Belgian directing duo Norman Bates produced a short entitled Birth, which was used as the ident for this year’s Young Director Award (YDA) ceremony in Cannes. The short film takes the point of view of a baby as it’s born, with the doctors revealing it’s filming its own journey.
MJZ filmed on location in Johannesburg in South Africa for Beds, a new spot for Ikea. The piece shows a woman waking on a bed in the clouds before tumbling gently downwards against a dramatic sky – and to a voiceover from Shakespeare’s The Tempest – as she arrives in her bedroom.
Detective series Hinterland has been praised by Welsh assembly members for bringing more European Union (EU) funds to Wales. The show is set in Aberystwyth on the Welsh coast and filmed in both English and Welsh, with around 15% of the total budget coming from the EU.
Sci-fi sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes followed the example of its 2011 predecessor Rise of the Planet of the Apes by filming mainly in Louisiana and Vancouver. The producers used generous filming incentive deals to create the movie’s dystopian San Francisco setting.
MOB Film played with the conventions of Hollywood action movies filming a series of new commercials for Volkswagen on location in South Africa. The spots show high-speed movie dramas being unintentionally sabotaged by VW’s safe distance technology.
An eye-catching new commercial from BMW has caused a stir because of its unusual filming location. Ultimate Racetrack promotes the BMW M4 by showing the car skidding around a racetrack. Midway through the spot, the racetrack is ‘revealed’ to be the deck of an aircraft carrier.
Production company MJZ filmed in the suburbs around Old Trafford to mark Chevrolet’s sponsorship of Manchester United’s match-shirt. The new spot charts the history of the shirt design from the club’s early days, as fans march through the streets.
Carnival Films and BBC America are to co-produce new historical miniseries The Last Kingdom. Based on novels by Bernard Cornwell, the drama is likely to be similar in tone to Game of Thrones and Vikings, and will be set in the year 862 in the kingdoms that would become England.