Product: Bisto Gravy Granules
Title: 'The Pour'
Detail: 2 x day Super 35mm mute studio shoot

Director/DOP: Rob Payton

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Nine mini-sets, ranging from a trendy dinner party through to a country kitchen and a midsummer BBQ were built and propped to demonstrate the many occasions when one can serve Bisto. Each set had to be entirely different from the next, each required multiple plate changes and it was almost a production line approach that enabled us to present the food so beautifully. We shot 36 slates in two days; the Food Stylist, Clare Ferguson, was a Trojan.

Director's comment:

“In its simplest form, these were tabletop scripts but I wanted to take the whole thing a stage further. For me, they were about people, their inventiveness with the product and ultimately their enjoyment of it. It wasn’t enough to provide the vicarious pleasure of plates seen in isolation, so for this reason I shot many setups and created wholly different environments to show Bisto as an ‘any occasion’ product; not just the preserve of the Sunday roast."

Agency: IIBBDO
Creative Team: Kevin Leahy & Aidan Dowling

"We worked on a Bisto TV commercial with Commercials Unlimited and were delighted with the results.

Good production and planning by Neil, Jo and Simon meant we were able to get through a lot of food set-ups over two days. Rob Payton directed with great energy and creativity and food stylist Clare Ferguson was excellent."

Aidan Dowling
Copywriter, Irish International BBDO

Product- Mazda 2 Interactive web launch
Title - 'Big night out'
(duration 3min 40secs)
Detail - 4 x day Hi-Def studio shoot

Director : Suki

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Since the interactive website for the new Mazda2 was an integral part of the marketing, we only had 5 weeks to design, storyboard, post produce and deliver the 120 scenes that would make up the piece; performances, storyline, narrative, user-choices and car driving sequences all needed to be timed and choreographed.

Shot on HD to improve the FX and the clarity of the delivered image (computer screens having higher resolution screens than most domestic TV’s) and based originally on the techniques in Sid Meyer’s ‘Sin City & 300 ’, we worked closely with Unit to create fabulous 3D urban cities, interiors and car motion FX. The film was cut to the original and purposely remixed versions of The Infadels 2004 hit ‘Can’t Get Enough’ (as used in the TV campaign).

The shoot itself involved building key sets in a largely empty blue-screen studio half of which was painted black and lit with windbags to enable us to shoot all the travelling car scenes. Since the car had to be green, it compounded many of the lighting and technical issues we needed to overcome to achieve ‘car commercial’ quality footage of the Mazda2 throughout.

The full film is available at www.mazda2.com

Director Comment:

"Working with Syzygy on this project was a joy. They encouraged input and creative freedom together with such energy and enthusiasm it became a real team effort. Constructing the concept around the 3D pre-visualisations I was able to produce enabled the scenes and content to be signed off beforehand and helped the 3D guys plan and design their considerable workload on an on-going basis."

Agency Comment
Jonathan Coffin
Producer, Syzygy

"When they approached the brief, Commercials Unlimited showed immediately that they understood the convergence of media formats; they passionately believe – as we do – that the web as a medium is no longer the poor relation to television.

With our high profile pan-European product launch for Mazda2 it was critical that we engaged a production company with the same mind set and who would be flexible when regional variances were identified, that progress could be communicated easily to all parties on a day to day basis, that the budget was strictly adhered to and that the launch date would not be compromised. On all counts, Commercials Unlimited met, and in many instances exceeded, our expectations.

A special note of distinction has to go to the Director, Suki; he demonstrated throughout a level of creativity and obvious expertise in the medium under circumstances that could have been perceived as a logistical mountain with very little time to climb."

Product- McGrath Dog Food
Title - 'Irish Stew'

Director / DOP : Rob Payton

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This was an ideal spot for Director/DOP Rob Payton; essentially tabletop that called for beautiful (food) cinematography, together with a faultless performance - albeit from a dog.  Rob scored highly on all counts, delighting both client and agency.  

