Colombia’s been fighting an image problem due to the country’s history of civil unrest, but this is changing. The audiovisual industry is becoming a force to be reckoned with and brands like Timberland, Corona Light and Specsavers - serviced by Tribu and/or its partner company Twenty Four-Seven - have all filmed in Colombian locations recently.
New incentives recently introduced in Florida have already impacted on the state’s audiovisual production. While Florida has attracted theatrical feature productions like Marley & Me and Confessions of a Shopaholic in recent years, the state is an especially popular location for television projects.
New Zealand is earning a reputation as a double for locations all over the world, with its towns and cities being used alongside its natural scenery. A 2.5% increase in the country’s Large Budget Screen Production Grant (LBSPG) in the summer of 2007 resulted in nearly NZD50 million in grants being paid out to productions between July 2008 and June 2009, according to figures from Film New Zealand. In addition, this now includes a post, digital and visual effects grant.
Specsavers has shot its new commercial on a beach in Tayrona National Park in north Colombia. Specs Effect features hundreds of bikini-clad women running though a jungle to a beach where a man sprays himself with deodorant. The women then turn away when the man puts on a hideous pair of glasses to see them properly. The spot parodies the 2006 Lynx commercial Billions.
Jamaica’s profile has risen recently as a result of superstar sprinter Usain Bolt’s stunning success at the Beijing Olympics. To capitalise on this, Nasuba Express have used the track star in their latest spot filmed in and around Kingston.
Morocco has long been the go-to destination for all your high-end historical epic needs, and the list of assets is pretty mouth-watering. Deserts. Mountains. Bustling ancient and modern cityscapes. Highly skilled and experienced crews. Incredibly cheap production costs. A permanent 20% VAT reduction for shoots.
When Vin Diesel directed the short Los Bandoleros, a prequel to the latest instalment of Fast & Furious, he chose to shoot the whole production in the Dominican Republic. Diesel's One Race Global Film Foundation, backed by Universal Studios, is also investing heavily in developing the country's industry. Diesel said at the short's premiere earlier this year that: "We had the whole country behind us making this film."
Nigel Miguel, Belize’s dynamo of a Film Commissioner, is on a mission: to make Belize into the film capital of the Caribbean. And with terrain made famous by The Dogs of War, Heart of Darkness and The Mission at his disposal, this is no wild statement.