The 'Diesel' ad

by Zac Macaulay

Reproduced from in focus 66 (October 1999)

When I was asked to present my portfolio to one of the biggest advertising agencies in London packed with underwater images, I was understandably curious. As a photographer with over fourteen years experience I've made countless presentations, but somehow this one seemed to have that little bit more gravity about it. Having emerged from the meeting, none the wiser, I went about my business in the normal way for a Monday morning. Half an hour later I was summoned in again and offered the shoot for the next 'Diesel' jeans ad underwater.

The basic idea was delicious: a Mafia-style hit with dead and dying people tied to concrete blocks at the bottom of a murky riverbed. The shot as I saw it needed to create an optical illusion of a vast river bed with various bodies ranging off into the distance. I especially wanted to create the feeling of claustrophobia as I believe it is the most negative feeling anyone, diver or not, has about being underwater.

Slim Macdonald's facility in Hampshire was booked to provide the pool, all the lighting and some of the crew. Next to be commissioned was a special effects company to build and construct the underwater set. Soon after, models, assistants and safety divers were all hired.

The advertisement had been planned for billboard sites all around the worId and therefore picture q uaI ity in terms of camera format chose itself. I decided to use a Hassleblad SWC with a 38mm lens and 220 back loaded with Fuji Astia in a housing. This proved to be a superb combination with the lens quality providing edge to edge sharpness, and the Astia giving the colour punch I wanted.

The shoot itself took two days. The first day was for set building and preparation, the second for photography. So on the 18 th November 1997 everyone gathered together on a very wet and cold day to begin work.

The first job was assembly of the river bed scene. Five mannequins dressed in 'Diesei' clothing attached to concrete blocks were lowered into the water and placed in strategic positions leading off into the distance. Then two more concrete blocks were placed in the foreground, closest to the camera, ready for the models. Various river weed which had been collected was also placed, weighted down by small lead weights. General mood setting detritus, which had been accumulated was taken in and weighted down. Finally, to set the scene, a shopping trolley was cut in half and sunk in the foreground.

At the point when I thought the shot was looking good and the general shape was right I introduced the lights. I already had a very good idea of how I wanted the lighting to look. To me this is always one of the key elements in any shot, land or underwater. In the end we used four 1.5K HMI's purely as fill in lighting around the edges of the pool, and one 4K HMI run off a generator acting as a natural daylight source. The added particulate in the water helped to create the shafts of light thrown down by our 4K.

The next stage was to take Poloroids of the lit shot to check it was actually going to look good on film. So a couple of crew members perched on the concrete block and chain assembly pretending to be dead. The Polaroids showed me how the lighting was coming on and how many alterations to make. It also showed me and the client how the shape of the shot was forming.

The inevitable was looming and it was soon time to attach the artists to the chains. Although the artists were very experienced in underwater modelling, it was inevitably a tense time for all concerned both were gently lowered into position by their own safety diver. The models were breathing air and wearing masks all through this stage. Their feet were tied into position via the chains which had a weak link built in as one of many safety measures. Both placed their hands behind their backs in the pretence that the wrists were tied: in reality both were clasping a bottle of spare air. When the models were ready the safety divers removed the air supply and masks, and on pre-arranged signals both models began their agonising "death throws* acting. The whole thing looked like some weird ballet underwater from behind the view finder, and the tension from the previous week's work and preparation instantly dissipated as I saw the whole complicated beast coming together.

The day after the shoot I woke up and looked in my fridge to find half a dozen rolls of shot fiIm with a monetary value of only about £20.00. This is always one of the oddest feelings as you reflect back through all the human team effort, time, and resources used up by so many people; it is all there, translated into six rolls of film which you can hold in one hand. The film was processed and submitted to the agency who were duly delighted. I collapsed on the sofa with a Stella, and started to think of my next underwater bad dream.