Neil Clarke & Jay Philips in Buenos Aires

McCann London creatives Neil Clarke and Jay Philips were in Buenos Aires with LynnFox to shoot a Sony Ericsson camera phone ad.

It's been a year since we last shot an ad overseas. Then, we were in Cape Town shooting a Heinz Salad Cream film with Vince Squibb. This time round, we are in Argentina shooting a Sony Ericsson film with a group of three directors called LynnFox (named after their favourite porn star). Luckily for us, the DVD they sent us was full of great Bjork promos and Audi commercials.

Working with three directors (Christian, Bastian and Patrick) instead of one will be a new experience for us, and we're really looking forward to working with them. The thing that stood out most about LynnFox was their enthusiasm. They have bags of it. We can't wait to get started.

Day 1:
The great thing about flying is that you never know who you might end up sitting next to. Unfortunately for Jay, it was an Avram Grant look-alike who decided to remove his shoes and socks, and rest his feet on the side of Jay's TV monitor for the entire 13-hour flight. As we wait for our luggage, Jay describes his clubfoot encounter. We meet our representative from Therapy Films based in Buenos Aires and head to the hotel. Avram Club-foot is checking in when we arrive. Jay starts to twitch.

In the afternoon, we look at locations. There are 13 of them and we only managed to see seven before sunset. We go for dinner in a famous steak restaurant and order two portions of seafood risotto. Unsurprisingly, it tastes rank.

Day 2:
Meet Lynn Fox at 9am in a trendy part of town called Palermo. Think Hoxton but with more trees. We spend most of the day in wardrobe. To pass the time, LynnFox loan us their local profanity phrase book. The Argentineans are pretty creative in the swearing department. Most of the phrases we learn compare a relative's anatomy to an exotic animal. In the evening, we meet up with an account handler from McCann London who is out here on holiday. She seems unimpressed with our local lingo. This time we order steak.

Day 3:
Today, Cathy from Sony Ericsson arrives. We discuss wardrobe, locations and the beef crisis that has started to develop. The newly elected president has escalated tax on beef and dairy by 44 per cent and farmers have gone on strike, blocking all access into the city. Last night, people poured out onto the streets banging on pots and pans. Will we run out of steak?!

In the evening, we all go to Boca Juniors to see them play Chilean champions Colo Colo in the Copa Libertadores. It's the Champions League equivalent in South America. Boca are the defending champions and have to win the game to stay in the competition. Jay and I have been to some pretty tasty football matches over the last couple of years but nothing can prepare us for the atmosphere inside Boca. The fans are nutters! Flares are going off left, right and centre. Fans are peppering the terraces with paper streamers. Some haven't been bothered to cut up pieces of paper and are throwing phone books through the air instead. The noise is deafening. Ten minutes in and Boca are a goal down and have had a player sent off. Mayhem! The crowd don't stop screaming for 90 minutes. Boca score a few late goals and eventually win the game 4-3. Fantasy football. We've never seen so many overhead-kicks. Click here for highlights.

Day 4:
First day filming. We spend most of the morning waiting for the heavy cloud to clear and doing practise runs of the sucking movement we'll be using throughout the film. It's a fairly simple technique that will hopefully make someone look like they are being sucked into a phone. We've decided to do it in camera so it feels real and not too Star Trek. Once the sun appears, the day runs smoothly. Back at the hotel, more people are out on the streets banging their pots and pans. With the prospect of steak running out in a matter of days, we take Cathy out for Lomo.

Day 5:
The location we are shooting in today is an impressive and rather dusty old library in the heart of Buenos Aires. Some of the locations the guys have been able to find out here are breathtaking. We want to shoot people driving around a library in bumper cars whilst students are studying. After a few takes, it's clear that only two of the six people we cast for the part can drive the bummer cars with any kind of proficiency. Cue all three of the Foxes and myself. Jay doesn't want the fame so he stays with the monitors. It was fun being an extra. Mum will be proud.

Day 6:
It's Sunday and we are on set by 7am. As the rest of Buenos Aires sleeps off their hangovers, we go about shooting a stunt on the busiest street we can find. We have two scenes to film. The first is a golf scene that takes place on top of a bus. Then, we want to film a stuntman jumping from a raised crane into the back of a moving convertible. The morning goes well and we get everything we need. In the afternoon, we have a few technical problems and run out of sunlight. We'll have to try and re-shoot some of this scene again on the last day.

Day 7:
Another early start but the location makes up for it. We're shooting in a lovely peaceful canal town called Tigres about 30 miles north of Buenos Aires. As we arrive on set, a wolf dog instantly befriends us.

Today could be tricky. We're planning to drop a 10 tonne weight from a 50ft crane into a canal. This will hopefully provide enough realistic water movement and splashing to replicate a killer whale jumping into the water. The whale will be generated in CGI afterwards. Over the last few days, the water level of the canal has dropped considerably and everyone is understandably a little bit nervous. Except Jonathan, our great effects guru from Framestore. After what seems like hours of preparation, everything goes well.

