Buenos Aires gets turned into Fruit City for Tropicana

OUTSIDER's Jorn Threlfall helped bring to life DDB London's concept for a Fruit City where luscious fruit of all kinds is found absolutely everywhere.

"I read the script and couldn't believe a fantastic idea like this hadn't been done before," Threlfall recalled of "Fruit City". "It was quite surreal as well, with fruit trees peppered all over the city. A sense of nonchalance about it all was very important to make it as real as possible."

Tropicana - Fruit City (2007) 0:45 (UK)

  Threlfall wanted the trees and fruit to appear a realistic as possible, with the odd nature of the visual registering little by little. Shooting on location in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Threlfall and his production designer secured about ten orange trees and placed them on stands throughout their shooting locales. The practical effect allowed the director to shoot a majority of the project in camera, filling it out here and there in post.

"Buenos Aires was the perfect big, busy city for us and it really offered a universal feel," Threlfall explained. "The sun's also perfect in February." Finding the fruit that appears in the unlikeliest of scenarios was a challenge, the director noted. "We got fruit from wherever it could be had," he laughed, "there's probably a long list of people to thank; for example, we got our cranberries from Amish community in Pennsylviania who make them out of paper."