Written by new-contact on Mar 15, 2010. Posted in Production News

Betsafe doubles South Africa for Mediterranean

The new commercial for Betsafe has used locations outside Cape Town in South Africa to double for the Mediterranean. Crabs shows two men in a classical silent dual as they jump into a churning sea. One emerges with a small crab in his mouth, while the other has a large crab in his swimming trunks.

Swedish production company B-Reel Films considered shooting in Chile but eventually chose Cape Town. The main deciding factor was that the time difference between Sweden and South Africa is only one hour and so made production that much easier.

Beccy Kellond, Marketing Manager at Moonlighting Film Production Services in South Africa, said: “We shot at Kogelberg Nature Reserve, which is near Gordons Bay. It’s in the Western Cape about 90 minutes drive from Cape Town up the east coast. It’s a popular place to shoot because of the range of locations there - rocky cliffs, sandy beaches and grassy areas.” The production worked with Permitz in Cape Town to get filming permission from the nature reserve.

The men’s jump looks dangerous and this took the use of several smaller locations to achieve. For shots where the men land in the water, the production filmed underwater in a tidal pool a few minutes away from the main jump location, which delivered depth without any dangerous currents. A shot showing one of the men treading water was then filmed on a separate beach in only a foot or so of water.

Johannes Ahlund, a producer at B-Reel Films, said: “We couldn’t afford a big safety crew and stunt people so to create the dangerous look we shot in three different locations.”

Click here to view the ad.

Credits
Client: Betsafe.com
Agency: Hilanders Malmo
Production Company: B-Reel Films
Production Services Company: Moonlighting Film Production Services
Producer: Johannes Ahlund

Creative Director: Par Bergqvist
Director: Tom Malmros
Director of Photography: Christian Haag