Director Gustav Johansson unveils the next chapter of Volvo’s "Made By Sweden" campaign with a sweeping short film paying tribute to Sweden’s harshest conditions. Created by Forsman & Bodenfors, AdAge’s most awarded agency of 2014, the 4-minute piece “Vintersaga” takes us into the depths of a Swedish January – the month when the country shows itself from its harshest side with rain, snow, cold, wind and sun that hardly rises above the horizon.
It is also the period that defines Swedes the most. While people from all over the world flock to Sweden during the warm summer periods and enjoy the hours of extended daylight, only the residents choose to stay there voluntarily when the great melancholy rolls in. With the darkness and cold comes a special creativity that affects everything from the music the Swedes create to the cars that they build.
Gustav Johansson sought to capture visually the feeling of vemod — one of the most Swedish words, which does not have a clear or direct translation in English. Vemod is a complex emotion and a cultural phenomenon, comprising a tender sadness or melancholy mixed with a feeling of longing. Vemod is not an outward feeling, but more of a slow fretting inside of somebody. It is something that is sad, yet beautiful.
Produced by Gustav Johansson’s Scandinavian production company, New Land, and shot over a period of 11 days, “Vintersaga” sees the bleak Swedish January transformed into a breathtaking and affecting vision through the lens of the Swedish people. Set to the pulsating title track “Vintersaga,” performed by Swedish singer/songwriter Amanda Bergman and produced by Oskar Linnros, the powerful combination of audio and visual evokes a transformative, almost haunting, emotional experience in the viewer.
From claustrophobic snow-topped forests to vast seaside panoramas, the sleek Volvo slips through the soaring scapes, as quintessentially Swedish as the background itself. Gustav’s “Vintersaga” is an arresting film that translates a sense of both the forlorn and uplifting quality of vemod, while paying tribute to the Swedish heritage that is built into every Volvo.
Det här är en hyllning till Sverige när det är som kärvast. Ett tack till kylan, mörkret, blåsten och regnet. Därför att utan våra hårda svenska förhållanden hade vi aldrig tillverkat de bilar vi gör.
Vem som helst kan bygga en bil som fungerar i solsken och vackert väder. Att ta fram bilar som tar dig dit du ska oavsett väder och väglag är en helt annan sak. För oss är fyrhjulsdrift inte en onödig extrautrustning man kan skryta med, det är en funktion som tar dig hem.
Aktiva helljus, automatisk nödbroms och döda vinkeln-varnare är inte en lek med teknik, utan vettiga hjälpmedel för att köra tryggt och säkert genom ett Sverige där det stora vemodet rullat in.
Creative Credits:
Title: Volvo — Vintersaga — Made by Sweden
Advertiser: Volvo Car Sverige
Client: Åsa Borg, Per Carleö, Mikael Karlsson
Product: Volvo V70, XC70 and XC60
Advertisers Supervisor: Per Carleö
Advertisers Supervisor Titel: Marketing Communications Manager
Advertising Agency: Forsman & Bodenfors
Art Director: Andreas Malm, Staffan Lamm
Copywriter: Fredrik Jansson
Designer: Mikko Timonen
Account Director: Anders Bothén, Hans Andersson, Erik Sollenberg
Account Executive: Martin Johansson
Agency Producer: Jens Odelbring
PR Strategist: Mathias Ericsson
Web Producer: Malin Careborg
Director: Gustav Johansson
Director of Photography: Niklas Johansson
Editor: Sam Ostrove
Production company: New Land
Executive Producer: Erik Torell
Producer: Sophie Tamm Christensen
Production Manager: Sophie Hedberg
Grade: Mike Cosola
Sound Design: Martin Dahl STOPP (Stockholm Post Production)
Post Production: Johan Boije STOPP (Stockholm Post Production)
Musical Artist: Amanda Bergman
Title of song: ”Vintersaga”
Written by: Ted Ström
Produced by: Oskar Linnros
Music Supervisor: André Brink & Jonas Holst, Universal Music Publishing Scandinavia
Published by: BMG Chrysalis Scandinavia A
Label: Sweden Music / Universal Music
Mastered by: Björn Engelmann, The Cutting Room
Photographer: Felix Odell
Production company: CameraLink
Post production: Johan Cabezos, Señor & F&B Factory
Media agency: Mindshare
Social media agency: The Viral Company