In a bold marketing move by Ford USA, described as “bold” by a panel of analysts who search for boldness in our world, Ford USA have released the first publicity shots of the T-Series/Transit van that will replace the historic E-Series/Econoline on the American continent.
Now, before I begin to ridicule the man on the far left of the photograph, let me point out that Ford are really putting their best brains forward on this project. How do you replace a van as iconic as the E-Series wth something totally new yet retain your customer loyalty?
Answer: You put a 1970’s retro grille on the front and you cross your fingers.
And you make the rest of the van look as much like a Mercedes Sprinter as you can without the Mercedes lawyers calling you up and saying:
“Now, you have made a mistake. A ferry, ferry bed mistake. Ve feel you hef not the full understandink of the word respekt.”
Okay, no cultural stereotyping here on Roadwax but you gotta love the German accent. It rocks.
Right. Now back to the man on the hard left of the picture.
Basically, the story is this.
Ingemar, the director of the photo shoot, doesn’t know squat about how people in warehouses work. But he’s pretty sure that somewhere along the scheme of things, an authority figure with a red clipboard and a hard hat has to shout and order people around.
So he employs an extra called Dave to stand there next to the shutter and shout and wave his hands as though he is in charge. In real life, Dave would keep well clear of the walls because he knows that ‘Blind Danny’ is about to return to the warehouse and collect some pallets, so standing next to a wall right now is not a good move.
In the foreground, to reinforce the fact that this is a parcel van that is being portrayed, Ingemar gets hold of an extra who looks like a parcel delivery driver.
Meet Remy. To compensate for the fact that Remy actually works as a damn good ballet dancer and doesn’t even hold a driving license (he cycles), Ingemar tells him to look exhausted and ignore the bloke who is shouting and waving his arms over by the shutter.
Remy was a little upset that the wardrobe department have mistakenly given him ill-fitting workwear but Ingmar just smiled and nodded his head with a knowing wink. Ingemar ordered the workwear himself and he (like us) knows about these things.
Although Ingemar has got an embarrassingly limited understanding of how the parcel industry actually works, he is highly skilled as a director of films depicting the violent collapse of the human condition. Ingemar just knows instinctively that a third character must be introduced to the picture to destabilize it and imply a note of menace.
Ingemar used this technique to great effect in “Twenty Steps to Trondheim” and “Death Is Thursday” which both won him awards at the 2012 Cannes Festival of Stuff Going Straight to DVD.
Cue Colin, far right.
Colin is an English nanny who works for Ingemar’s partner now that his US work visa has expired. Colin is cheap and reliable and does what Ingemar tells him to do.
So, Ingemar says:
‘Colin, I am feeling that you should be standing with a sack barrow in front of you. I think this works.”
Does Colin point out to Ingemar that this looks utterly stupid and removes the last shred of authenticity in the shot? That the entire warehouse is filled with palletised goods, none of which could be moved with a sack barrow?
You decide…
roadwax 
That’s why those photos are such good fun. There is obvious that the researcher have a good sense of direction and no sense of placement. “This looks great”! A warehouse, a man in a vest with a sack barrow in a warehouse built for fork lifts.
Yes one more thing, why deliver post/packages inside the warehouse when every warehouse I seen got a docking bay? Or is it yet one more idea from Ingemar to show that the van is SO clean in exhaust fumes that it smells slightly of lavender and fuels up with carrot juice, so standing inside with a running van is no worries at all. At all!
We will never know what was going on at the meeting when Ingemar got the job.
“…the van is SO clean in exhaust fumes that it smells slightly of lavender and fuels up with carrot juice…”
Brilliant!
Yes, I think we shall meet up with Ingemar again soon. He took time out from his hectic work schedule to call me from Marrakesh, where he is relaxing right now .
Apparently, ‘Twenty Steps to Trondheim’ is being re-titled as ‘Fifty Shades of Trondheim’ and his new trilogy – ‘The Girl With The Trondheim Tomato’ – is due for release in May 2013.
Unfortunately, his call to me was cut short when a Mazda pick-up lost control while delivering near the Maison de La Photographie, pinning his young photographic assistant beneath their roadside cafe table.
You can imagine how upset Ingemar was. He had to rush to change to a 27mm fish-eye which was of course trapped underneath the lad and right at the bottom of the bag instead of being hooked to the lad’s waist, as Ingemar has requested, so many, many times.