‘Good enough to eat’ that was the brief; fresh natural ingredients, lovingly prepared – for the dog. Following the genre for tabletop food cinematography, we played it by the book with the twist in the tale (tail) being this is what goes into McGrath dog food.

Director/DOP Comment : Rob Payton

“This script was in essence a parody on the oh-so-perfect slow paced food ads that are so in vogue with the high street retailers. In order for the humour to work, and the end reveal to have credibility, we had to evoke both the look and pacing of these campaigns. The challenge was to emulate these production values on a tight budget.

Budget did not allow for high speed cinematography or even to shoot on film, but by employing film lenses, keeping the images low contrast, and mirroring the pacing of the edits, I think we achieved a great end result..... but click on the image and see for yourself.” 

Comment:

Nick McGivney, Copywriter, Grey Helme

Commercials Unlimited

As a creative your job’s already over by the time it comes to shooting your prized piece of work. In theory. Of course in practice you’re more likely to pull your hair out, end up hoarse and put down a deposit on a new ulcer.

With Commercials Unlimited I’m pleased to say that I ended up doing none of those things. The guys exuded a calm professionalism and confidence throughout the shoot and, without being fussy, were attentive and courteous both towards our people and the project itself. Budget, timings and details were tight throughout, and we’ll be talking with Commercials Unlimited again as soon as the opportunity presents.’

Rob Payton

In the storyboard of course your pooch will do all sorts of wonderful things, performing like a dream every time. Then you get the night-before nerves, as you hope to God that the reality comes somewhere close to the vision in your mind. With Rob Payton directing, I’m delighted to say that our pooch followed the script to the letter. His experience is in the details, and his relaxed control is just the kind of touch that puts everyone – animals included – at ease. We got exactly what we asked for, and a director who was constantly keen to ensure we were happy. Delighted to recommend Rob, and delighted to work with him at any time."

Product- British Telecom Freedom Campaign
Title - 'Bannister'
Detail - 1 x day sync location shoot

Director : Ian Sciacaluga

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Having produced many commercials for BT in the past, we were delighted to be part of BT’s new ‘Freedom’ campaign for all of Ireland. Access to unrestricted broadband is represented by sudden and unexpected displays of freedom as ordinary people spontaneously (and joyously) act out of character.

Shot on location at Hedsor House near Taplow, the location provided a magnificent bannister where a demure young woman is seized by the urge to slide down it. The stunt was performed using a stunt double for the wider, trickier scenes , with green-screen for the mischievous close up reaction shots. 

The DOP was Luke Scott and the effects were created by Nice Biscuits.

Director’s Comment:

“This spot offered me an interesting technical challenge, since I wanted to primarily remain on the guest’s face as she rode down the bannister without having to cut into the action. My reason was that I wanted the viewer to experience every emotional tick that she did during her descent – from her initial apprehension to her complete abandonment and final exhilaration. To achieve this, we used green-screen - affecting lighting changes and wind effects to make her journey as dynamic and as liberating as her performance. I am very pleased with the end result, especially as the compositing is so convincing. ”

Agency Comment
Steve Blair
Creative Director, AV Browne Advertising

"One of two commercials to kick off a new campaign for BT on the Island of Ireland . The brand promise is 'freedom'.

Director Ian Sciacaluga treated the original scripts like short films about bursts of individual freedom. He has a real filmmaker's ability to tell a story without many of the clichés, including fast cutting, that so many commercials have these days.

His eye for casting is superb but what really impressed me was his total commitment to the job.

He was there every step of the way, even getting involved in the music and recording the voice over.

As usual, Commercials Unlimited brought production passion and team playing attitude to the job.

This is a great team of people to work with."

Product : Anglian Home Improvements
Director : Ian Sciacaluga

Detail: 4 x day sync location shoot
1x40" & 6 x30" versions

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It was very heartening to receive this re-branding brief that was brave enough to step away from those hard sell, direct to camera testimonials where a cross section of people are seen endorsing the merits of the product.

