Is Anyone Else Seeing Fiats Everywhere?

August 17, 2012 by Screenmag

Aside from their advertising campaigns, we at Screen seem to be noticing a lot more Fiats on the road.

Perhaps that’s due in part to the work of New Art Miami the creative service boutique that collaborated SapientNitro, to create a series of three web spots for Fiat’s new website that introduces the long anticipated arrival of the 2013 Fiat 500 Abarth.

“When SapientNitro first enlisted us, all we knew was that the job was a HD campaign for the Internet,” says New Art Miami executive producer, Nadia Bowen. “When we saw the stunning footage, and found out that the spots would be featured on the homepage of Fiat’s new website, we were thrilled to have the opportunity to bring our multi-talented team’s skills to the company’s innovative concept.”

Featuring Italy’s supermodel Catrinel Menghia (who paired her seductive charms with the Fiat 500 Abarth earlier this year in a Superbowl commercial), the trio of spots (‘Burning Up The Desert’) were shot on location on the legendary Las Vegas strip, at a nearby raceway and on Nevada’s desert terrain. Director Disco Fish (Odd Machine) used the RED Epic, Canon 5D and 7D cameras, as well a Sony camera for aerial shots that captured the speed, power and style of the motorcar.

New Art Miami’s senior colorist, Patrick Desfayes, met the challenge of transforming the mix of footage from multiple cameras - shot at various speeds, into a cohesive visual experience. Working in the boutique-style facility’s Scratch suite, he used all of the non-linear color-grading system’s bells and whistles to achieve a seamless look.

Desfayes, who also conformed the spots and created VFX, says, “the scenes with fast-paced cars needed lots of complex tracking of windows and keys in The Scratch. We exported all of the VFX scenes as DPX 10-bit sequences into Flame. The black cars were surrounded by desert dust, and the sun created multiple glares, which required some finessing during the color correction process.”

Kyle Reynolds, New Art Miami’s senior Flame artist, was presented with another set of challenges. The footage called for a considerable amount of clean up – everything from removing power lines, eliminating reflections of the chase car’s camera from the Fiat driving scenes, and adding license plates - to replacing existing billboards with Fiat 500 Abarth’s logos and artwork provided by the agency.

“SapientNitro’s in-house editor, Javi Urquiza, cut the web spots and did an exceptional job getting us exactly what we needed to make this web campaign successful,” adds Reynolds. “Most of the scenes were also able to be used for the alternate versions, as well as for the Italian versions.”

New Art Miami’s Juan Dieguez created the sound design for the project. The scenario for ‘Winning’ pitted the supermodel against a journalist in a race around the track, and ended with the supermodel slapping her opponent. Dieguez created a subtle, yet impactful sound that enhanced the scene and brought home the punch line of the spot.

“‘Burning up the Desert’ called for intricate music edits to create the balance and tempo that the spot demanded,” says Dieguez. “SapientNitro provided a full mix of music by a cool Israeli band, but it took considerable finessing to get this great track to sound powerful, but not demonic.”

“Many of us at the New Art Miami have had a long term working relationship with SapientNitro producer, Mike Diaz dating back to his days at Cooper DDB, working on such accounts as Florida Lottery and Carnival Cruise Lines,” say Alan Olem, director of business development. “It was a pleasure working with him again. He’s a great producer who truly understands the needs of both the client and their creative expectations.”

SapientNitro serves as Chrysler’s digital agency of record. The videos for Fiat 500 Abarth are featured on the vehicle's homepage at www.FiatUSA.com/Abarth.

CREDITS:
Product: FIAT
Type: Web Spots
Titles: FIAT Web Launch: "Burning Up The Desert," "Sin City," "WInning"
Agency/Client: SapientNitro
Senior Integrated Producer: Michael Alexander Diaz
Creative Director: Jake Wheeler, Boris Stojanovic
Production Company: Odd Machine Studios
Director/DP: Disco Fish
Executive Producer: Seth Henrikson
Producer: Elizabeth Collins
Editorial Company: SapientNitro
Off-Line Editor: Javi Urquiza
Color Correction Co + Finishing Company: New Art Miami
Colorist: Patrick Desafayes
Conform, Clean Up, VFX Artist: Kyle Reynolds
Executive Producer: Nadia Bowen & Bob Cobb
Audio Company: New Art Miami
Mixer: Juan Dieguez
Executive Producer: Nadia Bowen
Music:
"Burning up the Desert": Dead Sara "Weatherman"
"Winning": IUDM "Hurt Me Anyways"
"Sin City": Pump Audio Track