Eclectic Scores Mads Mikkelsen’s Classy Ford Edge Thriller

Eclectic has scored an ambitious new short film for Ford, starring Mads Mikkelsen and directed by RSA’s Jake Scott. Shot in Croatia, using the same location as Game of Thrones, Le Fantôme spearheads the campaign for Ford Edge, the brand’s flagship SUV. 

The beautifully-shot film hinges on a clever reworking of an old-school assassination plot. Mikkelsen plays Le Fantôme, the assassin who, after his encounter with the new Ford Edge, has a change of heart and decides to deviate from his instructions.

‘Le Fantôme’ sees Eclectic reprise its relationship with Jake Scott, whom it teamed up with for Johnnie Walker’s ‘The Gentleman’s Wager’. Eclectic composed a bespoke soundtrack for the eight minute film, which was mixed at Greek Street Studios, creating an individual sound for each character, including the car. On top of this, Greek Street Studios’ Dan Weinberg was also responsible for the audio post - including sound design, ADR, and foley - and the full final mix. 

“We established early on that this wasn't going to be your typical car-heavy soundscape,” explains Colin Smith, Composer and Founder Eclectic. “Our aim was to create a very cinematic but subtle sound, as Bryn and Julian, the leading creative directors, wanted it to be a very calm and thoughtful mix. Bedding the sound design elements deep in the music was necessary to give a subliminal effect that helped the narrative. We settled on a sort of classic Western feel for the Fantome’s theme with the lonely harmonica, which may have also gone a little more towards James Bond territory but hopefully remained quite subtle. The widow character has her own dark piece of music led by a choirboy, and the dance section is based on an old Greek dance.”

Simon Elms, Composer and Founder of Eclectic, adds: “Musically, the hardest thing was having to commit to something stylistically pretty quickly as there wasn’t a huge amount of time to try different routes. On the shoot they also used a bit of Prince Buster during the dance section in the village square which was initially difficult to replace until they chose to use the 10cc track, as then they thought it was too much having two different tracks which initially both seem slightly out of place but did work very well individually. We ended up writing a piece which hopefully just sets the scene and seems right for a dance in that village square.”

Commenting on the collaboration, Colin says: “It’s been great working with Jake again; he always seems to have a very classy touch with everything he does, and not only has great taste in music but is also very open to ideas. Having Joe Guest as editor has been a real asset to the project, as he has a very good take on music and sound.”

‘Le Fantôme’ is now live on TV, cinema, OOH and all digital and social platforms.