“We wanted to work with turtles,” says Lernert, one-half of the Dutch directorial duo Lernert & Sander, “as they’re the epitome of slow. The brief from Sony was to capture the quality of the Action Cam’s slow-motion. The camera is so simple to use that it could even be used by a turtle, which is how the concept came about.”
The resulting 60-second digital spot, the pair’s first for Sony and second with Morihiro Harano of Mori Inc., sees five turtles jockeying a range of dogs – from Afghan Hound to Basset – across a finish line. “The everyday life of a turtle is shockingly boring,” says Sander, “especially if you were to film it. The dogs add action, but the capability of the camera retains the turtle’s slowed perspective. It’s able to capture the glorious slow motion of the dogs’ bouncing hair as they race down the track, as well as the glorious photo finish.”
No turtles or dogs were harmed in the making of this film. All animals were professionally supervised on set by American Humane Association (http://www.humanehollywood.org) and the turtles on the dogs’ backs are custom designed robotic puppets.
