Jeep Cherokee Desert Shoot: Behind-the-scenes
Exclusive – we join Jeep on an advertising shoot for the all-new Cherokee and see it in action on the dunes
By Shahzad Sheikh
All that fancy equipment, and this photo was taken by Imthishan on his iPhone! Job done
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5:30am!
Apart from being outrageously early, it’s also freezing! Well okay, 11 degrees centigrade is not technically freezing, but a temperature that low feels like the ice-age cometh when experienced here in the UAE, surrounded by a dunescape. Although of course we cannot see the dunescape, because it’s still pitch dark beyond the road at the meeting point near Big Red – which might as well be called Big Black right now.
So why are we here then, standing by the roadside, shivering and confabbing at this inhospitable hour and location? We’re joining the team from Chrysler Middle East about to conduct an advertising shoot for the all-new Jeep Cherokee.
Literally the crack of dawn
Photographer, Richard Allenby-Pratt, wants to get in some snaps (oh they really hate that word!) at first light, so we need to be in the desert and ready to shoot in under an hour. But since the contingent here gathered is largely British, first we must take tea! Fortunately Charlie Eddy, Regional Director from Publicis Graphics, here to direct to the shoot, has come prepared, with stove and teabags!
It’s always time for tea
Thus warmed and fuelled, and as more of the desert around us starts to become visible, the Cherokee is cleaned, positioned and cleaned again. A hefty tripod is set up, and we wait as the vivid yellow and gold of sunrise cracks through the deep blue sky, and the orange glow of a glorious desert dawn sweeps across the horizon and warms our cynical souls. Even the blue-rated banter quietens for a bit as we all take in the breathtaking brilliance.
But there’s not a lot of time to bask in the magnificence, as Richard is already shooting, repositioning, shooting, repositioning and occasionally swearing as dew and dirt on the car, our reflections and shadows, or all of the above, threaten to ruin the images he is focussing so hard on capturing. At one point we all have to crouch down below a dune, as if we’re taking cover from the shelling from the nearby military base – oh the dangers of doing car shoots!
Before long though, the golden hour has been and gone, brightness bathes the land. It’s no less stunning a vista though, as shadows exquisitely highlight the stilled waves and smooth curves of the dunes. Time for more tea and cookies, then – perhaps even a sandwich or two. During this, Charlie and Richard again go through a shoot brief and storyboard.
Shoots like these require beautifully drawn story boards
Today’s photography is for the purpose of providing publicity shots and pictures for the marketing and advertising material that will be deployed when the new Cherokee is launched in a few months time. The story board images have been drawn up in advance, because the creative team already know how the images will be used and what they want from them, based not only on regional-specific requirements, but also on brand ethos and product placement.
Richard talks about the problems with doing a shoot like this in the desert
This all-new Cherokee, which was debuted in the region at the Dubai Motor Show in November last year, is radically different from what’s gone before, but at heart it remains a Jeep. As such the advertising will emphasise and underscore its go-anywhere ability and adventurous spirit as well as its practicality and family-friendly usability.
The model being used for this shoot is the ‘Trailhawk’ version and benefits from different front and rear bumpers for better approach and departure angles – essentially when you go play in a gargantuan sandpit.
The 3.2 Pentastar V6 fitted to this car produces over 270bhp and 239lb ft of torque, delivered to the four-wheel drive system through a segment-first nine-speed automatic transmission. It also features a select-terrain system to set-up the 4WD – essentially the ‘dummy-mode’ which does all the thinking for the driver instead.
From behind the steering wheel Fraser probably wouldn’t have seen Richard – precision driving!
It’s not a Jeep if it can’t go bash some dunes pretty vigorously, so the next session in today’s shoot would be action shots of the car. And for that they need ‘the driver’. Not just any driver, but the best in the business when it comes to off-roading – our very own Fraser Martin.
That’s a ‘J’ that’s an ‘e’ and… oh…
After a few visual checks of the car, and some experimentation with the electronics and settings (it’s the first time he’s driven the new Cherokee) Fraser gets to work. With the sand still damp from the recent rains, he doesn’t need to deflate the tyres as he climbs, slide-slopes, plume-trails and cocks a trademark wheel in the air with the new Cherokee. He makes an utter mess of the previously unmolested dune slopes, at one point we’re almost certain that he might be trying to write the word ‘Jeep’ in them!
It wouldn’t be Fraser driving if he didn’t at least once cock a wheel in the air
There’s over an hour of this full-on action with Richard and his photographer’s apprentice perching themselves in often precarious positions to get the shot they’re after, before the team take another break and allow the Cherokee some respite to cool down. Once again they go over the shoot brief.
No other cars for miles! Apart from those.
It’s at this point that we decide to say our farewells and head off, because this shoot is far from over. It’s still only just gone past mid-morning, and already feels like we’ve been going for hours. In fact the team will be continuing till sunset – once again aiming for the sensational ‘golden hour’ shots at dusk.
Our images on this page, can barely do justice to the quality of work being produced, but you’ll be able to see it for yourselves when the Cherokee launch happens in Spring. We can’t wait!
That moment when Charlie suddenly realised he’d only brought one Cherokee to the shoot!
