The Salto Brothers have just released their new director’s cut Ford Ranger spot. Filmed over nine days in the forests of Thailand and shot during the Monsoon season, the film was a product of blood sweat and tears, quite literally
After searching high and low for a river with enough water in it, they then had to battle several hours of torrential rain per day, water levels that were too high and even a broken camera. Fun fact: the bridge was built entirely for the shoot, with the wood donated to the local community.
DIVERGE talked to Jesse Salto to find out more.
Who is the team behind it?
It was created by Gabriel Melo & Vaishnav Bala lead by chief creative director Kevin Pereira over at GTB Shanghai.
How hard was the ad to film?
Well, we shot in Thailand all over the country during monsoon and there were definitely a lot of complications. During scouting we were struggling to find rivers with water in them (yes global warming is a reality) and jungles that didn’t look dry compared to pictures of the same places at the same period the year before and then during the shoot we were drenched in rain for a good 2-3 hours a day every day. By day two we had a majority of overcast shots so we were committed to that look (which Matthias and I loved) but then we couldn’t shoot when the sun came out either. We danced a lot with the weather. One of the two cameras had a sensor problem at the end of day one and had to be sent back to Bangkok, 6 1/2 hours drive away. By day three the water level was too high to even get the car in, so I had to have my art director build a platform the exact height of the car in order to keep shooting shots of the characters.
The surrounding conditions were somewhat brutal as well, between the heat and the mosquitos and the hallway of bugs that awaited us to get to our hotel rooms at night.
Most of our locations were very remote often involving pick up trucks, walks and off roading but the crews and production team were amazing and that made up for all the outside elements.
How happy are you with the end result?
I like this film a lot and I think it boils down to the team again. From the freedom and trust the agency and client gave me to my wonderful cast, from my producers support to the amazing Thaï crews. My art director who built and aged that entire bridge in record time, my first AD that really crafted the schedule beautifully and then changed it everyday to adapt to our struggles, and my amazing DP who never gave up and didn’t let me give up either. The beauty of filmmaking is that you can’t do it alone. If a film turns out bad it’s the directors fault but if it turns out good it’s thanks to everybody.
Who chose this music and why?
I chose the music because I felt it gave a dreamy quality to the film and went against the reflex of going blockbuster big over a story like this. It also allowed us to do interesting things in the edit.
How does really show Ford’s capabilities?
Let me start by saying that everything in the spot is achieved in camera. There is no post-production or trickery here. We really drove the Ford FX4 upstream in that river and I feel that speaks for itself. The heavy payload capabilities are also shown off through story by supporting the weight of the cases plus the people standing and crossing on the back.
Favorite memory from this experience?
To be honest it would be hard for me to single out one memory since the experience is burned into my mind as a whole. I also must admit I actually love tough shoots. The moments when things go wrong, when there’s a problem to solve in the heat of the moment… those are the moments you feel truly alive.
It was my first time in Thailand and getting to discover the country on a production of this scale was challenging and fantastic. I remember one moment in particular: It was the day we shot the ending crane move. It was one of the calmer moments, when the whole day was a rush but things quiet down and you only have one shot left to get, in the perfect light. We shot that in silence surrounded by nothing but the sound of wind rustling in the tall grass; after wrapping my AD, the DP and I just stood in the field for a while looking around at the amazing valley we were in and thinking we had the best job in world.
