Porsche 911

Rear Horse Power

With China rapidly becoming the worlds largest purchaser of automobiles, Porsche could have done a hard sell campaign to move their high end sports cars. Instead they drafted the services of Fred & Farid Shanghai to create a clever subtle message about the Porsche 911’s rear engine configuration.

The Rear Horsepower campaign featured classic paintings and photographs of Sulky racers with the horse behind the carriage. It’s a clever visual play, paired with a minimal amount of copy and the Porsche logo. The campaign was presented as 4 print ads that were paired to an outdoor campaign as well. Using horse imagery was a purposeful choice that Fred & Farid made to tie into 2014 being the Chinese Year of the Horse.

A Porsche 911 + a Camera + Virtual Rig

The world of photography has changed so much in the last 20 years. Even the last 5 have seen some very radical shifts in the way photographers shoot, edit, and post process their images. One thing remains constant though, good photography is not about the technology and software, it’s about the person behind the camera. When the two are combined, you get masterful results.

Photographer Frederic Schlosser was given the assignment of shooting the very famous Falken Porsche 911 for an upcoming ad campaign. The client wanted the car to look as though it was moving very fast. They also wanted it shot in a rather edgy environment, with very tight, limited driving spaces. In order to achieve a really sense of movement, Schlosser turned to Virtual Rig software to help create the final images.

The video below is a behind the scenes short of the photo shoot. The link above will take you to Schlosser’s website where you can see all of the final images.

“In general it’s important for sure to get one shot without the car and one photo with spinning wheels. [Most people accomplish this using a jack to lift up the car and spin the wheels by hand.] For Virtual rig shots I also like to to show a vanishing point. This gives the picture more speed in my opinion. I always try to do something crazy with Virtual Rig photos because it allows me to capture limitless angles of the car, and thus, I love to do things that would be nearly impossible to shoot real life. That’s why I chose to create a dynamic shot of the Porsche driving during rain. It was really important to get nice water drops on the car, but since the car is moving and the water drops on the car have to move as well! So just using a water hose to spray down the car was not enough because the water was not moving fast enough. I used a technique which is very famous in portrait retouched called frequency separation and allowed me to move the water drops on the car. Another thing to add: we also had someone to move containers in the background for us. It was important to get Maersk containers properly displayed in the pictures since they are a partner of Falken!”

Amazing Flying Porsche 911’s by Gerry Judah.

I hope this stays at Goodwood in the UK. I’d love to see it in person some day. Porsche 2013 by artist and designer Gerry Judah is a 22 ton steel and real Porsche sculpture that was commissioned by Porsche UK for the 50th anniversary of the 911 and the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The sculpture features three different models of the Porsche 911: the 1963 Original 911; the 1973 911 Carrera RS 2.7; and the 2013 911. The photos look pretty amazing so I imagine in person this will knock your socks off. Even if you aren’t into motor sports or automobiles you have to admit this is pretty impressive. The white arrows that suspend the cars above the ground look like jet contrails as these classic cars jet off into the sky.

“I had to create a sculpture that personifies the energy and excitement not only of these beautiful cars but also the Festival of Speed. The 911 is a fantastic shape that can’t be deconstructed or embellished, so in this context, the sculpture had to provide the right platform for the car to soar up and shine in the sky.”

Friday Eye Candy. “Urban Outlaw” from Tamir Moscovici.

I found this today over at Autoblog, and I am smitten with the quality of this short little film about a guy you’d never think of as a Porsche collector if you saw him on the street.

The trailer for Urban Outlaw by Tamir Moscovici has a wonderful look and feel to it. Great cinematography that captures the essence of the car and driver. Editing the captures the passion that Magnus Walker has for the cars. A great flow to the trailer that leaves you wanting to see more. Some of the shots in this little snippet of the final product have such a wonderful look to them. The lighting and camera angles are simply spectacular. I can’t wait for the full film to come out. I’m hooked.

Producer / Director: Tamir Moscovici (MOS), Industry Films
Line Producer: Dwight Phipps, Industry Films
DP: Anthony Arendt, Partos
Editor: Paul Proulx, Stealing Time
Colourist: Wade Odlum, Alter Ego
Audio House: Pirate Toronto