World renowned television-commercial director Daniel Fauchon was in Malta on Thursday for a one-day shoot of a new advert for a famous brand of tea that will be broadcast to millions of people across Asia.
Mr Fauchon has shot over 600 commercials all over the world for the biggest food companies in the business, making mouths water across the globe and giving brands that instant, I want it now, appeal.
This is the first time he has been to Malta on a working trip but has visited before and fallen in love with the island, especially since he is an experienced diver.
The great weather and the professional working atmosphere at the Malta Audiovisual Production Centre (MAPC) was what most attracted Mr Fauchon to the island for the shoot.
The television commercial is for a new product by an international tea company, whose name will only be revealed when the commercials are launched.
Fourteen hours of footage will be edited down to just seven seconds of liquid dropping into a cup. The footage was shot using a high definition camera shooting at one thousand frames per second, needed to bring out all the fine details of the food close up.
The camera is shooting at such a high speed that very little light enters the lens. So to compensate, a huge amount of light needs to be shone onto the subject: In total, 60,000 watts equivalent to 1,000 standard 60-watt household bulbs were used during the shoot.
Speaking at the studio, MAPC producer Joshua Cassar Gaspar highlighted the importance of television commercials: "Watching adverts in between television shows has become entertainment in itself, from witty, funny car adverts to heart-breaking charity appeals, the images evoke emotions like nothing else and present an image that consumers want to buy".
A few secrets of the industry were also revealed during the shoot as it is not always actual food that is used in the advert. For example, brown paint is used instead of chocolate and whiskey instead of tea.
Mr Fauchon expressed his satisfaction at the high level of talent and crew in the local audiovisual industry employed by the MAPC.
Mr Cassar Gaspar said this was not the last that the island had seen of Mr Fauchon and in fact they have already started preparing storyboards for new projects to be shot together in the coming months.