Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   The Indian Car Scene (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/)

-   -   Making of an Indian Car TV commercial (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/99890-making-indian-car-tv-commercial.html)

Part 1
I have been wanting to put this post up for sometime now but been busy with different shoots. I recently finished film school and have been assisting on features and ad films. Recently i got a chance to be a part of a car commercial and i i was really kicked about it. Here's how it all took place.
(* I am avoiding names and exact details and discussions so that no one is offended and the pre production details like storyboard, script, treatment are owned by the creative members involved)

I was just about finishing work on another commercial when i got an email from my german director (who would be making the car commercial for an indian production house). He sent me the script for the advertisement, i was really kicked as i had never done a car commercial before, it was all the more exciting because it was for an upgraded model of Tata Manza that still wasn't launched in the market, namely the Manza Elan. Which meant i got to see the car even before spy pics emerged.

You can see the commercial here YouTube - Tata MANZA [ HQ ] (This is the director's cut, not the version aired on TV)

After the directors worked on their treatment of the film based on the script provided by the agency we started our pre production. Which meant location hunting at many places including hangars in Bangalore, Mumbai, Ahemdabad, finally settling for a ware house in Pune. The end sequence was to be shot in Kutch which was a painful procedure as a whole lot of permissions are required to shoot there.
Next was meeting with various cinematographers, action directors, VFX guys and Rally drivers (who would do the stunts).

With most of the crew and location place, one of the major obstacles was to get a cast that looked very Japanese. This was hard as we had to look all over to assemble the cast.
The Main lead was flown in from Singapore (Jimmy T is an American TV & Movie actor living in Singapore of Japanese descendant)
The were searched through numerous auditions held by our casting director. Just a few of them were actors others were students from abroad or employees of companies who obliged us with their time.

With the basics in place i'll get into the creative process involved in the next section and finally the shoot and post production of the film. (Along with some on location pictures)

Part 2
Attaching below are some of the storyboard slides that got converted to the visuals you see. The visualization of the images is the director's job but it's actualization is in the hands of the DOP (cinematographer, Hemant Chaturvedi in this case, who is absolutely amazing).

The location by itself was pretty much how we wanted it to be but we had a great Production Designer to give us exactly what we wanted in terms of the set.

After about 18 days of preparation we scheduled 2 days of shoot in Pune and 1 day in Kutch. We had to bring in the cars from Tata for the shoot. One had to be cut from the top to take the shots of the interiors and the gearbox, steering wheel etc that you see in the commercial.

We got additional cars along as the shoot has to keep rolling and different rigs had to be put on different cars.
Meanwhile costumes were made for the finalized cast, we had a trail for them to make sure we got the right size and locked the look and makeup before going for the shoot. References were pulled out, other commercials seen the mood and tone selected for the film.

By now i had not had proper sleep in many days cause no matter how easy it looks there is always some chaos in the background with things changing, something going wrong...the usual.

Before going for the shoot we had a technical recce where all the department heads (Production Designer, DOP, Producer, Director, Lighting, Rally Driver etc) are briefed so we all are on the same page.

Special care needs to be take in car commercials cause at the end of the day it is the 'car' which is the hero of the film and must look great in every shot.

thanks ishaan for sharing it with us.

its nice to know the story behind the shoot process.

best of luck for your future projects.

That's a great piece of work, dude. Awesome creativity. I like the way it is telling about the key competitive product feature - it's very unique.

Thanks for sharing the directors' cut. The ending makes it very different (and very funny) from the aired version. One of the better ads of cars in recent times in terms of production and quality. Good job!!

ishaanranderia: It is good to read the making of an interesting ad. Keep it up.
Dot: I think the ending is same as the aired version! What other ending is there?

That was one real nice ad with a 'feel proud of an Indian product' touch. Thanks, Ishaan, for sharing the director's cut. Hope you get to work on many more soon.

Thanks a lot for sharing this !! This is definitely a good one with the location choices being the best !! Never knew an ad shooting could get this tricky! Hey..by the way, could you tell us the different steps [generic] invloved in making an ad; I mean to ask "from the time some one wants to make an ad for a product and till the time it hits the screen" .

The runs I have seen on TV does not feature the fellow shut in the trunk.

Edit: Just checked with my friend, he has seen the same ending. Maybe there are different versions.

Thanks for sharing. Never knew shooting an ad takes so much time and effort. Clean, funny and to the point ad. The next time i see it on TV, ill remember you :)

Good stuff to share!

Being involved in the shoot, do you get to have a test drive? :D

Actually, it ends with the fellow shut in the boot and the Manza driven off.

Guess you saw the trimmed version; time alotted to the ad vary acording to the sponsorship deals so maybe thats why.

Hey, This was nice and is one of my favorite car ads in India. Also, I like the manza's new color.

This ending was there initially - after a few days they edited the edited ad ! lol:

Amazing to know the 'behind the scenes' work that goes on in making an auto ad! Thanks a lot for sharing and keep them coming

Thanks for the share ishaan. Have they removed the "indigo" tag from the car as its been advertised as "Tata Manza" only.
I loved the tune playing in the end.