UD Trucks

The Result

We’ve loved working with Volvo Trucks Group since the very first time we spoke to them about an editing job in 2012. In that time, we’ve gone on to create over 30 films for their Volvo and UD truck brands.

The folk at Volvo Trucks Group had a vision about the type of content they wanted to craft – they wanted to honestly showcase the capabilities of their trucks and the stories of how it impacts their customers’ lives for the better. We’ve enjoyed documenting this and the varied work they do around Asia and beyond ever since; most recently in South Africa for UD Trucks.

The best part about working with a client for an extended period of time is that we have a great understanding which makes it very easy for us to kick off new projects and grasp the central hook of the story quickly.

As filmmakers who enjoy making sincere and authentic films, the subject matter for Volvo Trucks Group is as varied as the purposes of the trucks themselves – so we’re thrilled to be a partner in showcasing their work and their customer’s work.

Pre-production

It was our first time working with the team at Havas, and we were relishing the opportunity to work with their overall concept for the launch.

Concealing the face of the all-new truck was crucial for the whole campaign – a 40 tonne truck on public roads is a hard thing to keep confidential.

The truck was only available in Thailand for filming, but the brief for the film was that it had to feel like it could have been anywhere in the world. So the actual truck sequences had to be filmed in Thailand but the rest could be shot in Singapore or anywhere we chose – we managed to keep a lid on proposing some outrageous locations, as UD Trucks can be found doing some amazing things in each of the four corners of the world!.

Thailand gave us a great array of locations but it was obvious the benefits of filming some of the sequence in our own backyard in Singapore. We decided to divide filming into three tranches – one session in Singapore and two sessions of filming in Thailand.

Production

We wanted to include some very ambitious camera angles that would give us beautiful shots of the truck in action. We flew drones to capture shots of the truck set against a series of spectacular backdrops in Thailand. Feature-film rigs that put 30ft cranes on trucks meant we could film details to a very high spec at speed and safely on public roads, whilst we shot the whole film on 4K Arri cameras; a real dream come true for any gear-head.

We flew heads of departments from Singapore for the project whom we knew had the resume to match the ambition of the film and had a working relationship with Hurrah previously.

The film is meant to feel like the passing of a full day so we had to schedule specific times for each shot over the course of the shoot. A few early call-times for the large crew, but when you’re capturing the quality of footage that we did, the early starts are well worth the effort.