The Commercial was part of a viral campaign:
Four university friends from New Zealand had listed their beaten and broken 1957 Series I Land Rover, christened ‘The Landy’, for sale on an auction site, following 15 years of ownership. The listing told the story of their many adventures and their sorrow at parting with their beloved Land Rover.
Fate intervened when the team at Land Rover New Zealand read the ad and hatched a covert operation with Will’s wife, Claire, to give ‘The Landy’ a painstaking ground-up mechanical restoration.
And now, for Valentine’s Day, the four friends have been reunited with their Series I thanks to Land Rover.
I worked closely with the agency Y&R, and Location Scout Phil Turner. We established the elements of the journey that the Land Rover would undertake. (We wanted to include an iconic river crossing, the journey through a forest, and the climbing of a mountain).
We had a very small crew, which was an asset for us. It enabled me to work quickly and use several locations that are off the beaten track.
I filmed all of the tracking shots with the MoVI M15.
My second Dragon was in Production Mode and this let us move quickly between the various set-ups.
It was a terrific shoot for such an iconic vehicle. I really enjoyed working with the crew, agency and client. It was a fitting tribute to mark the end of production of a motoring legend.
