Spotted two commercials being filmed: SEAT and Audi TTS - downtown LA

[VadGTI]

Spotted some covered SEATs near my office today (yes, working through the weekend), went over and snapped some pics. They turned 6th St. into Europe, complete with plants, a newspaper box, signs, a moped and an "internet cafe" (actually a Korean-owned Jewish deli named Yorkshire Grill... Yes, it's good ).

I asked the crew guys if they had anything to do with the Audi and they said that it was a totally separate shoot, coincidentally happening on the same block and using the same camera car company.

Came back two hours later and the SEAT shoot was in progress. Snapped pics before they yelled at me.
On to the pics (they get less crappy below):

Cayenne camera car with TTS chasing.


Moped! News box! Must be Europe!


Note stret signs behind the bushes:


Covered SEAT


Uncovered wheel:


Another one:








TTS drives by again, chasing a Cayenne camera car:


Another Cayenne camera car and crew:


Went back two hours later to find one unlocked next to a water tanker (all car commercials look better with slick streets):


Interior (this one was on, sounded diesel-like):


Another flying by while being filmed:


GOOD PICS OF CARS EDITED UNTIL BRENDA PRIDDY GETS BACK TO ME

This is where I was yelled at.

Camera car:


Street camera crane:


Walking back, I guess they were upset about me taking pics of the interior as they closed the door and covered the car again:

[330iZHP]

I wonder why they would bring them here and make fake euro street scene

[VadGTI]

So, the red thing seems to be a SEAT Leon, which is not out yet. If I am correct and I find these pics elsewhere, I'll sue all ya'll . Now pay me!

[50fridge]

I wonder why they would bring them here and make fake euro street scene

Maybe it is cheaper to film a commercial in the US?

[Mr Miyagi]

Nice pics. Shoulda gotten in and gunned it home.

[Churras]

ibiza refresh ?

[Chris16vRocco]

So, the red thing seems to be a SEAT Leon, which is not out yet. If I am correct and I find these pics elsewhere, I'll sue all ya'll . Now pay me!

Do you know of any good lawyers?

[Biff Beltsander]

That's a pretty neat find, good stuff.

[omoderncultureo]

ibiza refresh ?

Yes, Seat Ibiza facelift.

[VDub2625]

Awesome! I never find anything cool like preproduction cars or commercials being filmed. i guess it comes with living in a boring section of the country, lol.

[SICKVDUB1]

They already did the refresh on the ibiza? I thought they just did one like 2 years ago or something

[Wimbledon]

I believe these are the very first photos of the refreshed Ibiza!

Nice shots Vad

[OOMMGGMAN]

Excellent! now lets look for a buyer for them interior pics

[Perio5]

Thats the plain an simple SEAT ibiza we get in Mexico, just added led strips on the headlights

[Mr Miyagi]

Excellent! now lets look for a buyer for them interior pics

too late, already posted

[VadGTI]

I believe these are the very first photos of the refreshed Ibiza!

Nice shots Vad

Sweet! Off to Brenda Priddy they go .

[bzcat]

I wonder why they would bring them here and make fake euro street scene

Because most of the commercials you see on TV are shot here. LA has varied streetscape that can double as any place on earth. And we have the infrastructure to support a weekend shoot. Where else in the world are you going to find a camera rig car, 150 technical guys, lots of unemployed directors, and a cooperative city Govt that will allow you to shoot the whole thing in 12 hours on Sunday?

[duke of chucchinchilla]

Because most of the commercials you see on TV are shot here. LA has varied streetscape that can double as any place on earth. And we have the infrastructure to support a weekend shoot. Where else in the world are you going to find a camera rig car, 150 technical guys, lots of unemployed directors, and a cooperative city Govt that will allow you to shoot the whole thing in 12 hours on Sunday?

South Africa. True story.

[VadGTI]

Brenda Priddy is checking on these so I'm editing the original post and pulling the red car out until she gets back to me .

[bzcat]

South Africa. True story.

I would like to see you hire 10 grip, 5 sound guy, 20 camera ops, and about 120 other assorted people required to shoot a commercial with 3 days notice in South Africa. And have it edited and ready for air in 10 days.

[Son]

South Africa. True story.

Barcelona is another city that's often in at least still pictures in car ads. Which makes me wonder if it's really worth going all the way to LA. It can't rain all the time in BCN this time of the year, either.

It bothers me when a Finnish company has had a commercial filmed abroad and they're trying to pull it off as a Finnish scenery. There's always something unexplainable that screams that the city scenery isn't from Finland.

[Son]

BTW, I'm surprised the Leon isn't on 18"ers or at least 17s.

[Son]

Love the "Internet Cafe" sign, BTW. As if the internet was a 19th century invention and the cafe had been there forever.

Edit: Any chance getting the links to the Priddy pics?

[ThatsGoodT]

Hey, that's my car!

[PsyberVW]

I would like to see you hire 10 grip, 5 sound guy, 20 camera ops, and about 120 other assorted people required to shoot a commercial with 3 days notice in South Africa. And have it edited and ready for air in 10 days.

This is almost like an out-sourcing project.

1. It CAN be done.
2. Doesn't mean it SHOULD be done.

The closest thing you could call it is "process art", whereby the act of creating is the real art, and the artifact is just a byproduct (kind of like how the purpose of good food is eating and the by-product is feces.). In fact, EXACTLY like that.

[VDub2625]

LA didn't make sense to me either, until that guy above posted about the Mexican cars. i forgot Mexico sold SEATs too, so it'd be easy for them to get one to LA.

[Iroczgirl]

LA didn't make sense to me either, until that guy above posted about the Mexican cars. i forgot Mexico sold SEATs too, so it'd be easy for them to get one to LA.

Yeah. Makes total sense if it was a Mexican commercial.

[Son]

Yeah. Makes total sense if it was a Mexican commercial.

The plates are still Spanish, though.

[mhjett]

Uncovered wheel:

Thanks for the caption, wasn't quite sure what we're looking at here.













As for why shoot a SEAT spot in LA, my guess is because that's where the best film crew/ad agency/production studio/whatever was and it's cheaper to throw a couple extra SEATs on a boat full of Audis/VWs/Porsches than vice versa.

[PsyberVW]

As for why shoot a SEAT spot in LA, my guess is because that's where the best film crew/ad agency/production studio/whatever was and it's cheaper to throw a couple extra SEATs on a boat full of Audis/VWs/Porsches than vice versa.

And as mentioned before, LA loves it when you shut down a major street for 12 hours of shooting on a weekend. The whole city is a giant movie prop

[MK2*GTI*GUY]

No Sh*t! I was there two weeks ago to see the MotoGP Doc "Fastest" premiere, and they were setting up to film on the corner with that Cayenne. Now I'm wondering if it was for the same thing.

Corner of Main + 3rd?

[bzcat]

No Sh*t! I was there two weeks ago to see the MotoGP Doc "Fastest" premiere, and they were setting up to film on the corner with that Cayenne. Now I'm wondering if it was for the same thing.

Corner of Main + 3rd?

There are about 300 commercial shoots in the city of LA every week. They never go longer than 12 hours. I can guarantee you what you saw was something else.

[ThreadBomber]

There are piles of commercials shot here too. I'm sure some are Canada only but, very common, I can think of four or five off the top of my head.

[choochoo]

was he behind the camera?

there's a good chance he was

[cityjohn]

Love the "Internet Cafe" sign, BTW. As if the internet was a 19th century invention and the cafe had been there forever.

They must have been inspired by the sign they covered: