'Day for Night' Done Right in Mercedes-Benz Campaign from The-Artery

Creative studio The-Artery brought Mercedes-Benz a glistening nighttime coastline with masterful day-for-night technique in the cinematic spot “New Light,” out of agency Merkley + Partners. The spot was produced by The-Artery, directed by CCO and Founder Vico Sharabani, and DP-ed by Oren Soffer, who co-DP’ed the upcoming sci-fi film The Creator, in theaters September 29, 2023 from 20th Century Studios.

Continuing their longstanding partnership with Mercedes-Benz, The-Artery elevated the ad’s storytelling with live-action production, editorial, post, VFX, color grading and finishing, turning a product demo into a cinematic experience for the audiences. The team navigated the isolated location and tricky shoot times to film the spot during the middle of the afternoon off the California coast, then facilitated a combination of masterful color-grading and visual effects to transform the landscape into buzzing night scenes. The bespoke creative system signals a new cost-savings measure for spots uninhibited by trials on-location.

Notes Vico, “Translating a day shoot into the moon-heavy scenic night was the best technique choice on such a short timeline with the right all-encompassing production and post teams, as well as a trusting agency and brand partner. The short amount of time--four weeks from shoot to air--and the knowledge of the creative team/brand gave us the freedom to pursue the most streamlined creative solution. We understand the world of feature films; when a client is comfortable allowing us to use that style, the final ad can be cinematically broken-down as a visual story, in which the product is the star.”

The-Artery previously partnered with the brand in such campaigns as “Invisible Car”--where most of the ad emphasized the all-electric vehicle’s low environmental impact by featuring no car at all – and most recently, a virtual production-based campaign where 57 elements were captured in just three days’ time in partnership with Nant Studios’ XR, filming five cars on a volumetric stage. In “Mercedes 360”, The-Artery directed eight car models filmed in 20K vertical resolution to be projected on the 360-degree circular screens within Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA, making it at the time of release the largest 360 videos in the world, and even qualified for the Guinness Book of World Records.

The-Artery funnels their expertise working on tens of award-winning feature films into every commercial project to elevate ad creative to the cinematic level that most entice viewers, including the same VFX acumen they applied to the horror films Smile, Midsommar, and Beau Is Afraid starring Joaquin Phoenix, the Academy Award-nominated drama Causeway starring Jennifer Lawrence, and others including the Oscar-nominated The Lighthouse, Marriage Story and Oscar-winning The Grand Budapest Hotel.