The concept, which was created by the Norwich based creative agency 'The Point', was aimed at spreading the good news that more and more people are turning to Anglian for their wide and varied home improvements. This was achieved through the simple premise of word of mouth resulting in Anglian being the ‘most recommended.’ We didn’t show any product. Instead, the campaign was build upon the observations of everyday friends, neighbours and relatives exchanging useful information in a casual, honest and totally credible manner. Add to this a little humour and the films sprang to vivid cinematic life.

This campaign is made up of a 1 x 40 second generic sampling of all six scenarios and 6 x 30 seconds individual scripts. It was shot over four days on location in and around the London area. Only the generic and 3 x 30” commercials have been aired so far, so watch this space for the remaining three.

Director’s Comment:

"I set out to make a series of commercials that had a quirky and comic appeal; I wanted the audience to take as much enjoyment from the films as hopefully they did from the communication.

I tried to be a little more creative (and daring) with the casting by playing against stereotypes and by fixing upon a particular physical characteristic. For example, I became transfixed by big hair in the Yoga spot and I also wanted to work with larger woman as opposed to the slim and more elegant actresses one might expect in this instance.

I also designed some abstract and almost unusual cutaways to inter-cut with the narrative; a pair of trainers discarded on the classroom floor, an isolated pot plant, a furtive sip of tea; all of these and others bringing a little expression and touching realism to the stories.’"

Agency Comment
Ian McKinnon-Evans
Creative Director, The Point

"It's easy to make bad commercials. Whatever the budget.

It's much harder to make good commercials, let alone great ones.

We had a big idea and a brave client. A client who wanted to change his brand’s position. And we we're being ambitious with the idea, too. A 40 second spot and six 30 second spots on not exactly a massive budget.

What we did have though, was a production company who are experts at delivering to a vision and ambition of this type. A production company that always seem to be able to take the budget and turn out spots that punch well above their weight.

They have the experience to know how to bring in the right talent to make things happen.

And what really makes Commercials Unlimited great is that they are simply great people to work with.

Given all this, I think we made some very good commercials!"

Product : Downloadable E-reel

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Introducing a new director Jason Edwards, Jason has a experiance in performance based commercials.

New to this E-reel, download the spots to your portable media player such as IPOD.

Luke Kemp.

Client Services Manager - CU

Product : Downloadable E-reel

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With his impressive portfolio of commercials, dramas and docs working in the capacity of DOP and/or Director, Rob directed our first Bathstore commercial (at the request of the agency); we then worked with him again shortly afterwards where he was DOP on our George Foreman ad.

We liked Rob and the way he works so much - and there was another Bathstore for him to direct - that we thought we just had to add him to our roster of directors.The rest, you could say, is history.

The reel we've put together is representative of Rob in both DOP and directorial roles.

Luke Kemp.

Client Services Manager - CU

Product : Downloadable 'Car Concepts'
Director : Glenn Marshall

Detail: A new technique that can be applied to any physical product!

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Because we thought Glenn Marshall’s spot for ‘Loka’ had such great potential (May 07 Case Study – click here), we asked him if he would like to put something together featuring real products. We suggested automotive as a starting point and were amazed by the results.

This new technique, using custom algorithms and following years of trial and error, can be applied to any ‘real life’ product and to demonstrate this further. Glenn has agreed that he’d be happy to provide sample material for a given product; simply send in your brief and source image.

Please note we will have to limit the number of concept tests Glenn does, so send in your references early!

Luke Kemp.

Client Services Manager - CU

Product : The Outlet
Director : Suki

Detail: 2 x days Super 35mm studio/green-screen shoot plus CGI

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Because The Outlet designer outlet centre would only just be completed by the time the commercial was due on air meant that we had to create the entire environment in CGI. Rushes showed us what they’d done for the series Rome and we set to work.

