Written by new-contact on May 14, 2013. Posted in Production News

Max Films shoots archer epic on location in Cape Town for Strongbow

Max Films chose Cape Town as the setting for an atmospheric new spot for cider brand Strongbow. Golden Explosion features a trio of friends on a stylish rooftop bar in a sun-drenched city, while Strongbow archers send a volley of arrows into rooftop orchards to unleash the taste ‘explosion’.

Cape Town was chosen as the filming location as Max Films had shot there before and because the orchard they used was closer to the city. The spot doesn’t have a specific setting, but the team wanted a youthful feel, as well as hot and dusty atmospherics.

The difficulty in being on a rooftop with other tall buildings around it is getting the sun exactly right to help with the feeling of sunset.

Max Brady, Max Films

“We shot all over the city and were on top of pretty much every single rooftop in the city centre at some point,” recalls Max Brady of Max Films: “This was another key reason why we chose Cape Town as our location. It was easier to get access and permissions to shoot on rooftops than it had been in Johannesburg and it also meant that we had enough room around the rooftops that we were on to then use post-production to build in other elements of the city, such as skyscrapers.”

The orchard they used was outside Cape Town in Beaulieu near Grabouw, chosen for the height and depth of the trees, which added a sense of scale. Apples of the right colour for the spot had to be dressed in and the grass was treated for the shoot.

Max Films worked with servicing company Atomik Pictures in Cape Town to choose a building for the rooftop bar that caught the right sunlight at the right time and then materials for the bar construct were largely hauled up the side of the skyscraper from the street below.

“Perhaps the one thing that no-one had legislated for,” Brady adds, “was the huge change in the sun path on our key location over a two-day period, which meant a complete reorganisation of that part of the shoot to counteract it.

“The difficulty in being on a rooftop with other tall buildings around it is getting the sun exactly right to help with the feeling of sunset. So it was a short window to get not only the sun in the right position, but between buildings.”

Credits:
Client: Strongbow
Agency: Ogilvy Dublin
Creative Director: Mike Mesbur
Agency Producer: Paul Ellis
Production Company: Max Films, Dublin
Producer: Max Brady
Production Service Company: Atomik Pictures, Cape Town
Service Producers: Keah Bueys and Liz Bullen
Director of Photography: Paul Gilpin
Director: Des Mullan