Created in a Countryman
MINI USA
Issue 49 | December 2018
Agency
360i
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer, 360i: Menno Kluin Creative Director, 360i: Rachel Dolinsky Creative Director, 360i: Derekh Froude VP, Head of Integrated Production, 360i: Colin Pearsall Executive Producer, 360i: Kristina Kane Producer, 360i: Shayna Blase Artistic Director: Kirsten Lepore
Production Team
Production Company for “Camping”: Nix+Gerber Studio, First Hunt Films Artist: Lori Nix Artist: Kathleen Gerber Director/DP: Fletcher Wolfe Producers: David Olmsted + First Hunt Films 1st AC: Danny Flanagan Gaffer: Casey Wooden Best Electric: Jesse Sanchez-Strauss Key Grip: Rome Petersson Best Grip: Jon Stevens Pas: Jay LaForest, Elaine Carberry Colorist: Bobby Wagnerman Sound Design: Silver Sound Composer: Tarcisio Longobardi BTS: Jackie Romano Production Company for “Underwater”: PRETTYBIRD LLC
Other Credits
Department Head, Brand Communications, MINI USA: Patrick McKenna Marketing Communications Manager, MINI USA: Rahul Mahtani Digital Communications Specialist, MINI USA: Tristan Panasik SVP Group Account Director, 360i: Marianne Pizzi Account Director, 360i: Nubia Claros Account Manager, 360i: Amy Longfellow VP, Strategy, 360i: Felicia Zhang Senior Strategist, 360i: Katya Kotlyar Sr. Social Marketing Manager, 360i: Nicole Puccio Senior Project Manager, 360i: Daniel Sharts Project Manager, 360i: Daniel Heller
Date
September 2018
Background
To artfully illustrate that the 2019 MINI Countryman has enough space and versatility for even the biggest adventures, the automaker challenged stop-motion animator Kirsten Lepore and Brooklyn-based diorama-duo Nix + Gerber to create short films in their signature styles. And there’s a catch: The intricate works of art were entirely created and filmed inside the the rear cargo area of the surprisingly spacious 2019 MINI Countryman.
Idea
The 2019 MINI Countryman – the biggest, most adventurous MINI ever built – features sliding and folding rear seats and an adjustable rear cargo area floor, offering 17.6 cubic feet of cargo space with the rear seat in use, and 46.7 cubic feet when folded flat. In order to showcase the versatile cargo space of the vehicle in a unique and innovative way, there was a need for an out-of-this world concept that combined the worlds of beauty and utility. The quality and creativity of the activations conceived by the artists were perfectly aligned with MINI’s design philosophy around the creative use of space, and its support of art and culture. The art-focused campaign was perfect for MINI’s audience, urban “creative” professionals who pick a car – not just for its functional benefits – but for its design aesthetic. Each of the intricate, labor-intensive executions took about three days to craft and film, and utilized unique approaches to tactile, hand-crafted works of art intended to be displayed through multiple digital channels. Nix + Gerber’s campsite dioramas were shaped using various types of foam, wire, flock, dirt and rocks, while characters like the miniature astronauts were sculpted with a bake-able polymer clay that took three full days to set and dry. Kirsten Lepore’s aquatic adventure was designed using 20 sheets of high-grade paper reinforced with everything from toothpicks and skewers to large wooden dowels, while an overlay of plexiglass gave the ocean a shimmering quality throughout the 672 hand-placed frames required to create the film.