Pirate theme for beer commercial Fiona Galea Debono Publication date: September 18th, 2006 The Corona commercial was shot in Malta primarily due to the tanks at the Mediterranean Film Studios in Kalkara. Photo: Alexander Chorny The nearly sole use of local cast and crew for the shooting of a Corona beer commercial at the Rinella water tanks last week heightened the attraction of filming it in Malta. The commercial of the Mexican product is to be aired in Mexico - one of the only three countries in the world to have water tanks - but was, nonetheless, lured to Malta. "Flying to the Mexico tanks on the border with the US was not necessarily economical and importing technicians from nearby San Francisco would have been more expensive," said the executive producer Massimo Martinotti of the Miami-based Mia Films. Mr Martinotti's relationship with Malta dates back around 10 years when he shot a mega commercial for Repsol Oil and another for Renault. The fact that he knows what to expect, the environment, the people and how they operate is an added incentive to shoot here. But one of the major selling points was the fact that "most of the stuff we needed, including miniature replicas of the life-size pirate ship, was already available at the tanks". Only three technicians were brought in from overseas, said the Producers Creative Partnership, the local production company that worked on the shoot. "Instead of bringing in a wardrobe master, set decorator, fight arranger, armourer and pyrotechnic special effects rigger, we maximised on local human resources, giving many of them their first and deserved credit, after having acquired a good amount of experience working with professionals," said the PCP. "They have helped form a 'new wave' of enthusiastic and reliable support crew. "This strategy helped considerably to produce the commercial in Malta, while the Mediterranean Film Studios, which was instrumental in attracting it to our shores, helped with its existing models and sets. "The advantage for Malta in the case of tight-budget productions is that its drive to maximise local resources is stronger and has helped build a local support team. "We could never have had the costumes made here, considering the time and money available, so we got them from a top rental house in London, selected by the Maltese wardrobe master Ernest Camilleri." Some swords, daggers and guns were rented, while many were manufactured in Malta, and a number of locals were trained to fight with swords. Casting coordinator Edward Said was faced with no mean feat to select 48 pirates and British sailors over an intensive two-week period. The problem was that they did not only have to look the part, but they also had to have sword-fighting skills. Over 250 people were auditioned, and the two leads came from Hungary. This was thanks to the collaboration between the PCP and Hungarian Mid-Atlantic Films, which have been discussing the creation of a synergy to attract productions that could make use of the resources of both countries. Preparation for the two-day shoot began at the beginning of August, and the idea behind the commercial was to recreate the look of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, complete with battleships, firing canons, swashbuckling pirates dangling in mid-air and wind billowing into large, ripped sails. Mia Films has other projects for Malta in the pipeline and has just presented a proposal to shoot a Sony commercial for an LA agency, even though it is not related to the tanks. This time, Malta has been proposed for its locations - Mia Films is looking for a long street that is a cross between Beirut and Istanbul, and Mr Martinotti is confident it can be found either in Valletta, or The Three Cities. Malta is competing with Costa Rica and Buenos Aires, "which is very inexpensive at the moment". But Mr Martinotti feels Malta is a better solution - "the location is way superior here" - and the agency is keen on it too. He is particularly impressed by the lack of visual pollution in Malta and the "consistency" of the architecture, which he claims is probably due to the stone.     Granada TV for ITV wraps shooting in Malta Publication date: June 19th, 2006 A Granada production titled 'What We Did On Our Holiday' has wrapped after a month's filming in Malta. The ninety five-minute film is scheduled for transmission on ITV in the UK later on in the year, and will be aired in the primetime slot of Sunday evening. The film is based on a novel of the same name by John Harding. The story centres on a 36 year old British man taking his elderly parents and his wife on a family holiday to Malta, where his father, now suffering from Parkinson's Disease, had served as a British soldier doing National Service in the late 1950's. Unknown to Nick, his father had fathered a son then, and kept it a secret from Nick. Set entirely in Malta, this is a story about fathers and sons, sibling rivalry and a journey of self-discovery that forces Nick to re-evaluate everything he knows about his life. The production stars popular UK soap actor Shane Ritchie in his first film role, and Pauline Collins of 'Shirley Valentine' fame, and is directed by Jeremy Webb and produced by Chris Carey. It was filmed entirely in Malta, including Mdina, Valletta, St Juilans, Ghajn Tuffieha, the Malta International Airport, Ta' Pinu and Ramla l-Hamra, and also featured a village festa. Filming began on the 22nd May 2006 and wrapped on the 17th June 2006. The film will be distributed internationally by Granada International. Granada Media is one of Europe’s leading commercial television production and distribution companies. It creates over 3,500 hours of original programming each year and in the UK, Granada is the primary producer for ITV1 as well as the BBC, Channel 4, five, Sky One and a number of satellite and digital channels. Key production centres include London, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol and Norwich in the UK, and international production in Australia, Germany and the USA.

Award-winning director films advert at water tank

By Fiona Galea Debono

Publication date: May 3rd, 2006 - The Times of Malta

The Mediterranean Film Studios, in Kalkara, has just hosted one of the world's top commercial directors Antoine Bardou-Jacquet, for the filming of a commercial for France's mobile phone network Orange - yet another commercial attracted by the studio's water tanks.

Mr Bardou-Jacquet is renowned worldwide in the TV commercial industry for several award-winning adverts, the most recent being the Honda 'Cog' commercial for the UK, better known as the domino-effect commercial in which a single cog kicks off a chain reaction that sets component parts of a Honda Accord in elaborate and orchestrated motion.

The two-minute advert, which won several prestigious awards, required meticulous planning and lots of trial and error. 

It is also claimed to have been the most downloaded commercial on the internet, according to the Producer's Creative Partnership, the production company that managed the shoot in Malta. 

Mr Bardou-Jacquet's Malta shoot consisted of four days in the Rinella tanks at Mediterranean Film Studios, filming mainly underwater scenes, and also at Comino.

Taking advantage of the good weather, the 40-strong crew filmed various scenes for Orange's commercial involving a "whale", a fish bowl and "lots of water", a PCP spokesman said.

(Left) A model whale built for the commercial.  (Right) The crew at work in the Deep Water Tank which is set against a natural horizon.

He was, however, unable to elaborate on the story concept until it is aired on TV stations this summer.

The PCP thanked both Mediterranean Film Studios and Malta Shipbuilding for their strong support in the making of this commercial.  Malta Shipbuilding was instrumental in building a 13-metre high platform in the deep water tank within the space of only three days. 

"Not only did they do an incredible fast job" the spokesman said, "but they also priced fairly, making it feasible to shoot in Malta."

Antoine (left) shooting a sunrise in Malta

The production company said it was also the first time that an advanced technological system was used to cut down by half the time usually required for the director and director of photography to see what they have shot.

Typically, this process would take two days since there was no film laboratory in Malta and the film would have to come back from overseas by air. But a hi-tech lab in Rome, associated with the PCP and using a dedicated high-speed internet line, was contracted to do the job.

(PCP footnote: The Honda commercial can be seen here: http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/honda.php).