CITIBANK “TREE”
In 2009 I directed a Citibank spot for Publicis United out of Moscow. The film was shot on location in the Sintra forest in Portugal. I really enjoyed the execution of this film as it involved linking together different trees (from a sapling to a 200 year old oak) in a forest. My concept was to use the super techno crane and glide seamlessly through each tree as if the audience was traveling effortlessly through the forest. Each movement was carefully choreographed to reinforce the historical context of the graphics. Obviously this had some technical challenges getting the crane into the forest and manipulating the crane to feel as if it was moving elegantly from one tree to the next. With the guidance of Luis Branquinho and his team, we pulled off a film that is both thought provoking and visually stunning.
Above, Luis Branquinho, enthusiastically helps his team push the super techno crane up the sloping forest floor. I have worked a few times with Luis in other countries however this time we were on his home turf. The photo on the right reveals the team placing the crane inside a 400 year old oak.
The Sintra forest has its own Biosphere, therefore judging the climate was tricky. At the begging of the day we were delayed because of the rain then suddenly it cleared up and it was sunny. We had sent the production manager up on top of the mountain armed with a laptop and wifi and he was able to give us up-to-date forecasts–this way we would know how long the rain would last. This helped us plan around the fickle climate changes.
Above, I work on the edit in FCP to make sure each shot smoothly connects. On the right, setting up the final scene, we actually found a Russian “Dacha” looking home outside Lisbon!