Scarec(r)ow
We were happy to welcome back our friends of Pirania Film to shoot, another time, with...(drum roll)…cows. Again.
When I first read the request of our Polish friends I thought they were messing with us about the cows. Just a few months ago we closed a major crossroads city center and put 3 really big oxen on them for a shoot with Pirania.
Not that I don´t like cows, it was just surprising to hear, that they had another commercial with cows but this time for a traditional milk brand.
As scenery our clients chose some beautiful green and wheat/oat fields. That made it quite easy for us, because we didn´t have to close any roads this time
Besides our lovely black and white German “Holsteiner” cow, the main "actor" was a scarecrow. It was a very relaxing way to shoot since you don´t have to repeat scenes because of any poor acting on the part of the scarecrow.
Speaking about the scarecrow, constructing it in the first place was fast and easy, too. But staying authentic to a Polish scarecrow was the key to success We had to take great care with the details. For example the face and clothes had to have a weathered look, with earth, but the earth on set was too red compared to Polish earth. Scraping around in some bizarre places the right color match was found. Our clients brought the final touch, a traditional Polish bandana, because one of the most important things when shooting a commercial for a foreign product is to make it real.
However shooting with animals (even trained film animals) is always a little tricky, because you never know in what daily condition the animals are and if they want to be cooperative or stubborn. The good reason we always ensure to have back-up animals on set. On this shoot we needed only one cow, but had a 2nd cow on set. Both did a very good job. While the first cows` eyes looked a bit scared, her double-ganger turned out to be our little star. She gave kisses to the people and was kind of flirty with the camera, looking straight into it and also rubbing it with its nose.
I´m really looking forward to the next animal Pirania wants to shoot with us...
