ASTON MARTIN V12 VANTAGE S
Aston Martin
CREDITS
DIRECTOR-PRODUCERS
Dan Constantinou
Paul Denchfield
PRODUCER
Paul Denchfield
AGENCY
Fin London
VFX
Darian Weir
BRIEFING
Fin's half-decade relationship with Aston Martin continued in its special centenary year, with a brief to launch the brand-new replacement for the V12 Vantage.
The V12 Vantage S is a sports car for the road, with motor racing power - Aston's "most ferocious car ever produced." A series of teasers had to show this combination of vital elements in a new way. There was only one man for the job...Fin's very own petrol head, Dan Constantinou.
Dan devised the concept of the reflective racing helmet, showing the road, while behind the race driver we see the racing track to convey the car's core ethos. Intercut with this, are dynamic shots of the car in an emotive landscape, along with the all-important speed shots on the race track.
The film, vitally, had to be a teaser for the V12 Vantage S, so it was decided to combine extreme close-up shots of the its stunning exterior, shot in-studio, before revealing the full car and showing it in action.
Filming on RED in 4K took place across two days in North Wales for the road shots, with a further day spent on the race track in Anglesey. As all the shots had to be achieved in a short space of time, three cameras were constantly filming the action to ensure nothing was missed - resulting in a terabyte of footage coming back to the edit. A further day was spent in studio, capturing the sumptuously-lit and composed close-up shots of the car's exterior bodywork.
In the edit, the car's essence - the power and excitement of its engine - was brought to the forefront by utilising diegetic exhaust sound alone, without music. Flame Artist Darian Weir composited the reflective eye and helmet shots, along with augmenting the full driver in front of the racing track, before the finished piece was expertly graded in Fin's Pablo suite to accentuate mood and tone.