MPC land 'shark' as they bring in latest John West ad

MPC have finished the post work on the Traktor directed spot 'Shark' for John West Tuna through Partizan for Leo Burnett.
In this 30-second ad, a huge shark thrashes about in a harness as it is carefully lowered onto a marine research boat. Suddenly a large tuna is thrown out of the shark’s mouth onto the deck and a fisherman’s head appears – followed by the fisherman who struggles out from the shark through its jaws! Unfazed he calmly hoses down his catch of tuna, much to the astonishment of everybody watching. The ad ends - “John West endures the worst to bring you the best!”
An animatronic shark was used for the shoot, with electric cables to control its movements. Inferno artists, Christophe Allender and team, removed the cables in post and recreated the background. Further animation was also added in order to give the shark a more life-like, organic feel. Allender took references from footage of real sharks, in order to recreate the movements of the mouth and rolling eyes.
MPC say that the post work was quite complex, as each time Allender animated the shark’s head and mouth, he then had to recreate the backgrounds to ensure that the movement of the shadows from the shark and from people’s feet matched exactly. This entailed rebuilding shadows using lots of tracking and re-texturing. The complexity of the work meant that 10 days were required to finally land the ad.
MPC Colourist Jean-Clement Soret graded the ad, providing the required 'documentary-style' for 'Shark' which will air from September 16.
(SP)