A Vampire Rap Star Falls for a Human in Mercedes G-Class' Film

Playdis teams up with Antoni and Anorak to bring to life Mercedes G-Class’ latest love story. 

The project is an eight minute online film that is a love story between a vampire rapper star named YJ and a - human - music journalist, a prohibited romance showing that love overcomes big obstacles. It is a story about love, diversity and acceptance. The cinematic journey is an ad campaign to cement the idea that G classes have an incomparable longevity. 

The film stars YG, a rap icon, played by Rimon - an Eritrean, Amsterdam based singer and songwriter. 

Because the story has different chapters and must be told in eight minutes, the music production process was also very challenging. A collaboration between six composers, including one rap song produced before the shoot and a contemporary electronic score done in post production with elements of timeless music such as opera - which is life stylised, creating a captivating drama with eccentric, poetic and tragic characteristics as Romeo and Juliet story itself. All of these elements support the story, giving the idea that these are modern creatures that have lived for years, everywhere, and done everything, as the lyrics of the YG hit song gives us a hint that she is ‘’a queen, a concubine, a sculptor and a spy. A Nobel prize winning, yakuza killing, rapping lie…’’ 

playdis were given the brief of an ultra modern electronic score with strong distortions and characteristics that give the audience the idea that those are vampires without making it obvious, supporting the story and its emotional twists, building tension and suspense, sadness, horror, mystery and with a BIG end that gives chills. 

For this entire project, playdis wanted to avoid vampire clichés, especially because it only had the big reveal in the last chapter, so the music had to do the same. No 90s industrial techno or toccata organ. playdis also wanted it to be cohesive and both timeless and 2022, so it used a distorted organ instead with kamanche (a Persian instrument) and distorted bass lines. 

In order to create more warmth, depth and emotions within an electronic world, playdis almost exclusively used analogue synthesisers & drum machines as well as real instruments, i.e. strings, the kamanche or organ. For the grand finale the team had an opera vocal with a string octet backed by deep synthesisers, lots of white noise and distorted effects. 

"The G-Class has evolved continuously over more than 40 years but has consistently retained its unmistakable character. Its DNA shapes the zeitgeist - as does its fascination and the loyalty of its fans. The G-Class has always been geared towards state-of-the-art technology, so it is only natural that we are now leading our "G" into the age of electric mobility," says Dr. Emmerich Schiller, CEO Mercedes-Benz G GmbH and head of the off-road vehicle product division at Mercedes-Benz AG. 

"We've created a progressive film world in which vampires from all eras meet G-Classes from the last 40 years - a unique cast that unites all decades and model series. In this way, we are memorialising the incomparable longevity of our agile off-road icon," adds Bettina Fetzer, vice president communications and marketing at Mercedes-Benz AG. 

“For the music I do not want anything generic, I want it to stand out and for people to think WTH was this.” Sebastian Strasser, director.