MPC RESCUE BT FROM 'GREMLINS'

Dougal Wilson has directed ‘Gremlins’ for BT Business.  The 90; and 50; ads were produced by Ciska Faulkner, Blink Productions and Claudio Gorini at RKCR/Y&R.  MPC provided 2D compositing and telecine for the job.

The commercial, features multi-millionaire ‘Dragon’s Den’ entrepreneur Peter Jones working alone, late at night in the office.  Suddenly, at a critical point, a bunch of mischievous gremlins sneak into the office and wreak havoc, biting wires, throwing CDs, playing with the photocopier and generally messing up the environment.  Peter’s computer crashes and he looses his work, illustrating the ads message that ‘BT offers 24 hour IT Support’. 

Dougal wanted the commercial to closely reference the 1984 movie; ‘Gremlins’ (Joe Dante), and with that in mind, the ad was shot anamorphic to create a ‘filmic look.’  To help emulate the movie, Jean-Clement Soret, MPC’s Director of Telecine worked closely with Dougal and DoP Ben Seresin, ‘We wanted to get as close as possible to the aesthetic of the movie so people could immediately reference it in their minds.  Even the puppets themselves were recreated to match the originals.  It was important that the colour grading help match the colours associated with the movie, originally Gremlins was colourful like many 80’s Hollywood blockbusters, but some of this has been lost on the DVDs and VHS copies we now find as they have been transferred from low contrast prints on analogue telecines, meaning this slightly degraded imagery is what is in our minds today. It is this aesthetic we have emulated to give the ad an authentic feel.’


MPC VFX Supervisor Nick Seresin attended the three day shoot in the IVAX Building, in London’s Royal Docks.  As there were only 5 animatronic puppet Gremlins, Nick’s job was to advise on what was required on the plates to facilitate integration of the VFX.  Similarly, the nature of the animatronics meant there was wire and rig removal to make it appear as though they were moving independently.  Other clean-up was also carried out.

The commercial goes on air throughout the UK May 4th with the strap line; ‘Do What You Do Best – 24/7’
Ends

Credits

Director: Dougal Wilson

Production Company: Blink Production

Production Company Producer: Ciska Faulkner

DOP: Ben Seresin

Editor: Rick Russell @ Final Cut

Advertising Agency: Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R

Agency Producer: Claudio Gorini

Art Director: Nick Simons

Copy Writer: Jules Chalkley

Account Director: Sally Neilson

Account Manager: Genny Murphy

 

Post Production Co:  MPC

Post Production Producer: Andrew Bell

Telecine: Jean-Clement Soret

VFX Supervisor: Nick Seresin