Written by new-contact on Nov 1, 2011. Posted in Production News

Tiger Beer pulls a heist and doubles Santiago for the streets of New York City

Tiger Beer has staged a heist in the streets of Santiago in Chile for its latest commercial. The spot shows a gang in disguise as they intercept a lorry in a busy street. They use a crane to haul the Tiger Beer cargo into the air to the balcony of their friend’s high-rise apartment, just in time for a party.

Santiago doubled for the streets of New York and the production team co-ordinated with three different municipal authorities to close eight separate streets in the city centre for a total of 14 hours. Filming took place on a Sunday to minimise public disruption.

Santiago doubled for the streets of New York and the production team co-ordinated with three different municipal authorities to close eight separate streets in the city centre for a total of 14 hours.

Felipe Herrera was the project’s Location Manager: “We shot specifically in downtown Santiago in the historic area, across two blocks of the Chilean Government House ‘La Moneda’ because it’s the area which looks more like downtown New York. We chose these streets first for their background and then because we needed to work with a high-tonnage crane for more than six hours, which involved the total control of the main streets close to the set.”

The Metropolitan Regional Council issued the main permit and the production also worked with both the Regional Transport Department Council and the police, given that the roads they wanted to close are main transport arteries through the city centre. Traktor’s involvement helped negotiations as Santiago and Chile as a whole is eager to appeal to international production companies as a good filming location.

Herrera added: “[We had to] convince all the shops in the streets (banks, chemists and restaurants, which are in the background) to open their doors (in Santiago downtown everything is closed on Sunday) and let us take control to recreate the life of a New York downtown street.

We just took control of all the shops and building entries on the street. All the rest was the job of the Art Department, who had to set the street with trucks, newspaper kiosks, US flags, road safety signage, US cars and yellow cabs.

Felipe Herrera, Location Manager

“We just took control of all the shops and building entries on the street. All the rest was the job of the Art Department, who had to set the street with trucks, newspaper kiosks, US flags, road safety signage, US cars and yellow cabs.”

Chile is becoming more popular as a global filming location and its colonial history means Santiago especially can double for global locations. It also often undercuts the competition on prices.

Credits
Client: Tiger Beer (Asia Pacific Breweries)
Agency: Y&R Malaysia
Production Company: Traktor
Producer: Richard Ulfvengren
Production Service Company: Moonlighting, Chile
Producer: Sylvie Dubé
Location Manager: Felipe Herrera
Location Scout: Olivier Lebourgeois
Director of Photography: Tim Maurice Jones
Directors: Pontus Lowenhielm, Patrik von Krusenstjerna (Traktor)