Written by new-contact on Oct 20, 2010. Posted in Production News

Timberland doubles Colombia for New Hampshire in stunt-filled advert

International clothing brand Timberland has filmed a new action-packed commercial in Colombia, doubling the country for New Hampshire. Nature Needs Heroes: Lost Bottle shows a man chasing a discarded plastic bottle through city streets, across the roof of a train and over a waterfall to get it into a recycling bin. The spot was filmed in Bogota and in nearby Suesca and Villa de Leyva.

Judd Alison, a Producer with 305 Films, said: “It was economical to shoot in Colombia. We needed a waterfall and a train, and with the budget we had Colombia worked well. We were lent a passenger train and the train line was closed down for us. In addition, Colombia has a great arts and music scene, so the evenings were fun too.”

Warren Keuning, a Producer with Tribu, said: “The hardest part was to find an area where we had all the required locations fairly close by: the city café, a busy city street, a bridge with a train below, a canyon with train tracks, a river and then a waterfall. This was all eventually found in Bogota and its surrounding countryside, after scouting many areas in the country.”

Director Gil Green said: “Filming in Colombia was a pleasure. We controlled a train and the tracks for three days. The country is very accommodating to the process of filming. The crews work hard. The equipment is top of the line. The locations are what make it worth it! They are simply breathtaking! I went down a month early to scout the exact locations. This gave the local producer time to clear everything. You definitely want to be prepared if you are filming with a lot of intangibles, such as owning a train and the tracks.”

The train and the track in Suesca are only used as a weekend tourist service, so it was available during the week. Street and road permit authorities granted permission for the production to shoot a stunt where the main character leaps from a bridge onto the train below.

An all-terrain vehicle (ATV) was used for some of the scenes filmed in Bogota to keep pace with a dog that has picked up the plastic bottle. Aerial shooting was involved when the main character leaps onto a passenger train.

Keuning said: “In the outside café area [in Bogota] we used a rigged ATV with a Steadicam, and only a 45 minute drive from Bogota we found the canyon where we filmed aerial helicopter shots with a Tyler Middle Mount.”

Alison added: “There’s a stigma attached to filming in Colombia as the country has had a negative image, but I think you need to get over that. The Government was great and we never felt in danger. The police were always on hand but they kept a subtle, background presence.”

Click here to view the film.

Credits
Client: Timberland
Agency: Leagas Delaney
Creative Director: Tim Delaney
Production Company: 305 Films
Producer: Judd Alison

Production Service Company: Tribu
Producer: Warren Keuning
Stunt Co-ordinator: Mickey Giacomazzi
Director of Photography: Tom Marvel
Director: Gil Green