Commercial for oil giant Shell shot at MFS

Shooting of a TV commercial for oil company Shell was completed earlier this week at the Mediterranean Film Studios, where "explosive" special effects were created.

Directed by top commercial director Graham Rose, the commercial will be screened worldwide.

It was also filmed in Spain last week, followed by three hectic days at the water tanks at Kalkara.

Local filming consisted of the creation of various water effects, shot in the studios' shallow tank, where storm scenes have been created for movies such as White Squall and U-571.

MFS general coordinator Cornelia Schellmann said the commercial was expected to be "a good showcase of the diversity of the studio's water effects", created by tip-tanks, which consist of large water chutes that throw several tons of water to create the crash effects of a tidal wave.

Other effects included underwater mortar-like explosions, designed by tank coordinator Mark Caruana.

The commercial was produced in Malta by the Producer's Creative Partnership (PCP), which was commissioned by one of Europe's leading London-based production companies for commercials, RHB Productions.

PCP producer Malcolm Scerri-Ferrante said it was unfortunate that both the blue screen, which enables computer effects to be inserted at the final editing stage, and digital colour paint, also commonly used in the media industry, had to be imported specifically for the job.

The PCP also spent thousands of liri on camera and grip equipment, shipped in from Munich and London.

"Unfortunately, this is the norm for Malta. Clearly the local film infrastructure needs to grow much stronger," he said.