To reflect The Outlet’s distinctive architecture, and to tie in the fashion connections, we constructed a 45ft curved catwalk on which the models paraded before finding themselves – for all the world – walking through The Outlet itself.

Creating this total environment from scratch was a hugely painstaking operation; the walkway, shop fronts, trees, windows, window displays and café interior/exteriors all had to be created and lit. On top of this we had to light, populate and attend to the smallest detail to make it entirely credible.

The transition from catwalk to The Outlet was created by matching the camera move in the studio set to a frame accurate move on a photographic reference of The Outlook, together with some clever manipulation in CGI.

Creating the layers of people going about their everyday shopping activities meant shooting many different groups and individuals in the green-screen set, positioning them and re-sizing.

Please click on this link to see the Case Study in pictures

Director’s comment:

" Apart from anything else, this commercial was a tremendous technical challenge but with some handy software I was able to storyboard electronically and factor in size, distance, appropriate lenses and design the camera angles to create a shooting template for the model sequences. This was to correlate the number and layers of the groups of people needed, which direction they were going in, their respective sizes and perspective, the wardrobe changes needed and so forth.

It was important too that the catwalk sequence didn’t dwarf or outshine the main star of the commercial which was The Outlet itself. We had to take great care with the art direction and treatment of the sequence to give it a ‘catwalk’ feel but without going over the top; I think we achieved just the right balance. The only disappointment I had is that on viewing the commercial many people thought that The Outlet scenes were merely shot as live action at The Outlet itself – I have to take this as praise indeed!"

Agency- Navigator Blue
Terry Corr - Creative Director.
Conor Kelly - Deputy Creative Director.

Agency Comment
Judy Cassidy - TV Producer.

"Designed to be Ireland’s largest and most prestigious designer outlet shopping environment, The OUTLET is bringing new names and new levels of value to fashion-conscious shoppers throughout the island.

Opening was planned for Spring 2007, with a launch campaign due in place well in advance. As the development was still under construction at this time, it meant that the production required extensive and very high-quality CGI alongside a live-action shoot using whatever location assets were in place and available.

From first briefing, Commercials Unlimited understood the particular complexities of this shoot, and were able to anticipate problems and offer solutions. The director, Suki, brought a great deal of invaluable technical and post-production knowledge to the production.

Navigator Blue's Creative Team Terry Corr and Conor Kelly said, the skills and experience of Suki, producers Simon Devine and Neil Molyneux and Jo Marsden and their fanatical attention to detail meant that we were able to provide an accurate foretaste of The OUTLET experience.

All in all it was an unusually difficult shoot handled at every point with great professionalism and style. We're very pleased that the final commercial looks so much like our original storyboards ­ and the results are already speaking for themselves in terms of visitor numbers and turnover! A good job done well."

Product : Bathstore
Director/DOP: Rob Payton

Detail: 1 x day HD Studio shoot

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This is the second commercial we’ve shot for Bathstore, where we took the initial idea of snappily editing the product range a stage further to be more upmarket in keeping with the company's rising profile. As one of the largest retailers of bathroom products, it was important to show the impressive range and the price/offers in a modern stylistic manner.

Eight products incorporated into various mini sets each requiring different styles and finishes, many needing plumbing (that worked), were shot over the course of the day. The nature of the products and the amount of chrome meant that we needed the clean, absolute clarity of image that Hi-Def achieves so well.

The off-line was done at Wilcox and Wilcox and the on-line with Paul Ratten at Nice Biscuits.

Agency Comment
Wayne Pashley
Senior Art Director - WFCA

"Commercials Unlimited.

They make the people at Bathstore very happy

They make tight budgets go a very long way

They help us make extremely effective ads for an extremely demanding client.

They make these ads look stunning.

They make it look almost effortless.

They make my life easier.

They didn’t make me write this."

Product : Loka
Director : Glenn Marshall

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Glenn created the video to accompany a release from the Ninja Tunes signed, dance music protégé Loka by using fractal generating software.

