A Dutch commercial for a natural health product, a vitamin called VSM, was filmed last week at the Mediterranean Film Studios, where a night storm was simulated, as well as at sea.
MFS played a major role in set construction and water special effects, building the interior of a 37-foot yacht within nine days, said co-producer Malcolm Scerri-Ferrante.
The interior was built on a rocking machine in a warehouse at the studios and was used to simulate the movements of a yacht in a storm.
The commercial also included a one-day shoot at sea, at Gebel tal-Halfa in Gozo. A 37-foot yacht was chartered and then hauled into the tanks at Rinella 12 hours later.
Around 60 per cent of the crew was Maltese, as well as one of the three-strong cast - a four-year-old girl, Kaileigh Casha.
Directed by Wim van Slooten and produced by Anton Scholten and Bas Pinkse, the commercial is to be aired internationally. It features a family trying to handle a heavy storm on a yacht, but ends on a positive note, with the picturesque and tranquil backdrop of the Gozitan coastline, when the storm subsides.
A Dutch production, the commercial was co-produced by the local Producer`s Creative Partnership (PCP), marking the first in a series of international co-productions planned by the PCP.
PCP currently has two film projects in the pipeline: a television series, part of which is expected to be filmed in Malta in seven weeks` time; and a feature film, based on Roman times.
The television series is in the final stages of discussions and is about a fictional world where dinosaurs and humans live together in harmony, said PCP founder Mr Scerri-Ferrante, who was previously resident production manager at MFS.
Shooting of the feature film is scheduled for the end of summer and a number of Maltese locations are being considered to depict ancient Rome.
Negotiations are still in an early stage for another project, a long-running TV series called Coliseum, earmarked for the end of the year or the beginning of the next.
Mr Scerri-Ferrante remarked that, following the September 11 attacks, many Western production companies were giving preference to filming in Malta over Arab countries like Morocco.
Malta was looked upon as a neutral country that posed no political instability or serious risks for Americans, he said.
PCP has representatives in London and Moscow and is about to set up another agent in Toronto later on in the year.