By Patrick Coffee on Oct. 26, 2016 - 4:01 PM
Cars are supposed to make us look cool and keep us safe in that order, according to 95% of the auto ads we see.
Volvo takes the second point to a very weird place in a new spot out of Germany that launched yesterday. It was directed by Daniel & Dorian, the same German film school team behind last December’s Johnnie Walker project that got very popular in our parent publication.
We are fairly sure that this project, like that one, is spec work since it’s not on the official Volvo channel and we got the pitch from Yessian, the music production company that worked on it. We’re also pretty sure Volvo would never run an ad like this one, even in Germany. So it’s ostensibly an ad for Volvo’s autonomous driving feature, but it feels more like a particularly morbid short produced by the newly European Wes Andersen. Or not.
“The ABCs of Death” was also apparently a horror/comedy project that debuted in 2012 and featured shorts helmed by a bunch of international directors. Nothing is original, but it doesn’t matter as long as those Basset Hounds are OK.
Published on Oct 25, 2016 Director: Dorian & Daniel
Production: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg DoP: Jan David Günther Producer: Celina Finger, Madlen Folk
Production Design: Mona Otterbach Editor: Raquel Caro Nunez Music: Yessian Music GmbH Composer: Ralf Denker Ingmar Rehberg Sounddesign: Marvin Keil Idea: Dorian & Daniel Idea dove scene: Andre Price
CAST Amber: Johanna Katharina Riebesam Berry: Stephen M. Gilbert Clara: Verena Plangger Dora & Friends: Leonie Walther, Julian Weiss, Martin Lapp Eric: Frank Roder Garry: Andreas Wellano Heinrich: Marcus Widmann Couple: Katharina Wittenbrink, Manuel Flach Basset Hounds: True Pleasure Basset Hounds
CREW Unit Production Manager: Alexander Pietzsch Christian Dieckhoff Unit Production Manager Assistants: Fabian Kappes David Jasim Anja Schmidt Peer Andre Grote Ganya Mosolf Tobias Gerginov Costume Design: Annika Osterrieder Kathrin Radke Hair and Make-Up: Hanna Pfeiffer Carlo Benz Production Sound Mixer: Markus Fass 1st Camera Assistant: Adrian Huber, Felix Koster 2nd Camera Assistant + DIT: Alexander Zimmermann 3rd Camera Assistant : David zu Höhne, Joscha Bongard Gaffer: Johannes Reichau, Maximilian Pittner Best Boy: Felix Zenker, Dominik John Lighning Technicians / Electricians: Michael Throne, Timon Dangel, Fabian Decker, Mehdi Ayadi, Fabian Rumor, Lucas Maibaum, David zu Höhne, Lukas Eicher, Ernst Lattik, Philipp Henze Grip: Mark Zechner, Manuel Musch Production Design Assistant: Marta Jeszke, Carla Jerschl, Amelie Hofmann, Tim Peter Stunt Coordinator: VIP Stunts, Sigi Polap & Igor Tjumenzf Swingfog Operator: Christian Grözinger
VISUAL EFFECTS ARTISTS Visual Effects Supervisor: Julian Weiss CGI doves: brickbeach c/o Power to the Artists GmbH CGI explosion: nhb video GmbH Matte Paintings and additional CGI: Dorian & Daniel Color Grading: Harvest Digital Agriculture GmbH Color Grading Artist: Dennis Wieck
Catering: Ganya Mosolf, Nathalie Lamb Car Rental: car motion service GmbH
sponsored by: Caligari Preis 2016, Gestiftet von der Stadt Ludwigsburg, ARRI Loaner, ARRI Rental Deutschland GmbH
special thanks to: Uwe Nesselthaler, Waltraut, Ochotzki, Ingmar Rehberg, Lukas Lehmann, Max Leist, ZAV München – Hermann Malzer, Agentur Julia Krüger, LVL Jäger – Frank Metzger
Project Manager SUKLE Denver, Colorado
Director of Audience Development Reason Foundation Washington, Washington DC
Sr. Designer SUKLE Denver, Colorado
Partner Manager - Walmart Connect Walmart New York, New York
© 2022 Adweek, LLC - All Rights Reserved