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Mercedes-Benz · Vertical film

Mercedes-Benz Maybach V250

It's a van. It's also the most comfortable seat in the building.

Mercedes-Benz Maybach V250 - poster frame

Details

Client
Project One Motors - a van, technically
Make
Mercedes-Benz
Format
Vertical, 9:16
Role
Shot, graded, and cut by me

This is a V-Class given the full luxury treatment: reclining rear captain's chairs, a partition, tables, and a cabin trimmed to the standard of a saloon costing several times as much. Underneath, it's still a van. That's the joke and it's also the point - in a city built on chauffeured airport runs, the back seat is the product.

Which flips the brief completely. On every other car here the exterior does the selling and the interior is a supporting shot. On this one the exterior is a Mercedes van and nobody is watching for that, so the film has to spend its time inside. Interiors are the harder job: tight space, mixed colour temperature between the windows and the cabin lights, and nowhere to put a camera that doesn't show a wall.

It's physically large in a room laid out for low cars, too, which limits how far back you can stand. Wide shots of a van indoors mostly show the building, so the useful frames are close - and close means every surface in them has to be clean.