Paternity test

The spot "Black Stallion" was created by students of the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg for the New Zealand mini-brewery Horse Box Brewery shot. In contrast to earlier works by the Academy, where "unsolicited" globally acclaimed spots for Mercedes, Johnnie Walker and Volvo the horse film really comes into its own. No wonder, because the harsh humor is likely to be well received - at least by some of the audience. The spot was penned by student director Lars Timmermann.

How Timmermann just came up with Horse Box Brewery? "I didn't want to shoot a spec, but always wanted to advertise a real product," he says when asked by Werbewoche. "But at the same time, we didn't want to have a customer on the set, so we looked up which country was furthest away from Ludwigsburg. That's how we came up with New Zealand, 18,500 kilometers away."

The next step, he said, was to look for the smallest company he could find. "Finally, I came across Horse Box Brewery. There is truly only one person working here, namely the very funny and likeable Phil McArdle. He alone brews the beer and then distributes it to numerous pubs in the area. So I contacted Phil, wrote a concept and he was on board immediately."

Client McArdle didn't show up on set - as planned - but supported the student crew from afar, Timmermann recounts, "The four bottles of beer he sent us via express for the shoot cost the rest of us 127 euros in shipping." (hae)

Credits:

Production: Film Academy Baden Württemberg
Director: Lars Timmermann
Copywriter: Nicolas Blättry
Photographer: Mortimer von Hochberg
Producers: Sebastian Raphael & Michaela Edl