Relieved, we head over to the next location where we meet Joe Guest (our editor, not the page three model). Joe has only just got back from Mexico were he was editing on set for the follow up to Cadbury's Gorilla. It seems too ironic to be in Argentina, debating whether Juan Cabral's next ad will be as good as Gorilla. We like Joe instantly. He's great fun to be around and you can tell he's got talent.

Day 8:
Today, we met the Banksy of Buenos Aires: Kid Gaucho. Only there are two of them. And it's not illegal to graffiti over here. Anyway, they are really nice blokes and offered to tag our iPhones. The morning has been fairly straightforward compared to the last two days. We say goodbye to Cathy who is flying home today (she seems happy), then we go for lunch in a cool Swedish bar in Palermo. In the afternoon, we shoot a gig scene in a concert hall. Suddenly, the heavens open and a torrential downpour almost floods the venue - slowing everything down in the process. Lighting the venue seems to take forever. Ian Foster, the DOP, has done a fantastic job. The set looks brilliant. After another 14-hour day, everyone goes home on a high. News from back home about Manchester United beating Roma in the Champions league makes us even happier.

Day 9:
Malvinas Day. Today is a national holiday for the whole of Argentina to mark the battle for the island of Malvinas. The British call it the Falklands. Jay and I were barely in nappies when this conflict happened, but thanks to football, we are too aware of the sour taste left behind. Argentineans still embrace Malvinas as their territory. We go out for morning coffee and read the newspapers. The headlines are all about last's night violent beef protests. Malvinas Day adds to the political tension and you can sense it all around you. It's great.

In the evening, we head to a petrol station north of Buenos Aires that is well and truly in the middle of nowhere. The idea for this shot is to hang hundreds of dazzling chandeliers from the petrol station ceiling. When we arrive at the location and see the petrol station propped for the first time, we are a bit nervous that there aren't enough chandeliers. Ian (the DOP) does another fantastic job lighting the petrol station and LynnFox and Jonathan seem happ which makes us feel more relaxed. Joe Guest keeps us entertained with his banter (and terrible footwear). It's a long night and shooting runs over til 4am. We make the long drive back to the pot banging.

Day 10:
We have another night shoot in a stunning university entrance hall. We will be trying to replicate fireworks going off indoors for the Chinese version of the film. Sony Ericsson is growing rapidly in the Chinese market. They have a brand ambassador they use in all their ads called Xu, who is apparently as big a celebrity in China as Beckham is over in the UK. We wonder how big her entourage will be.

When we meet Xu in the wardrobe session, it's clear there might be a few language barriers. Fortunately, Patrick (Fox number 2) speaks fluent Mandarin. Thank you Patrick!
We shoot til dawn. It's another long, but rewarding session.

Day 11:
We have a day off. Finally. Paul, the managing partner on Sony Ericsson, heads home. He's been immense through the whole project. We're gutted he'll be missing the final day. Everyone wakes up around lunchtime so we all head over to the docks. We've been told to eat at Cabana Las Lilas before we leave Buenos Aires. Something to do with good steak. Notice the size of Jay's lamb cutlet on the plate next to the house steak. Or the phone in the background. Daft!

After a long period of sitting in silence trying to digest our lunch, we head over to Kid Gaucho's studio to look at some of their artwork. Paula (the producer), Jay and Joe Guest all leave with beautifully signed artwork. In taxi home, we discuss how much they will be able to sell a Kid Gaucho original for in years to come.

In the evening, we meet LynnFox for a semi-wrap party. We go to another steak house and notice Francis Ford Coppola sitting on the table behind us. He's out here filming his latest movie. The guys order us cow cheek, cow tongue and cow intestine for starters. Then Lomo for main. We can't wait to get home to salad.

Day 12: final day
Today we try and finish off the convertible scene in the centre of town. Everything goes to plan and wrap just before the tea time. LynnFox rush straight to the airport. The first edit is being presented to Cathy in 48 hours. We're on the morning flight. Time for one final steak?

Day 13:
We head home. Thankfully for Jay, there was no Avram Clubfoot on the way back. Arrive in Heathrow at 8am and head straight over to Joe Guest's edit suite to catch up with the Foxes. Hopefully, Joe will be wearing better shoes.

Conclusion:
Buenos Aires has been a brilliant place to shoot. Lots of amazing locations and lots of memorable moments. It's been great fun and we've been lucky enough to work with some fantastically talented people along the way. We've learnt a lot! And in LynnFox, three certainly is the magic number.

If we have one piece of advice for people thinking, or just about to shoot in Buenos Aires - it is this: be a vegetarian for a month before you get out there. Seriously. Embrace the salad. You'll appreciate it.