Nissan Frontier

America has long had a love affair with trucks. They are woven into folklore, written into songs, and among those devoted to these vehicles, none are more passionate than drivers of The Nissan Frontier. It’s an American favorite—a truck people love; a big beautiful beast of a vehicle that owns the terrain it’s named after.

Capable and unbreakable, tough and nimble, this is a truck that can meet any and all challenges. Throw anything at it that you like. Mud, rocks, dirt, sand? Snow, water, hillsides, valleys? It’s been there. It’s done that. And the All-New Frontier is more capable than ever.

That’s the attitude we want to take with this campaign. We want to use the camera, lensing, and motion to create a thrilling level of unmatched energy and excitement that honors the reputation of the Nissan Frontier. 

When witnessing the action, we want our viewers to feel the power, the capability, the speed, and the ruggedness of seeing the Frontier conquer the elements. We’re setting out to take them on a visual and visceral thrill-ride that is unrelenting, evocative, and engaging. Put simply, we’re using the films to ask the questions, Can it go there? Can it do that…? And answering those questions with a resounding and confident, Oh, yeah. You better believe it. 

The Look & Tone

Our goal is to bring this alive with a raw, gritty, and cinematically real aesthetic that is rich, rugged, bold, and immersive. We’ll mix wide shots that bring scope and scale to the imagery with dynamic angles and macro views of tires grinding and spinning, dirt flying, and water splashing. We see and feel the energy. We get drenched with water and taste the dust… 

We’ll get the camera down beneath the truck to highlight the undercarriage and suspension, or chase after the truck to feature the tow hook. In other moments we can capture graphic close-ups that romance the lines of the new grill, the styling of the lights, and the contrast of the orange accents. Using a mix of speeds, we can bring the film a look that is powerful and beautiful—especially in those moments in which we see the Frontier meeting and overcoming the elements. 

The rush of the truck powering into a stream followed by the slow motion splash of water flying into the air. Whirlwinds of sand and dust rising as wheels spin across terrain. Mud spiraling as the truck grinds its way across the earth. Rocks sent flying away from the tires… 

Each action will play its part in a visual language that will have viewer’s hearts pounding with excitement. My ultimate goal is to pull viewers into the experience by pushing the visual limits into new frontiers of filmmaking. 

Technical & Production Details

One of our first, and perhaps most important concerns is that we’ll be working with a prototype. As we all know, this will come with certain restrictions and limitations. That being said, this happens to be my field of expertise. I have quite a bit of experience working with the challenges that come with prototypes, and actually look forward to finding ways of bringing a thrilling level of beauty and excitement to the films.

From a technical standpoint, the BMW i4 spot on my reel was filmed under restrictions and limitations similar to what we’ll be dealing with here. The car was able to only drive 7 MPH, wasn’t allowed to get dusty and so on. It was like a raw egg on wheels. 

Just as then, the key is to go into the shoot knowing the limits and then to plan your shoot around them. Most likely this will mean having the right production tools available for us during the shoot, and designing shots that allow us to highlight the truck in ways that have a full-power feel.
For example, we can capture stunning looks at the grill and headlamps by shooting our hero vehicle on a process trailer. That would allow us to move at speed, with dust flying past the lens while capturing cool and compelling looks that move across the front of the vehicle. It will create the convincing reality of the truck plowing across terrain—without needing to actually exceed any limits imposed by the prototype. 

We’ll combine those detailed actions with super-wide drone shots that lend the story an epic quality. Additionally, we’ll use a Russian Arm to sweep around the truck, which can make 15 MPH look like 70 MPH. 

Other methods and tools that can be used to dial up the thrill of the ride would include the use of a Shaker Box to bring alive the tremor of powerful motion, and the incorporation of foreground elements that shutter in front of the lens so that we feel the rush of moving at high speed. 

Using speed ramps, high frame rates, and carefully designed compositions will give us a similar result. Having dealt with this type of issue before, I’m fully confident that we can create moments like seeing the truck powering through water. It really just comes down to taking the right approach to the water hazard we create, shooting from an angle that makes the most of it splashing—and then using slow motion photography to dial up the sensation of unbridled power and speed.

In the event that the prototype is not mobile, we could also consider using the current Frontier model to perform some (or all) of the actions at speed. This will obviously depend on the styling changes between the New Frontier and the current model. But, even if there are slight differences, we can mask them through the artful use of natural elements. 

An expansive wide shot of the truck engulfed in a cloud of dust as it zooms across the terrain, the rear of the truck fishtailing and kicking dirt and dust up toward the lens, tires landing, bouncing, and grinding over rocks… Those moments and others can be used judiciously to fill out the footage (if needed.)

There’s also a possibility of framing shots close enough to the body and tires that we create the believable impression of seeing an isolated part of the Frontier in motion. The described Russian Arm swings create that feeling too. We could even consider shooting quick cuts that romance the Frontier posed heroically within the landscape—and intercut those with rapid macro action shots. For instance, we might glide across sheet metal for a second—and interrupt that with a sudden cut to tires powering through dirt and rock.

These are all things that we can continue to discuss as we move ahead. Basically, we just need to be smart about how we shoot the prototype and supplement that with careful use of the current vehicle. Either way, the big advantage we have is that we’re preaching to the choir. The audience is already intimately familiar with the Nissan Frontier. They know it and love it. The perception is already there, and that can help us create a reality without needing to see the truck in its entirety.

Sound Design

These films demand the integration of an evocative sound design filled with original audio cues that bring a feature-like quality to the Teasers. This added cinematic element will allow us to feel the power of the truck, and connect to the elements the Nissan Frontier owns. 

The rasp of tires sliding across rocks, the steady constant roar of the engine growling like a massive beast, the grinding sound of it powering across raw earth, the rush of water dispersing as tires lands—these are all textures that can bring this spot leaping off the screen.

We can push that even further by layering in a musical track that lends the narrative a pulse. It might even be interesting to add in some contrasts in which the sound drops out for a brief moment—as if we have reached a point where we have to hold our breath—before leaping back into an up-tempo rush of adrenaline-filled driving. 

Taking a Step Beyond the Expected

Getting great coverage that will give you everything needed for the :15 Teasers is my first priority. But I want to take things further. My intention is to expand on those shots by providing you with a great library of footage that will afford you the luxury of flexibility in the edit—and that can be used for broadcast, or for the social aspects of the campaign.

In addition to imagery that highlights the undercarriage, suspension, tow hook, orange styling accents, grill, lighting, power, handling, capability, and raw rugged dependability of the Frontier, we may also want to capture some elements within the environment.

Wildlife, wind moving dust, dirt, or sand, rocks scattering, water rippling before erupting from the impact of tires, sun kicking off the lens, clouds moving across the sky, sun rising or setting behind mountains, trees moving, birds flying… These can all act as punctuation points that help tell our story, modulate the editorial tempo, and bring a great sense of gritty realism to the films. 

These more abstract shots can be used to heighten emotions—and better yet—create an image system that relates directly to the experience of taking this new Nissan to new frontiers. 

And Finally…

As the saying goes, “The measure of a man is what he does with power.” Our hero, has made up his mind to drive it, and being a man who goes his own way, he knows that only one truck has what it takes to stand powerfully tall above the rest. That’s why he drives the Ford Lobo.

That’s the message we are delivering to our audience, and my hope is to tell that story in a way that is exciting, entertaining, and aspirational enough to resonate with anyone and everyone who loves to sit behind the wheel of a great truck.

Thank you again for thinking of me. I’m excited to get started, and look forward to speaking with all of you again.