How Ultravision Studios Shot Chevrolet’s Latest Photos from Deep in the Rocky Mountains
What does it take to sell trucks? It’s an interesting question. There’s promotions, certainly, TV ads are a frequent occurrence, and plenty of social media opportunities to go around. However, one aspect which some might not think of immediately, is through photography itself. Whether it’s to generate images for a brand website, provide stills that show up on billboards, or serve as complementary material for a larger campaign, there is no doubt that this plays an integral, if not sometimes underappreciated, aspect in any vehicle-based campaign.
Take, for instance, the recent Chevrolet campaign by McCann - a global initiative to promote the new Silverado. Through joining as the photography team, Ultravision Studios found themselves venturing to the Rocky Mountains and shooting in freezing temperatures, all in order to capture photos. That’s a lot of effort required to create something that people scroll through on a brand website - work which people might not even consider, unless they’re privy to the story of how it came to life.
To learn more about this process, as well as what it took to bring the Chevrolet photos to life, LBB’s Josh Neufeldt sat down with Ultravision Studios’ producer and director, Rob Crenson.
LBB> How did you get involved with the Chevrolet shoot? Why was this something you were interested in, and what was the brief?
Rob> The great Roman philosopher, Lucius Seneca, said ‘luck is when preparation meets opportunity’. The opportunity with Chevrolet came through a word of mouth referral between our photographer, Jussi Grznar, and myself, our producer. The agency and creative team was looking for a nimble yet scalable production team who could plan and execute a larger scale stills campaign within two different shoot environments. Although this was in tandem with a larger motion picture set, we were completely our own unit with our own creative, talent, locations, and crew. We were interested in the project as it called for challenging creative, ambitious locations, and a face paced timeline - all facets we thrive within.
LBB> Going into a campaign where the objective is to depict the trucks in a certain way, were there specific shots you were required to get? Or were you given a degree of creative freedom?
Rob> As per usual, there were definitely varying degrees of creative needs from the client and agency, and as such, we were given a liberal amount of creative freedom during the planning and shoot stages of the project. The aim was to showcase two new Chevrolet truck models that had slightly similar but different design features and price points. We wanted to capture the vehicles in two contrasting but impressionable locations that complemented each vehicle's design features and overall use case.
It’s pretty incredible how modern day SUVs or trucks can offer such versatility and performance. They can be used in tighter urban city environments, but also out in rugged remote terrain, as seen in our project. We really wanted to showcase this contrast in a dramatic way, and ultimately, were given the creative freedom to do so.
LBB> The shots themselves were all done in Alberta. What made this the right location for shooting, where specifically did you shoot, and how long did it take?
Rob> The big Berta’. We love shooting in Alberta! It’s a great place for creatives and production, as the landscape just speaks for itself and the market holds solid, passionate crew and talent. The client was looking for large sweeping shots of mountain ranges and cityscapes with creative integration of the natural landscape, as it complements the design of the trucks.
Fun fact - we shot at the exact same location that ‘The Revenant’ and the fortress scene out of ‘Inception’ were filmed. So that certainly made it exciting for our team! It was also challenging due to the logistics, as well as the weather being hard to predict and plan for. Shooting in -34°C weather isn’t exactly a walk in the park.
LBB> Jussi Grznar was working the camera - what made him the right person for the job?
Rob> Jussi Grznar, based out of Los Angeles, was selected as our photographer for this because of his strong experience in the automotive space, and truly unique fine art approach to photography. Jussi has a rare talent of finding artistic frames, light exposure, and locations that others often overlook. He puts his whole heart into every single project and always produces an amazing end product. This is all while having such a positive and motivating energy on set. We were so fortunate to be able to work with him, and we feel the final product speaks for itself.
LBB> Do you have any interesting anecdotes or lessons learned from your time on set?
Rob> Yeah - everything moves a lot slower when you are shooting at -40°C and below. Some camera equipment doesn’t even work. We almost saw a drone fall flat out of the sky on multiple occasions!
LBB> The method behind achieving some of the shots - such as sitting in the back of a moving pickup truck or having a Chevrolet truck drift to get itself covered in snow - are quite fascinating. Going in, did you have practical methods in mind for achieving these results, or was this something you figured out on set?
Rob> Scenarios like those are what make our team excel and stand out as a distinguished production company. With all of us coming from varying competitive sports, this has allowed us to feel more comfortable with, and have an appetite for, risk. I don’t want to start defining us as a stunt-focused production company by any means, but simply put, we can handle more stress and risk than most other traditional teams can. We practise techniques, camera movements, and have activities in our daily lives that equate to being able to deliver on this in production.
LBB> Building on this, how does shooting trucks/vehicles compare to other advertising campaigns? Does it force you to take a different approach?
Rob> Shooting vehicles isn’t as easy as most people think. It takes the right team dynamic, lots of pre-planning, and great communication between all parties to make it a safe shooting experience on set. It’s definitely faster paced than, let’s say, shooting a product campaign in a studio setting.
As made evident by this shoot, weather and terrain also play a major factor. And not necessarily showcased in any of the final images is the large group of logistics and location team members, who worked hard and diligently to ensure all company and vehicle moves were well-planned, legal, and servicing the needs of the creative and production.
LBB> The behind the scenes video is a wonderful addition to the work. Where did the idea come from to capture this, and what was the process of filming photography like?
Rob> Our team wanted to showcase the process of what goes into capturing a larger-scale stills campaign. Often, photoshoots are deemed as less important than, let’s say, a motion picture film set, but I’d beg to differ. Essentially, the same amount of strategy, planning, raw creative talent, and timing have to go into capturing the perfect shot, regardless if it's one frame per second, or 140 FPS. There’s always more than meets the eye, and this video captures a small portion of what happened behind the lens.
LBB> What was post like? How long did it take, and what went into bringing the images to life for the Chevrolet website?
Rob> Post-production on this was a standard approach, but with a very tight timeline with our go-to retoucher. As it happened, a lot of what Jussi captured on set was already in a good place and only needed minor colour correction, or the removal of certain things that were captured in frame that didn’t serve the client. It also helped that the production really set up our post-pro process for success, as we ensured our locations were completely private, untouched, and ready for camera at all times.
LBB> What has the response to the campaign been like? And how are you feeling about it?
Rob> We’ve been incredibly pleased with it across all fronts. The reception from the agency and client have been great. We’ve been lucky to see a lot of the content go into market - and in such a tight timeframe after the shoot! It’s weird and subtly fulfilling to see the work you produced be posted on a large banner in a major city like Toronto, for example, or across the landing page of a large company’s website, like Chevrolet.
LBB> Is there anything you’d like to add?
Rob> We’d like to thank our entire production team who worked hard and bore the cold temperatures with us in Calgary, and deep in the rocky mountains. It takes a team to build a village, and we couldn’t have done it with just a select few. We’d also like to thank the entire team at McCann Commonwealth and Chevrolet for the opportunity, and for putting trust in us to execute and deliver on this project. More to come!
