The Power Of V

May 29, 2012 by Screenmag

We’ve always had our doubts about that whole nitrogen-enriched gasoline that Shell goes on about, but enjoyed the visuals and music in Sugar Film Production’s Director Chris Smith recent spot “Power of V Deux.”

The new :30, out of JWT, Houston, features a series of people from different walks of life on road trip adventures enriched through the high performance Shell V-Power fuel.

Smith worked closely with JWT to escalate the scope of the spot and enhance the imagery with a wide range of vivid shots. After establishing the creative and visual aesthetic in the concepting phase, Smith was able to incorporate a broader range of imagery while shooting with nimble creativity. On location in Big Sur and San Francisco, Smith utilized the wide variety of terrain accessible to the iconic Highway 1, ranging from expansive ocean views from Big Sur’s cliffs to towering redwood forests due north, all underpinned with a great track out of Yessian Music.

A Pursuit Systems Porsche Cayenne Crane was utilized in the shoot to capture vast images and moving shots.

“The shoot employed at least two cameras at all times,” Smith says. “One for natural handheld shots to contrast with the other camera that lived on a Pursuit Systems ‘russian arm-style’ car. This allowed an amazing amount of footage to be captured from epic camera moves along the coast or through the Redwoods contrasting with subtle shots of faces enjoying their cars equipped with Shell V-Power.”

“Working with Chris Smith and the team from Sugar made for an incredible shoot,” says JWT Producer Connie Sorrels. “The ability to capture footage with such a variety of POV’s gave us an enormous amount of scenes to work with editorially. Chris Smith’s direction was exactly what this spot needed. He has an eye for capturing the footage necessary for the brand, but also brings an emotional and artistic beauty beyond that of marketing needs.”

Credits:
Client: Shell
Title: “Power of V Deux” :30
Agency: JWT, Houston
Agency Producer: Connie Sorrels
Executive Creative Director: Ray Redding
Creative Director: Kevin Teevans
Production Company: Sugar Film Production, Dallas, TX
Executive Producer: Tony Miglini
Director: Chris Smith
Producer: Michelle McAnally
DP: Afshin Shahidi
Editorial: Sugar Film Production, Dallas, TX
Offline/Online/CC: Dan Birnbaum
Audio: John Joiner, TVP Houston
Music: Yessian