The Making of 'Tipping Point'
Many of the most expensive commercials ever made are those in which an A-list celebrity flashes a
beautiful smile at the cameras. Their recent television advertisement, the most
expensive in British history, cost ten million pounds, and it features, not the rich and famous, but
villagers from the mountains of Argentina.
The advertisement features a game of dominoes. It begins in a darkened room where several
thousand ordinary dominoes are set up on a specially-designed table. Dominoes
knock over books, which in turn knock bigger household objects such as suitcases, tyres, pots of
paint, oil drums and even cars. The final piece in the chain reaction is a huge tower of books. These
flutter open to reveal a structure in the shape of a pint of Guinness.
The location chosen for the commercial was Iruya, a village high up in the mountains of north-west
Argentina. The journey there could take up to ten hours. Asked why this remote
destination was chosen for the shoot, the director said that even though it was the most difficult
location they could have picked, it was perfect.
For one month, the village, population thousand, increased in size by almost thirty percent. One
hundred and forty crew members descended on the village. These included the world record holders
in domino toppling, Weijers Domino productions from the Netherlands.
Creating this film was no easy task. Preparations for filming took well over a month. Twenty six
truckloads of objects were brought in. They included 10,000 books, 400 tyres, 75
mirrors, 50 fridges, 45 wardrobes and 6 cars. Setting the objects up took skill and patience. They
needed to be arranged so they would fall over easily, and this involved balancing them on stones.
Some of the sequences had to be reshot 15 times and 24 hours of footage was captured. However,
the sequence in which six cars fell over was successfully shot in just one take.
Filming in this location was not without its difficulties. Firstly, being so isolated, it was hard to obtain
resources at short notice. The second problem was the high altitude. It was also
hard working with the villagers who had no experience of film-making. Finally, setting and resetting the
props caused a good deal of frustration.
Director Nicolai Fuglsig said about the project : ‘Despite all the challenges, the cast was fantastic and
it was a really amazing experience.’ Whether or not the effort put into the advert pays off is another
matter entirely.
A Then the falling dominoes head out of the room into the streets, causing progressively larger
objects to tumble.
B These were all chosen to suit the town and fit in with the people’s way of life.
C Getting there involved driving along 48 kilometres of dirt roads and crossing twelve rivers.
D Iruya is situated 3000 metres above sea level and the film crew was not used to working in such
conditions.
E The prop department did construct a small version on site, but most of the work was done in a
studio in London.
F Added to this was the total of one hundred and thirty 'actors' who were recruited from a five
neighbouring towns.
G Not so with the famous Irish drink company Guinness.