It is no secret that Glasgow has been the filming location for some major films in recent years.
From The Batman to Fast and Furious 9, Scotland’s biggest city has been the go-to destination for blockbusters for quite some time now. What you might have forgotten, however, is that an iconic Sony advert was also shot there all the way back in the mid-2000s.
Filmed in July of 2006, the commercial saw the Queen’s Court high-rise tower block in Toryglen completely coated in a rainbow of paint. One of the biggest commercials of the year, it was an advertisement for Sony’s BRAVIA televisions.
The ad cost a reported £2 million, and it shows. Likened to a Skittles commercial, it is among the most memorable and recognisable campaigns in recent years.
In the video, different colours of paint can be seen exploding all around the estate — both inside the flats and all over the grounds. It is accompanied by the classical tune The Thieving Magpie by Gioachino Rossini.
The highlight of the clip is the appearance of a clown wearing a suit and tie who can seen running outside the tower block. The ad ends with the music cutting out and the slogan ‘colour like no other’ showing on screen.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, a reported 70,000 litres of environmentally friendly paint was used. More than 620 bottle bombs and approximately 1,700 detonators were also employed
The result is an explosion of colour. What was previously a grey estate became a canvas for vivid hues of blue, yellow, green, and red.
A crew of around 250 people spent 10 days in total on the ad, including director Jonathan Glazer — who has since gone on to make movies such as the Glasgow-set Under the Skin starring Scarlett Johansson and the Oscar-winning The Zone of Interest. At the time, he was known for his music videos for the likes of Jamiroquai, Blur, and Radiohead.
Unsurprisingly, the clean-up after filming was a major undertaking. An additional 60 workers were brought in to help, with it taking around five days to clear the mess.
An interesting fact about the commercial is that the tower block shown is where Jim Kerr of Simple Minds once lived. According to Glasgow Live, the site was picked following a massive global search for the perfect location.
These days, it seems like Glasgow is one of the hottest cities in the world to shoot blockbuster movies. However, it may be time for another good old-fashioned ad to rival Sony’s legendary 2006 effort.
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