An American Love Story

We’re delighted to have had the opportunity to collaborate with Johannes Leonardo again, this time for Volkswagen.

75 years ago, VW brought the first Volkswagen Beetle to America. The American people then embraced VW, generation after generation, making VW & the Beetle truly part of the culture.

For this project, we delved into archives far and wide to unearth beautiful footage from the 1940s that set the tone and mood for the director to recreate the New York streets and shoot new footage to match cut with the archival of the iconic Type 1 Beetle’s arrival to America. The Beetle was digitally created and placed into the scenes, embedding the car into the story as we follow its journey in America.

The other huge task was to source VW footage through the ages to showcase the history and deep heritage of Volkswagen. We sourced original footage from specialised libraries and dug deep, even rescanning the original 35mm negative to supply 4K footage that the VFX team could work with.

The production team used their exceptional skills to film contemporary scenes in New York City, ingeniously transforming them to evoke the ambiance of various past decades. This fusion of ‘new’ and old footage imbues the film with an authentic charm, capturing pivotal moments where the Beetle became woven into the fabric of our culture.

The film premiered during Super Bowl 58.