Director turns brawling Black Bottle stuntmen into fine actors

The recent launch of Black Bottle whiskey in South Africa has been triggered by a television commercial that takes viewers back to the 19th century.

TBWA Hunt Lascaris turned to cindy lee from Fresh Eye Film Productions to direct a commercial that had to withstand the high standards of the distillers back in Scotland.

Speaking about the making of the ad, lee highlights the large-scale set production of a 19th century ship that took three weeks to build and three minutes to destroy by brawling sailors and pirates.

“The pirate sequence was a three-take shoot because we could only break the doors and windows three times, so the choreography beforehand was painstaking,” says lee. “I used two cameras, a 35mm and 16mm, to contrast the modern from the olden days.”

TBWA creative director Nicholas Hulley said they are extremely proud of this commercial. “cindy has a great sense of comedic timing and her attention to detail is acute, which was really required for this period piece. Those pirates were stuntmen, not actors, and she got a superb performance out of them.”

Click here to view the ad. [3MB]