal, Margarida Adonis of Ready
To Shoot reports steady business over the last
year, mainly from the UK, US, Japan, Brazil and
Spain. “We only do international shoots and in
general we work with producers from pretty
much everywhere in the world,” she says. “We
recently worked on a huge worldwide campaign for an alcoholic
beverage that I can’t name at the moment. But I can say that the
campaign is huge and beautiful, and a bit crazy. We also have
just shot a Latin American campaign for Rexona and one for the
Meteor Travel Agency in Ireland.”
But Ready To Shoot’s most complex job of recent months
was three web films for Aston Martin. “We were working with
Serious Films and only had three days to get the job done. That
would have been a tight schedule anyway, but then Barack Obama
was in town for a UN meeting, so the security was very intense,
we were not able to close roads as we would normally have done
and, to top it all, our helicopter was shadowed constantly by the
secret services who were also listening to our radio communications.
This was not entirely surprising, as the films involved
explosions and fake guns, but it was a truly surreal experience.”
Other recent shoots include Renault Korea, Samsung Limousine,
a VW spot, Movistar for Spain and a Tylenol spot with
director David Cornell.
Eduardo Palacios, of Valencia Spectrum, operates between
Valencia and Miami. “I spend the Spanish winters over there,
but I have to say that Valencia is extremely well equipped,” he
says. “The Ciudad de la Luz has one of the biggest sound stages
in Europe. Right now we are seeing a lot of business from the UK
and more shoots from the US now that the dollar is getting stronger.”
Palacios is currently involved in trying to put together a
local association of advertising producers. “There are five members
at the moment and the inspiration behind the idea is that
this area has so much to offer, we think we can better publicise
that with a group effort,” he says. “We have great local talent
thanks to the fact that there have been waves of immigration
from France, Romania and the UK.
“There are all the facilities of Ciudad de la Luz and I can
say with confidence that the technical offer here is every bit as
good as Miami; the only difference is that there is more competition
over there. There is also an excellent variety of architecture,
to the point that we can easily do Paris and have even managed
to get a low-rise Manhattan look for a couple of spots.”^