E.On Energy and Gorillaz rocked Spanish quarry
A new spot for E.ON Energy and UK virtual band Gorillaz was filmed on location in Spain using a vast collection of wind-up toys, including models of the band.
By Nick Goundry 15 Jun 2017
A new spot for E.ON Energy and UK virtual band Gorillaz was filmed on location in Spain using a vast collection of wind-up toys, including models of the band.
Gorillaz X e-on: Tomorrow Is On was shot at night in a quarry near Barcelona, but was powered using solar energy stored by E.ON during daylight hours.
The film features toy figures of the Gorillaz band playing We Got the Power from their new album Humanz, while an array of smaller toys ‘dance’ to the music. London-based Blinkink produced and the shoot was serviced locally by Twentyfourseven, which has offices in Barcelona and Madrid.
“We initially looked at Andalusia and northern Spain, but the costs of getting everything we needed out there were prohibitive,” said director Noah Harris, in comments to KFTV. “Wish-list locations of Chile, Nevada and South Africa didn’t add up financially.
“The aim was to set the film in the desert, firstly to give a Burning Man feel to the piece, but also as a striking and rugged juxtaposition to the colour and detail of the toys.
“The reasons for shooting [near Barcelona] were a mix of creative and practical. The quarry has a great feel with the stepped layers of rock. From certain angles it emulates canyons pretty well. I wanted a certain amount of distance for the wider shots, but having that wall of rock gives depth and interest rather than the wide expanse of a desert."
“Obviously the fact that it is so close to Barcelona made it a reasonably practical place to shoot – we had to ship a lot of gear and toys and needed to be near civilization.”
Windy conditions in the exposed quarry location interfered with the smoke that Harris wanted to create the film’s rave-like atmosphere, but the biggest challenge came with the toys themselves.
“Not to put too fine a point on it – it was chaos,” Harris tells KFTV. “We had hard-wired some toys but could only do this to a limited amount. Many of the toys were running on rechargeable batteries which we powered up through the solar batteries – [they] ran out, some toys only had one cycle so you had to go in and reset them, some toys just didn’t want to behave at all!”
Spain is becoming a more popular European filming location and offers a generous incentive support.
Credits:
Client: E.ON Energy
Agency: Engine (WCRS, Partners Andrews Aldridge, Mischief and Slice)
Agency producer: Bradley Woodus
Production Company: Blinkink
Director: Noah Harris
Executive Producer: Bart Yates
Producer: Ewen Brown
Director of Photography: Patrick Mellor
Executive Producer: Bradley Woodus
Production Service Company: Twentyfourseven
The film features toy figures of the Gorillaz band playing We Got the Power from their new album Humanz, while an array of smaller toys ‘dance’ to the music. London-based Blinkink produced and the shoot was serviced locally by Twentyfourseven, which has offices in Barcelona and Madrid.
“We initially looked at Andalusia and northern Spain, but the costs of getting everything we needed out there were prohibitive,” said director Noah Harris, in comments to KFTV. “Wish-list locations of Chile, Nevada and South Africa didn’t add up financially.
“The aim was to set the film in the desert, firstly to give a Burning Man feel to the piece, but also as a striking and rugged juxtaposition to the colour and detail of the toys.
“The reasons for shooting [near Barcelona] were a mix of creative and practical. The quarry has a great feel with the stepped layers of rock. From certain angles it emulates canyons pretty well. I wanted a certain amount of distance for the wider shots, but having that wall of rock gives depth and interest rather than the wide expanse of a desert."
“Obviously the fact that it is so close to Barcelona made it a reasonably practical place to shoot – we had to ship a lot of gear and toys and needed to be near civilization.”
Windy conditions in the exposed quarry location interfered with the smoke that Harris wanted to create the film’s rave-like atmosphere, but the biggest challenge came with the toys themselves.
“Not to put too fine a point on it – it was chaos,” Harris tells KFTV. “We had hard-wired some toys but could only do this to a limited amount. Many of the toys were running on rechargeable batteries which we powered up through the solar batteries – [they] ran out, some toys only had one cycle so you had to go in and reset them, some toys just didn’t want to behave at all!”
Spain is becoming a more popular European filming location and offers a generous incentive support.
Credits:
Client: E.ON Energy
Agency: Engine (WCRS, Partners Andrews Aldridge, Mischief and Slice)
Agency producer: Bradley Woodus
Production Company: Blinkink
Director: Noah Harris
Executive Producer: Bart Yates
Producer: Ewen Brown
Director of Photography: Patrick Mellor
Executive Producer: Bradley Woodus
Production Service Company: Twentyfourseven
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