Getting a man to the altar can be a formidable task, but in Visa "Running Man" it's an obstacle-laden, cross-country trek for one unfortunately stranded groom.

Directed by Antoine Bardou-Jacquet for Partizan and Saatchi & Saatchi, London, the spot follows the sweat-soaked runner - wearing nothing but his birthday suit, dress socks and clutching a Visa - as he sprints through various terrain.

Without breaking stride, he crosses a blinding, white desert; picks up shoes, food and trousers at stops along a highway; dodges trucks, dogs and cattle past mountainous terrain and eventually finds his way to the city, where he outfits himself in a suit, buys a ring and makes it to the church in time for his vows.

With such an extensive list of locales, the production headed to Argentina's province of Jujuy and its capital city, Buenos Aires for the six-day shoot.

"We needed a vastly differing geography," says Partizan producer David Stewart. "We needed it to feel like [the groom's] gone on a epic journey, without us needing to travel too far."

Shooting began in January on the 3,200 square mile salt flats of Jujuy's Salinas Grandes and the small town of Purmamarca, famed for its multi-hued Seven Colors Hill. Setting up base in the north - the town is a two-hour flight from Buenos Aires - meant that considerable pre-planning was required as equipment had to be brought in from BA.

"We needed three days to get all the trucks and transports loaded and up to our base. We also took the crews from Buenos Aires," says Stewart, who worked with production service company Pioneer Productions. The production manager, DP and first AD were flown in from France and England. "The challenge was in being completely prepared for any eventuality, because shooting in the north, you don't have everything close at hand."

While the equipment was trucked in, the cattle up north was abundant. "We spoke to local farmers and got gauchos to herd the cattle down and put them where we wanted against the backdrop," says Stewart.

While the team couldn't get permission to close the stretch of highway, police and security were on hand to regulate traffic. Permits were easier to obtain in Buenos Aires, where the production secured a church for the final scene. Interestingly, having to shoot on a Sunday in a church didn't pose any difficulties.

"With BA you always need quite a lot of time for permits," says Stewart. "We needed to shoot that scene on a Sunday so we permitted for that area. Originally, we were meant to shoot in a different church but when we decided on shooting in the second, we already had the permits in place."

Partizan http://www.partizan.com
Saatchi & Saatchi http://www.saatchi.com
Pioneer Productions http://www.pioneerproductions.com.ar