Fractal art: This is created by calculating fractal mathematical functions and transforming the calculation into images. Many natural objects - ferns, seashells, plants, rivers, galaxies, clouds and even the weather - are shaped like fractals and the technique basically involves the assistance of computer software where the artist, in effect, becomes an engineer of art rather than its conscious creator.

In recent years revolutionary new ways of creating fractals have been pioneered by software designers and Fractal Flames, discovered by software artist Scott Draves, is one such new innovation providing stunning ‘never seen before’ detail of the beauty and complexity of natural (mathematical) forms. 

The Loka video is an intense, multi-layered composite of animated Fractal Flames that evolve and pulsate in sync to the music.

 It may be useful to know that this amazing new technique can be applied to any real life product or item

(click here to see some basic examples).

Product : Coca-Cola 'Hawai'
Director: Emmanuel Carlier

Budget: Under £120,000 (€175,000) including all post production, artists’ fees and original music!

Detail: 2 x days Super 35mm mute shoot, Seychelles.

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When we received the script for Coca-Cola’s exotic fruit drink Hawai, which called for a tropical paradise of white beaches and lush rainforest, research showed us that the Seychelles and not Hawaii had the perfect locations but lacked any film infrastructure. However, with the help of the Seychelles Tourism Board and the co-operation of Air Seychelles, we took everything not available locally with us – including all the Super 35mm camera gear, X-ray-free film stock and even a crane!

With French director Emmanuel Carlier, Belgian DOP Jacques Poskin, UK camera crew/cast and Seychellois support crew/background artists, the commercial was shot over 2 days on the beautiful beaches of Praslin Island and in the World Heritage Site of the Vallée de Mai - once believed to be the original site of the Garden of Eden and home of the famous Coco-de-mer trees.

Comment:

You may also be interested in taking a look at another example of our ‘great overseas budget’ work. James Villas was a two days location shoot on Lefkas, Greece directed by Laurie Castelli and completed for a budget of under £100,000 (€145,000) including all the post production and artists’ buyout fees.

view James Villas

Product : Western Union
Title : ‘Amazing’
Director: Ian Sciacaluga

1 x day Hi-Def sync location shoot, Brixton Market

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A cry for help from the agency galvanised us into action with just four working days to produce and complete this comic TV commercial. With barely time to get council permission, convert a restaurant/bar into a Call Centre and an adjacent record store, to cast the wonderful amazed Caribbean lady, put the sync crew together and arrange all the post…. this turned out to be a really colourful shoot with Ska and Regge blasting out from every nearby shop.

The young acrobat who suspends himself sideways from the lamppost had been featured previously in the press campaign and it was interesting getting him to do this whilst delivering sync dialogue.

Director’s comment:

“The success of the comedy lay squarely in the casting and in embracing a very much ‘real life’ situation despite the bizarre nature of the performance. We found an irrepressible lady to play the perfect foil for the young man suspended on the lamppost with their chemistry bringing the whole thing to life. We gave the film a tropical look (even ‘though it was the middle of winter) by pushing the yellow and cyan colours in the lighting and by emphasising these colours in the POS and set dressing.”

Agency Comment
Joanna Waterman
Account Manager - WFCA

‘We had been given our brief from a new and important client, and as an Agency were incredibly conscious of the need to impress. We presented the script to Commercials Unlimited, and then the budget. This was going to be a tricky commercial to say the least – involving Caribbean acrobats and a hectic Brixton location.

Within hours of my first meeting with Commercials Unlimited, my mind was at ease. They had not only fully understood the direction I wanted this production to go in, but had grabbed hold of it with passion and enthusiasm.  They took all the worry of short timescales, tight budget and logistical traumas, and presented me with a solution that was over and above our expectations.

The shoot went incredibly well, with the outstanding crew working together to create a finished product that all parties were over the moon with. The communication between Agency / Crew and Client was flawless, and with this in mind we are already planning our next commercial with the same client, which I am looking forward to discussing with Luke and the team.'