The Phaeton, Volkswagen's most premium automobile, is built within the extraordinary Transparent Factory in Dresden, Germany. This site is a cinematic journey weaving in and out between the Factory and the region's rich, cultural history, which strongly has influenced the thinking behind the automobile's emphasis on craftsmanship.

The ambitious Singular Masterpiece production took place in Prague (2 days) and Dresden (2 days). As Dresden was a necessary location as that's where the VW factory is, Prague was chosen for its proximity, its excellent film crews and on-camera talent. Sets, complete with period custom and elaborate props were shot in Prague, on green screen while backgrounds were added later through CG and matte painting. In Dresden, there was 1 shoot day on location picking up period scenes among the small amount of ruins still in existence, to cover off the post WW2 scenes; and 1 day in the Transparent Factory, where the Phaeton is made. The VW factory created the largest obstacles from a logistics standpoint as all scenes were shot with large, cumbersome motion-control rigs, which made set-ups and the production process within the factory extremely challenging. But in the end, the use of motion-control gave us what we were going after, one continuous, seamless journey traveling through centuries of Dresden cultural history, as well as the current factory manufacturing process.

The entire production cost was US$615k (including live action, all post and music), with back end production for the website handled by the agency. The crew included 15, with 8 more working on the post production. The only limitations, as previously stated, existed in the factory which didn't allow for certain desired motion control moves. And no major setbacks occurred other than not having a signed estimate from the client until 2 days before the shoot, which was hairy to say the least.

The client has fully embraced the work, pushing to have other markets use the site, and also using the film within showrooms and even sending out DVDs with it. It's still early days, but VW is having their best year on record, with Phaeton sales up 16% from last year.