French health body creates foggy ambience filming on location near Barcelona

Scantily-clad young people spent a day frolicking on a Spanish hillside for a commercial from French organisation INPES, which promotes sexual health. The Chase uses a voiceover to describe who’s attracted to whom, before they’re chased by a collection of sexually-transmitted diseases.

Locations all over Europe were scouted, with Slovenia becoming one of the leading options, but Spain was eventually chosen for the one-day shoot because of its more stable and predictable weather conditions. Filming took place on a hillside in Camp Antoni in a town called Cardedeu, around 40km outside Barcelona. The location was green and free of construction.

The fog is inside the balloon and the SFX guy makes some holes and unloads the fog when needed. This system is very efficient and gave a natural aspect to the fog, which comes from everywhere.

Matthieu Tombarelle, Producer

Marc Bèdia produced the spot for The Lift: “The main challenge was to find a field – which had the right type of greenery and vegetation of course – that had a hill that was geographically oriented in a way that allowed us to shoot all day. In other words, [one] that could allow us to move the camera, chasing the sun and still look like we were always shooting from the same angle.”

The crew added flowers to the grassy slope as they were looking for a springtime look but the spot was filmed in early autumn. A fog machine was also used to create the right ambience and dreamy atmosphere.

Matthieu Tombarelle, a Producer with McCann Paris, said: “We added some fog during the shoot to give a special atmosphere to the scene. For this, we used a new system: a sort of balloon 30cm high and 40 metres long. The fog is inside the balloon and the SFX guy makes some holes and unloads the fog when needed. This system is very efficient and gave a natural aspect to the fog, which comes from everywhere.”

Rain a few hours before shooting began made the grass slippery, but otherwise the biggest challenge was racing the sun and making sure the footage was all caught in the right light.

Credits
Client: INPES
Agency: McCann, Paris
Producer: Matthieu Tombarelle
Production Company: La Pac, Paris
Executive Producer: Hélène Polvereli
Production Service Company: The Lift, Barcelona
Executive Producer: Marc Bèdia
Director of Photography: Steeven Petitteville
Director: Aoife McArdle

Images courtesy of Matthieu Tombarelle and Marc Bèdia.