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

Coca-Cola ad doubles Los Angeles for African plains

A new Coca-Cola advert has used locations around Los Angeles to double for the plains of Africa. Sleepwalker follows a young man camping on the plains as he wakes in the night and sleepwalks to a distant village to a fridge filled with Coca-Cola bottles, having close encounters with elephants, leopards and hippos along the way.

Anonymous Content filmed at Mystery Mesa, Tejon Ranch in Lebec and at the San Gabriel River, none of which are more than an hour or so from Los Angeles. Gil Evans, the project’s location manager said: “We chose the locations because they were the best cheat we could find for Africa in and around Los Angeles.”

Mystery Mesa has seen a number of big-budget productions filming there in the past, including War of the Worlds and The Aviator. Mr Evans added that local authorities were very supportive and permits were acquired from the city of Los Angeles for Mystery Mesa, the Los Angeles Department of Public Works and the National Forestry Service for a river scene and Kern County for Tejon.

The animals were mostly added in post-production and director of photography Ellen Kuras took charge of converting what was actually a day shoot into night-time. Mr Evans concluded that the sprawling nature of Tejon Ranch especially makes it a popular double for Africa.

He commented: “They have one area with a spectacular oak tree near where we shot the tree leopard that is actually called ‘The African Tree’.”

Credits
Client: Coca-Cola
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy
Production Company: Anonymous Content
Producers: Matt Hunnicutt, Karen Sproul

Creative Directors: Sheena Brady, Hal Curtis
Location Manager: Gil Evans
Director: Garth Davis
Director of Photography: Ellen Kuras