An evening in the Dubai desert, cut in the order a guest lives it.
- Subject
- Dubai desert safari
- Type
- Experience film
- Length
- 0:48
The brand
Every desert safari sells the same evening. The film has to make people book this one.
A Dubai desert safari is an afternoon and a night on one ticket: a drive into the dunes, sunset, sandboarding, then a camp with dinner and a show. Dozens of operators sell it, often side by side on the same booking sites.
Most of their videos look alike: a drone over the sand, a dancer and a logo. They prove the trip exists and say very little about why anyone should pick this one.
The idea
Follow the light. The trip starts in sunshine and ends in fire.
No other trip has this shape. It begins in the afternoon heat, peaks at sunset on the dunes and ends in the dark with the camp lit up. We cut the film along that line, so it plays as one evening getting darker.
Guests are in the frame throughout: at the rail above the buggies, on the sandboard, clapping at the show. Whoever watches it should be able to picture themselves there.
- AfternoonThe convoy heads into the dunes.
- SunsetOver the bonnet, then down the ridge on a board.
- DuskThe camp lights come on and the grill starts smoking.
- NightDancers, fire, and a sky full of sparks.
The film
Dunes, a low sun, smoke off the grill and a wall of sparks.
It opens in daylight with the convoy crossing the dunes, filmed from the dashboard and from the sand. The sun goes down over the bonnet of the lead car, and a sandboarder follows it down the ridge.
Then the camp: the courtyard lit up, meat on the grill, guests at the tables, the tanoura spinners, a veil dancer and the fire performers. It ends on sparks spelling out I love Dubai.
