Projects of H.R.Giger

Castle Train
for the Giger Museum

Train

Giger Train for Levis Commercial

Levis

That's not Eliphas Levi Del, it was for Levi's Jeans. The TV commercial features a female rider wearing Levi's clothing, riding her black stallion through a remote and stark landscape of sand, stone pinnacles and mountains. As she gallops through a train tunnel built into a stone mountain, she emerges to see a train racing towards her. Unfazed, she dares to take on the train and gallops at full speed towards it. As the train bearing down on her, she attaches herself to her saddle using the belt holes on her jeans. She rides furiously towards the train but at the moment before impact, she and her horse jump high and over the full length of the H.R. Giger designed train and carriages.

The commercial was the concept of Swedish director Johan Renck of Exposure Films, and was filmed in Trona, a 150 miles from Los Angeles, California. Giger's concept sketches were brought to life in post-production by UK visual effects company, The MILL, whose excellent 3D animation team modeled and textured the train, to show signs of use, and to carry the scars of a well-worn piece of heavy industrial machinery. The 60 second Levi's spot is a fast paced and gripping, combining the latest techniques in post production to further push the boundaries of believability. Giger also designed the saddle she is riding but, unfortunately, it can't be seen, very well, in the commercial, since they are selling Levi's, not saddles. The train itself is, also somewhat, obstructed by the plumes of smoke, but they are not selling Giger trains, either. But, somewhere down the track, we might!

The commercial was aired internationally on MTV and VH1 and in movie theaters. In the USA, it was pulled from broadcast a few weeks after it premiered in July 2003, after complaints from a train safety lobby.

Levis 01