Page 17 - Fujifilm Exposure_27 Bride & Prejudice_ok

commercial break
MOTION PICTURE & PRO-VIDEO
COCA-COLA’S ‘I Wish’
MORE THAN 30 YEARS AFTER THE ICONIC I’D LIKE TO GIVE THE WORLD A COKE COMMERCIAL FIRST AIRED,
A NEW VARIATION ON THE OLD THEME HAS BEEN MADE BY A BRITISH COMPANY. SHOT ON LOCATION IN CAPE TOWN, I WISH FEATURES A COVER VERSION OF THE NINA SIMONE HIT SUNG BY FORMER BASEMENT JAXX VOCALIST
SHARLENE HECTOR, WHO HANDS OUT BOTTLES OF COCA-COLA TO PASSERS-BY AS SHE WALKS ALONG THE STREET. ANWAR BRETT ASKS DP RAY COATES HOW HE DID IT
We weren’t looking to refer- ence any of the period stuff from the earlier commercial on this one, but I think we cap- tured the spirit of it. I used the
Fujicolor 35mm F-400T, a low contrast stock and I was really pleased with the results it gave me. One of the prob-
“lems with shooting in Cape Town is that the light is very harsh. It soars right up into the sky from 10 o’clock until late in the afternoon and is potentially quite unattractive.
road to within a metre of where she was supposed to be as the song ends.
From a camera perspective my main problem was that I had to be able to shoot throughout the day, even as the light changes 180 degrees above us. I wasn’t able to keep re-setting lights, so I had to go for a system that would hold up throughout the day.
It was just a question of timing really, and getting performances out of non-actors. There was lots of flares going on, little kicks because it was supposed to be slightly magical. Technically it went like a dream.
I didn’t feel any pressure because it was a Coke commercial, though I’m sure the agency, Mother, did. And I’m really impressed with Mother for going out with such a strong idea.
The commercial has aroused some extreme reactions. Some people loathe the idea of this woman handing coke bottles out, other people think it’s quite evocative of a successful com- mercial from the past. But love it or hate it, you have to take your hat off to the job that our director, Ringan Ledwidge has done on it. Pretty impressive I’d say.
I’ve worked with Ringan many times before so he doesn’t have to show me things he wants to reference in order to get into my head. He puts the colours that he wants in there with wardrobe and cars.
We worked to a colour palette in terms of the cars that we had going down the street, the clothes that peo- ple were wearing and the colours that we painted the walls with.
Every detail was very carefully thought out, to the extent that we had to stop shooting for 20 minutes because someone spotted a
blue car in the background.
The last thing we wanted to
do was remind the viewer,
even subliminally, of a rival product.” ■
I Wish was originated on 35mm Fujicolor F-400T 8502 Motion Picture Negative
Sharlene is very pretty and quite dark skinned. The searing hot light isn’t very cosmetic, it was back lit and, of course, the buildings in the back- ground were white. So we had this phe- nomenal contrast problem to deal with.
I had to keep loads of light on her face so that you could keep the detail on her as well as in the background. But we couldn’t have fixed lights because ultimately you’re seeing all the way down the street, so the light has to be moving. And there has to be more than usual because there are so many people and cars crossing that they’d be throwing shadows onto her if I went with a single source.
I’m not saying it was a big job or particularly difficult, but we had to go about it the right way. I found that we were getting detail in the background, in the whites particularly, that I’d expected to burn right out. The detail that it held in the blacks was very good too.
I was four or five stops over exposed and yet the buildings in the background held up very well. The stock has quality to it, it didn’t take much in the telecine to bring all the right colours out. They all held up and had a real softness as well. I’ve used the F-400T in the past in studio situa- tions but this was a bit different, a high pressure job, and I’m relieved that it came out so well.
We did it as a single Steadicam shot, we had an excellent South African operator called Sarel Pretorius, and it took a lot of rehears- ing for Sharlene to start her song and finish 100 yards down the end of the
Agency: Mother Production Company: Small Family Business Director: Ringan Ledwidge Producer: Sally Humphries
Fuji Motion Picture And Professional Video • Exposure • 15
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