Looking To Buy A VW?
July 5, 2012 by Screenmag
If you’re looking to buy a VW, you might be looking for speed. So to help illustrate the speed of a new line VW vehicles, Deutsch, LA tapped Recommended Media director Chris Woods for its latest Volkswagen web :60 “Fast vs Fast.”
Woods directed a top automotive performance film crew, including a celebrated action feature DP, and car camera rigging that itself looked like it came off the set of the latest Transformers movie. It took some ‘bells and whistles’ in equipment and manpower to capture the comic competition between four of the most popular YouTube speed stars as passengers, and the new VWs racing around a track at breakneck speed.
The YouTube sensations picked for their speedy talent and popularity online included Anthony Brooks, Rubik’s cube solving wunderkind going at it one-handed; Fran Capo, the world’s fastest talking female rattling off the "Gettysburg Address"; John Taylor, speed guitarist who can shred Rimsky-Korsakov’s "Flight of the Bumblebee" at 600 beats per minute; and JFlo, beatboxing champ delivering turbo-charged beats.
Woods combined his experience in precision automotive direction as well his much heralded comic timing (multi-gold Cannes Lions winner for his Skittles campaign) while crammed into the back seat of the speeding cars, driven by Chuck Norris’s stunt driving son, Chris Norris. Strapped in securely next to Norris, the internet famous-but-nonprofessional actors performed their unique and special talents, while Woods gave them a run for their money with the car screeching around every turn.
“Here we are in the middle of a desert race course with four great ‘freaks of nature,’ who had been plucked off of YouTube for their extraordinary and weird talents,” says Woods. “It doesn’t happen very often that you get to combine the technical aspects of an automotive job with a wonderful group of talent. The Deutsch team was great to collaborate with and it was a fun job with all the toys to support a great concept.”
Credits:
Client: Volkswagen
Chief Product and Marketing Officer: Tim Mahoney
GM, Brand Communications: Justin Osborne
Brand Communications Manager: Jeff Sayen
Marketing Analyst: Steve Kuzumchak
Agency: Deutsch LA
Chief Creative Officer: Mark Hunter
Digital Group Creative Director: Jerome Austria
Group Creative Director: Matt Ian
Group Creative Director: Michael Kadin
Digital Associate Creative Director: Scott Clark
Junior Copywriter: Donna Ko
Junior Art Director: Kate O’Connor
Director of Integrated Production: Vic Palumbo
Director of Broadcast Production: Victoria Guenier
Producer: Kacey Hart
Production Company: Recommended Media
Director: Chris Woods
Executive Producer: Phillip Detchmendy
Editorial: Union Editorial
Editor: Paul Plew
Assistant Editor: Eric Brodeur
Editorial EP: Michael Raimondi
Editorial Senior Producer: Joe Ross
VFX/Post: Resolution
Lead Flame Artist: Ben Looram
Flame Artists: Amir Qureshi, Evan Guidera
Sound Design: Elias Arts
Sound Designer: Jay Nierenberg
Mixing: 740 Sound Design & Mix
Mixer: Andrew Tracy