Lighting The Way With MindsEye

Lights, camera aaaand action…  signals the start of any high-powered shoot, but when that shoot involves a rig supported by a fleet of cranes, nocturnal crew and three stunt drivers you know it’s not a normal campaign.

Oh and will.i.am is involved – bringing an unprecedented level of cool-ness.

Yes, he’s been the unofficial brand ambassador for Lexus as of last year so that’s not really the news bit, but even he seemed blown away when asked how the shoot went – “Amazing!” by the way.

How do you say amazing in Spanish? @iamwill at #Lexus #NXontrack shooting pic.twitter.com/ZBiVdY1gN9

— Lexus PR Europe (@Lexus_EU) July 21, 2015

Lexus enlisted MindsEye to help realise the project and create a unique experiential campaign that was like no other.

The brief? “Music, will.i.am, cars, stunt drivers and lasers - I've never had such an exciting brief,” says executive producer Hughie Phillips.

And that’s exactly what they did.

With over 100 technicians on board, using more than 350 motion and audio-sensitive lights and lasers and shot on a Spanish private airstrip, the spot is more of a live event than an ad.

In the campaign, will.i.am is sat alongside famed stunt driver Niki Faulkner - who stood in for Rush’s James Hunt – and led two other cars while playing his #thatPOWER song off an interactive tablet.  

London-based light designers Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF) joined the job for their love of light and experimental approach – “a natural fit for the project,” quips Phillips.

With their expertise, the light installation responds to movement and sound creating a path of light-spots that direct which way the car should go.

“Together with Lexus, we’ve created a huge musical game with three stunt drivers as the players and will.i.am as the conductor. Music is brought to life when the cars hit beams of light that are motion-sensitive at the correct time and rhythm,” MLF creative director Barnaby Steel says. “It’s basically like a giant laser-harp with cars instead of fingers. The challenge for will.i.am and the drivers was to navigate the light points on tempo. When they fell off beat and triggered notes off tempo, the system would have to restart.”  

Lexus leaked teaser ads over the last few days to generate excitement, although not much was known before the video’s release today.

300 tra luci e laser, più di 100 ingegneri e @iamwill . Cos’hanno in comune tutti questi elementi? Segui #NXONTRACK https://t.co/J9B8b41ebw

— Lexus Italia (@Lexus_Italia) July 27, 2015

But it wasn’t all fun and games, shooting the campaign was tough.

“Everyone was asleep during the day, but awake at night. We’d all go back to the hotel in the morning, have breakfast around 8am and then go to sleep for six hours before doing it all over again. It lasted eight days in total – including construction and rigging,” says Phillips. “This project only works in the dark, so by the end, everyone had gone slightly doolally.”

Other factors that affected filming were the implications of working outside: the crew battled wind and rain and even narrowly avoided a huge electrical storm.

“But this is what happens when you do these things for real,” says Phillips. “The obvious thing is to do it with CGI, but this way was more exciting.”

No kidding - the stunt drivers performed in limited lighting, driving at 60.1 km/h without break lights (to avoid camera reflections) and communicated every movement via radio. No easy feat!

The sheer scale of the project allowed for great creative freedom and huge collaboration. Director Richard de Aragues, (represented by Mad Cow Films) was recruited – as his knowledge and experience working with live cars and stunts proved invaluable (and necessary).

Using octocopter cameras and Russian arms to capture the stunt car movement and various angles, Aragues succeeded in bringing the work to life and including the whole story in the spot.

Inspiration for the campaign was partly through previous Lexus ads – which are also similarly light-led – and partly through will.i.am’s love of tech and experimentation, which became obvious on the shoot when he was constantly playing with the lasers and looking over monitor screens.

When asked what the most rewarding part of the experience was, Phillips says that - aside from playing with the lights and lasers themselves (he revealed that some of the light formations were given names such as The Peacock and The Squid) – most of the team were overwhelmed by the sheer scale and size of the project: “A lot of the crew kept coming up to me and saying this project made them realise why they love doing what they do.”

Get involved at #NXontrack and look out for a behind-the-scenes video out tomorrow.