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Behind the Work in association withThe Immortal Awards
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Your Shot: Volvo’s Slackline Stunt

22/08/2012
Production Company
Los Angeles, USA
513
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Move over Evil Knievel - Forsman & Bodenfors’ death-defying exploits

 

Crossing a high wire seems like a pretty scary thing to do. Crossing a highwire outside; scarier yet. Crossing a highwire outside with nothing but tarmac to break your fall - well, you wouldn’t catch us up there. Crossing a high wire outside with nothing but tarmac to break your fall when the wire is attached to two trucks hurtling down a closed of stretch of Croatian motorway at 80 mph? You what? Swedish agency Forsman & Bodenfors have managed to clock over 2.7 million YouTube hits in the last couple of days with their death-defying film from Smuggler’s Henry Alex Rubin. The creative was developed to show off the FH Series’ precision handling – and while there are probably easier ways to do this, nothing can beat the impact of this film.
 

World record-holding slackliner Faith Dickey is the woman of the moment, making her way from one truck to the next just before the line snaps. Pirates of the Caribbean stunt coordinator Peter Pedrero was brought on board to oversee the risky trick.
 
We caught up with the team at Forsman & Bodenfors (Martin Ringqvist, Sophia Lindholm, Björn Engström and Anders Eklind) and director Henry Alex Rubin to find out just what was going through their brains when they came up with this impressive yet totally insane idea.
 
 
 
LBB> What was the brief that Volvo originally came to you with and how did it develop into this daredevil stunt?
 
F&B> The Ballerina Stunt is the starting point of a launch campaign for the new Volvo FH series. Basically we wanted to create as much buzz as possible and at the same time, demonstrate one of the most important features of the new FH truck; it’s significantly improved steering and handling. A stunt like this was not what Volvo had in mind, for sure, but they’ve been extremely open-minded and bold from the start and throughout the whole process. 
 
LBB> When did you realise that the stunt might actually be possible? Were you ever worried that it would not work?
 
F&B> We wanted to do this for real from the second we came up with the idea, but of course we doubted that it was realistic. After the first phone call with director Henry Alex Rubin all our worries disappeared. He was very persistent. This stunt had to be done for real. No. Matter. What. At first, the stunt team thought it was impossible, but in the end they solved all the problems, with full safety.
 
LBB> What was your first thought when you saw the brief from the agency? Did you even think the stunt would be possible?
 
HAR> I always get excited by briefs that sound half-baked and delusional. A lot of advertising is predictable. My favourite projects are those that seem impossible to execute. 
 
LBB> In terms of the visuals of the film, what sort of look did you want to achieve?
 
F&B> Since Volvo is a premium truck brand we wanted the spot to look fantastic. At the same time we didn’t want to lose authenticity. So the trick was to find a balance between high quality footage and the raw GoPro look.
 
LBB> Even though it's a really crazy stunt, you still had to make a beautiful piece of film. How did you balance the demands of safety with the aesthetics of the film?
 
HAR> We were only able to shoot from angles where the cameramen could be strapped in or where we could affix Go-Pros. We shot on Alexas with PL mounts and used a lot of old uncoated zoom lenses we found at a camera house in Berlin. 
 
LBB> What did the director Henry Alex Rubin bring to the spot?
 
F&B> Nerve. Authenticity. Modernity. And the fact that we ended up with one spot rather than two. Initially we discussed whether we should approach the project in the old school way, making a beautiful commercial with some clever copy at the end and shooting a behind the scenes film as a viral. The alternative option was to make just one film which did both jobs. Henry was very clear on what he thought, so we ended up with one, which was the right thing to do.
 
LBB> What sort of preparation did you have to do for this job - were there test runs elsewhere using stationery trucks, for example?
 
HAR> Yes, we rehearsed and timed the stunt in a parking lot many times before trying it on the highway. We then practiced on the real highway for a day before we shot. 
 
LBB> You worked with stunt co-ordinator Peter Pedrero on this - what were his chief concerns? And what did he bring to the set in terms of his expertise?
 
HAR> Peter is a brilliant stuntman and problem solver.  We were often at odds as my task was to shoot an eyebrow-raising stunt worthy of an action film, and his was to make sure Faith Dickey wouldn't get killed. I called him Dr No because he said ‘no’ to me so much, but I can’t imagine working with anyone else. We were all surprised when she first fell getting onto the rope. But in the end we managed to shoot it and no one was hurt.  
 
LBB> ... and what about the star of the shoot, Faith? What was she like to work with and did she appear nervous before the stunt?
 
F&B> We don´t think Faith needed to be convinced. As soon as she realised that we wanted to do this for real, that it was extremely difficult and that no one had ever done anything like it before, she was on board. And she was absolutely fantastic to work with. 
 
HAR> By the time we were shooting, Faith was confident. She's walked so many death defying lines over canyons with thousand foot drops. It was up to the drivers to keep her line taut and straight. Whenever any safety conditions were questionable, her instinct was to go for it. 
 
LBB> The shoot was in Croatia – how did the local production services deal with this very challenging shoot?
 
HAR> The Croatians thought we were a bit nuts, but everyone admired Faith so much that they worked unusually hard to keep her safe.  
 
LBB>  You worked on a piece of closed-of highway - what was that location like to work in and how accommodating were the Croatian authorities?
 
HAR> We were turned down by many different countries before we ended up getting a location permit in Croatia. I think the insurance for a stunt like this was very complicated. But Volvo had a lot of faith in the ability of these trucks and their drivers to pull this off, so they were great partners and helped our production company Smuggler fight to secure this perfect stretch of highway. 
 
LBB> The film has had nearly 2.5 million hits already - why has it captured the public's imagination?
 
F&B> It´s a pretty nerve wracking stunt. And it’s relevant.
 
Credits
Agency: Forsman & Bodenfors
Art Director: Anders Eklind, Sophia Lindholm
Copywriter: Martin Ringqvist, Björn Engström
Account Supervisor: Olle Victorin
Account Manager: Cilla Glenberg, Alison Arnold
Agency Producer: Alexander Blidner
Designer: Jerry Wass
Planner: Tobias Nordström
Director: Henry Alex Rubin
Exec. producer: Chris Barrett
Production Company: Smuggler
Producer: Drew Santarsiero
Production Manager: Ray Leaky
Stunt Co-ordinator: Peter Pedrero
Music: Rumor Mill
Post Production: Absolut Post
Sound: Factory
Editor: Spencer Ferszt @ Marshall street
 
 

 

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