Originally slated for a two-week location shoot in South Africa and Thailand, the events of Sept. 11 forced to production to seriously switch gears. Uncertain of the future and directed not to travel by Land Rover, the decision was made to shoot the exotic commercial in and around Los Angeles, providing interesting challenges and great rewards.

The "Orbit" spots, comprised of three vignettes each, take a visually stunning 180-degree look at Land Rovers at work and play around the world. A unique camera style starts on one horizon and arches over each scene to the other horizon, plunging into either the water or the earth, emerging on the other side of the planet. The spot continues the 360-degree swoops - courtesy a specially crafted 50-foot camera rig designed by special effects specialist John Frazier - popping up in a variety of locations including a South African desert race, an archaeological dig in Thailand, a community swap meet in small-town USA, rafting down a South American river and a crowded Chinese market.

Because the original treatment of the script required a global perspective, travel was deemed necessary to the project. "We had begun to do some work into how to position the car and came up with the idea of the most well-traveled vehicles on earth," says David Crawford, co-creative director at GSD&M of the tagline.

However, when catastrophe struck New York, all bets were off. Ford, the company who owns Land Rover, would not permit any travel, despite the willingness of the crew and suddenly the project was hanging on the precipice of being kiboshed.

"Our guys here in the agency were all still ready to go and [the project] was still a go for about a week," says Crawford. "But about a week into it Ford mandated that there would be no international travel. That halted us from going where we were planning and we had to scramble."

The main problem for the production was simply that all the different landscapes planned for the shoot did not exist in LA. However, Saarinen says he loved the idea so much that Plum was determined to make it work Stateside. Revelation came when he realized that the horizon was only visible in each scene for a short amount of time. "With the testing we had done with the camera move I realized that the look could be created through compositing," he says. He had an idea of the look required for each exotic locale based on the dozens of books referenced while planning the overseas shoot; the effects could be achieved with stock footage. "It just seemed like a clever solution. In a way, this turned out to be better for a lot of reasons and was the American thing to do," he says.

Once it was decided that the shoot would take place in LA, the reigns of the production were handed over to art director Sean Hargreaves. "When it turned into an LA shoot I had to let him do his thing," says Saarinen. Hargreaves got busy scouting locations and building props for the scenes. A large Buddha head that is the central focus of the Thai archaeological dig was built from scratch, and bicycles, market stands and lots of people were required for the Chinatown shoot.

Not willing to sacrifice quality in the face of calamity, Saarinen insisted on casting actors who spoke the language indigenous to each scene. He also gave them a list of talking points to ensure purity. "We wanted to make sure they weren't saying things like 'It looks like we're going to get paid overtime,'" he quips. "But it was difficult casting in LA for the Africa scene. There are not many people who speak Swahili."

Alternate locations for the spots were all in the LA area. The Shambala Preserve in the Soledad Canyon doubled as the location of the archaeological dig. The rescue aid scene and South African desert race were also shot in the Soledad Canyon. The ferry and raft scenes were shot in the LA harbor with new horizons composited in and the Chinatown and Opera scenes were shot in downtown LA.

"I think it's frankly better than what we had in our heads," says Crawford. "We all pictured it being much simpler and Eric really had a vision of making it on a grand scale. There is a lot more going on in each scene and that adds to the authenticity, which we really needed because we didn't get to go around the world."

Saarinen agrees, despite the fact that it went over the $1.3 million budget. "Once in a while something comes along that's worth it," he says. "This is one."

Credits:

Agency: GSD&M

Creative Directors: Jeremy Postaer, David Crawford, Cameron Day

Copywriter: Cameron Day

Art Director: Lou Flores

Producer: Peter Feldman

Production Co: Plum Productions

Director/DP: Eric Saarinen

Executive Producer: Chuck Sloan, Shelby Sexton

Producer: Rob McKinney

Editorial: Mad River Post

Editor: Steve MacCorkle

Sound Design: Mit Out Sound

Sound Designer: Ren Kleiss

Visual Effects: Asylum

Flame Artist: Philip Brennen