The director's shoot was scheduled to begin in a matter of days, and involved flying to Southwest Africa and working alongside Lebanese agency Infomark.

After some serious consideration, Nispel decided to move forward with the project. "Psychologically, it became an extremely important job for me," acknowledges the director. "At a time when I was so full of questions, I found myself on neutral ground in Namibia, surrounded by people from an agency in Lebanon where they have their own problems with Muslim politics."

Ironically, the corporate identity titled "Desert Colors" is decidedly American in its grandeur and execution. The commercial epic, created by Infomark, Beirut, runs two minutes in length and was shot by Top Gun DP Jeffrey Kimball. It opens with a young Arab boy and his grandfather in the African desert. Sand sifting through the grandfather's hand symbolizes the passing of time and the generational divide.

As the camera pulls back, thousands of horsemen appear on the horizon bearing enormous yellow and blue flags. Moments later the horsemen surround the boy and his grandfather, their flags forming the NADEC logo, which is then airlifted by a series of helicopters into the sky.

When asked about the mix of modernity with tradition, Nispel responds, "In Saudi Arabia you can't talk about the future if you don't talk about the past. They are very rooted in the past and this is what the spot is symbolizing."

The grand spectacle is a departure from the commercials that generally air on Saudi TV. "They are usually pretty short and pragmatic; there's no money spent on them, not much love," remarks Nispel. "We're talking about a culture that just a few decades ago cut your hand off if you picked something living. Visually and filmically, it is a culture that is slowly blossoming and I think they're really hoping that this commercial will spawn more of its kind."

Playground creative director/visual effects designer Craig Price went on location with Nispel. The task at hand was to create the illusion of thousands of horses and multiple helicopters. Price and Nispel refer to the process as "grafting."

"With cloning, traditionally you take the same image and repeat it again and again," distinguishes Price. "Often times the patterns become apparent. But with grafting, we shot the horses running through the frame five or six times and then used different passes to fill out the screen." The helicopters were CGI.

Harley's House editor Jay Freidkin, whose relationship with Nispel dates back 11 years, cut the film, going through 12 hours of footage. "First you have to study the plot points and then you figure out how much of the hamburger you can play around with," states Freidkin. "The story should always be building, so you want to make sure you're always adding elements. You have to be careful not to repeat yourself by using the same shot twice.

"Establishing a sense of scale became important because we weren't shooting a feature," continues Freidkin. "It had to be done fairly quickly. We added in dust clouds, smoothed out the sand and changed its color from yellow to brown. Then Marcus added in some flaws and imperfections to make the shots look real."

After purchasing Click 3X (now Playground) in June 2001, Harley's House became a full-service post facility complete with animation, design and visual effects.

"This is the first job where it all coincided, where they really could orchestrate not just an edit but see it through from the beginning to end all in one house," says Nispel. "For me that's great because I see everything through in post. I don't leave after the dailies are completed and it's so much more convenient if I never have to leave the couch."

The timing of the production heightened the project's significance for Nispel, who continues to reflect on the experience. "It was really important for me that we do a folkloristic piece and I think for [Saudi Arabia] as a country, it's a time where they're looking at themselves.

"The country is torn between tradition and on the other hand mesmerized by the American way of doing things such as positioning, commercials, selling product, and so on. There's a real dichotomy and it was interesting to be in the middle of that."

CREDITS:

Production Services: Moonlighting Filmmakers, Capetown, South Africa
Production Company: Leaders Production, Beirut, Lebanon
Agency: Infomark, Beirut, Lebanon
Editorial: Harley's House, Santa Monica
Post Production Producer: Michael Raimondi
Telecine Artist: Rob Sciarata
Sound Designer: Art Wright, Thunder Sound
Visual Effects: Playground, Santa Monica
VFX Producer: Richard Mann
CGI Supervisor: Alessandra Pasquino
CGI Lead/Supervisor: Paul Anand
Inferno Artists: Michael Peterson, Elliott Jobe
Henry Artist: Brian Schneider

Webfiles:

Moonlighting Filmmakers> http://www.moonlighting.co.za
NADEC> http://www.nadec.com