Behind the Abbey Road-Recorded Music of Toyota's New Campaign

The newly released spot for Toyota Corolla through The&Partnership is a ride through motoring history, showing the evolution of the motor car from horse and cart through to the present day Hybrid. 

Directed by Rogue/Carnage directors Sam Brown and Mark Jenkinson the spot, called Move Ahead, is set to the classic, up-tempo track by Benny Goodman, Sing Sing Sing. The musical side of the commercial was undertaken by The Elements Music and the specially recorded track (seven versions of it, in fact) took place in the hallowed halls of London's Abbey Road Studios. 

Below, UK creative partner at The Elements, Andy Carroll, explains why the Benny Goodman classic was the final choice and how only Abbey Road Studios would do.

"The magic of the place really does lie in its history and the palpable energy that’s bouncing around those rooms."

Music is obviously at the heart of it; at what point did The Elements become involved in the project?

Having worked with Mark Jenkinson and Rogue on several projects in the past, it was an honour to be asked to come to the edit and to get involved at that point. Mark is passionate about his music and music to picture in general. He cares deeply about this aspect of production and is always very hands on.

Above [l-r]: Executive producer Dan Liebermann, co-founder and creative director J Bonilla and UK creative partner Andy Carroll.

Was it clear from the start what musical approach you wanted to take?

Pretty much from the start of this project Sing Sing Sing was in the running. Amanda [James, edito] at Final cut was cutting her edit to several tracks and this was one of them. It was clearly a frontrunner as the energy and character the track gave the film was undeniable. However The agency and Mark wanted to explore all options so we did a round of bespoke tracks and even pursued another classical route, Swedish Rhapsody, a Mantovani arrangement from the film Matchstick Men, which gave the film an entirely different feel. It was really interesting to see how much the different pieces changed to picture.

"During the third take of the 90-second, when the band were warmed up and in full swing, I looked around the room and everyone was nodding smiling and tapping their toes."

How did the decision to record in Abbey Road come about and what were the reasons behind choosing that studio?

We decided early on that we would only use the absolute best for this project, and both agency and client supported us 100%. From our composer, Guy Farley, to the first-call musicians in London, to the recording studio, only the best would do. With this approach, Abbey Road was a clear choice. It's arguably the best recording studio in world.