Academy Award Winner Michael Fink Directs His First Indian TV Commercial

Michael Fink, Hollywood visual effects veteran, Academy Award winner and President of VFX worldwide at Prime Focus - India's leading visual entertainment services company - has directed his first Indian TV commercial for Lotte Coffy Bite.
The Mumbai-based company was appointed by Rediffusion Y&R and MAD Entertainment for the toffee brand's latest TV commercial.
The commercial shows that the Coffee-Toffee argument propagated by the Coffy Bite brand has moved beyond humankind and into the realm of the animal kingdom.
The ad shows two frogs - Leo and Dino - vying for a Coffy Bite. The frogs, who talk to one another in the spot, were completely created using CGI and visual effects and have their own unique and distinct characteristics.
Commenting on his first experience of directing a commercial in India, Michael Fink said: "It was a great experience to be working on an Indian TV commercial. This is a tipping point for Indian advertising with increased exposure and involvement of global specialists in Indian advertising projects. I hope to be associated with many more challenging projects like the Coffy Bite commercial in the future."
Fink's direction of the Coffy Bite commercial follows his involvement on the recent McDonald's 'No Fry Left Behind' campaign for DDB Chicago, which was shortlisted at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival last month. Fink consulted on the McDonald's spot, which was posted by Prime Focus in London. The global cascading of skills and talent from feature films to commercials is a key part of the Prime Focus 'Worldsourcing' business model.
Merzin Tavaria, lead visual effects supervisor, Prime Focus, commented: "The success of this commercial is attributed to the brilliant team work between Rediffusion-Y&R and Prime Focus. The creative idea developed by Rediffusion was well-structured, which allowed us to execute it so realistically. In the process we're happy to be playing a role in catapulting India on the global VFX arena."
Namit Malhotra, Founder and Global CEO of Prime Focus, said: "The Coffy Bite commercial marks the globalisation of Indian advertisements. We're proud to be at the leading edge of this trend and hope to see more of the coming together of the West with Indian advertising. This process has been made possible due to our global digital pipeline business model, which allows us to leverage our resources and technology from across our global locations, to create a spectacular outcome delivered on-time and on-budget."
Minakshi Achan, EVP and Executive Creative Director, Rediffusion-Y&R South, said: "It's a pleasure to work with a team that supports and executes an idea this effectively. The idea to take the Coffee-Toffee argument beyond our own world was interesting to begin with, and we're pleased with the level of detailing and realisation put in by the Prime Focus team."
Kishore Karumbiah, Creative Head of Rediffusion-Y&R, Chennai, said: "Everyone loves the coffee-toffee argument, but we wanted to take the story forward througha magical dispute - this commercial captures the story charmingly. The animation is truly world-class and brings the concept alive through a level of execution unseen so far."
Michael Fink received his Academy Award in 2008 for his work on The Golden Compass. His volume of work includes some prestigious Hollywood projects such as Vanilla Sky, The Road to Perdition, X-Men and Batman Returns.
(KMcA/BMcC)