Written by on Aug 17, 2012. Posted in Production News

Biscuit Filmworks stages bikini powerboat parade in South Africa for Axe

Biscuit Filmworks has chosen South Africa for a new spot from Axe tying in with the deodorant brand’s latest campaign. Supplies shows a parade of powerboats carrying bikini girls, ninjas, male models and cocktail waiters across the ocean towards a Caribbean island as they hum in unison.

The spot promotes an Axe competition to win a three-day party on a real Caribbean island, but filming actually took place on location off the Cape Town coast. One of the crucial elements was to find a sheltered body of water so that ocean conditions would be calmer, which was where the knowledge of servicing company AFS Productions proved useful.

We looked at numerous locations in South Africa but needed an area that was pretty much guaranteed to be wind-protected.

Brin Kushner, AFS Productions

Brin Kushner is with AFS: “We looked at numerous locations in South Africa but needed an area that was pretty much guaranteed to be wind-protected. We chose to shoot in Table Bay, as Table Mountain protects the bay from the prevailing south-east wind.”

After a week of preparation filming was completed in just one day, with everything going pretty much to plan. Kushner adds: “We have incredible water stunt co-ordinators locally who were on hand to assist in co-ordinating the boat movements and safe launching. The timing of the boats racing in unison was a challenge but with a great Assistant Director and crew the shoot went smoothly.”

David Kolbusz was Creative Director with BBH London and Ryan Chong was Producer. They’re full of praise for AFS Productions and conclude: “It was a good production base, had a wide variety of talent with the right look for our spot, as well as accommodating air and water regulations for filming.”

Credits:
Client: Axe (Unilever)
Agency: BBH London
Creative Director: David Kolbusz
Producer: Ryan Chong
Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks, London
Executive Producers: Orlando Wood and Holly Vega
Producer: Rick Jarjoura
Production Service Company: AFS Productions, Cape Town
Director of Photography: Terrence Maritz
Director: Tim Godsall