Behind the Scenes on Samsung's Interactive Football Celebration
ACNE LA’s director Nic Iyer’s new interactive football campaign for Samsung, created by Evolution Bureau, saw people from all over the world being selected to fly to Rio and live like star players for the day. A film was made featuring each of the contestants living the dream, signing autographs and walking through the streets of Rio, then posted on Facebook for the public to vote for one victor. The films feature beautifully crafted carnival costumes, favelas and iconic locations throughout the city and went live during this summer’s prime footballing event.
In order to find suitable contestants ACNE had to conduct real people casting all over Europe and South America, with Vagabond Films stepping in to help with casting in Argentina, Colombia and Brazil.
Once the final contenders were selected, the lucky final ten were flown into Brazil. Vagabond’s co-founder comments that “This was one of those dream jobs that went so smoothly. We had a loose script and 10 contestants to manage and take care of. There were lots of unknown elements and thinking off the cuff but working in an area we know so well and with a great team, we were able to make the whole shoot flow perfectly.”
Samsung client Spencer Lee commented that I have shot all over the world but this is the best production I’ve ever worked on.”
Director Nic Iyer also praised the shoot, commenting that “Vagabond was great in creating a work environment that fostered my creativity while shielding me from the chaos that is part of the production process and can become a distraction.”
Nic also added “I would work with Vagabond again in a heartbeat. Production is hard by itself. Compound that with the fact that we were in Rio de Janeiro, shooting in the heart of the Favelas, which can be a very dangerous place. You need people you can trust and who are figuratively and physically going to watch your back! Vagabond excelled in all of the above, we became like a family and in the end it was very hard saying goodbye”.
Vagabond Producer Gabriel adds that ‘Vagabond was a safe pair of hands for both our clients and the contestants. There are times you just need to be flexible and we worked well to ensure that everything that needed to be was achieved whilst maintaining the flexibility that the schedule and shoot required.’
The final 10 featured in the campaign were from Guatemala, Spain, Argentina, Italy, Colombia, Brazil (x 3), UK and Germany. Find out more on the Samsung TV Facebook page.
