On day two of shooting Irwin Toys’ campaign for Dragonball z action figures, codirected by Navigator Films’ Harry Lake and Madi Piller, the set is everything one might imagine a toys shoot to be. The atmosphere is relaxed but excited, still buzzing from the day before when an elaborate set depicting a beautiful blue sky had given those in attendance much to talk about. Lake keeps his calm throughout, realizing this is a different day. The director is also serving as dop and his work is cut out for him.

Shot at Toronto’s Wallace Studios, the set is flanked with Navigator folk, including executive producer Yvonne Buckingham and sales rep Kelly Mikol, along with Irwin’s in-house creative director Tim Laurence, who wrote the two Dragonball z spots now in production.

Lake wanders from his camera to the lighting board where technicians are busily trying to perfect the background lighting effects for the upcoming shot. Lake’s camera is set up, staring directly at a tiny model made to look like a molten heap. Crew members, supervised by Piller, place Dragonball z action figures and figurines in such a way as to be sure each toy receives appropriate screen time. Behind the model is a large green screen, ready to be subbed for the backgrounds. Lake practices zooming in and out of the shot as onlookers watch the monitors intently.

The huge back wall of the studio is being painted over with a coat of white, covering up the expertly painted blue sky used on day one. The spot from the day before features a Dragonball z character riding on a cloud against the blue sky backdrop.

‘One of the Dragonball z characters rides on this cloud, which is essentially a little Hovercraft,’ explains Lake. ‘We had that set up, and then in the background we had a large cloud with snow blankets on it. The first thing you see is the character floating on a cloud on the tabletop, and then you see two kids surfing on their cloud.’

According to Lake, shooting on day one took approximately 12 hours to complete; he expects much the same for day two.

Before they go home tonight, Lake and Piller will also be shooting some new scenes to be added to an Irwin Toys yo-yo spot they codirected nearly a year ago, featuring new yo-yo products. First on the agenda, however, is the second Dragonball ad.

The second spot begins with an animated sequence taken from the Dragonball z series, leading to a shot of one of the animated characters morphing into its own action figure. According to Lake, kids throughout North America are enamored with Dragonball z and finding two young actors with enthusiasm for the product was not difficult.

‘There is something always happening in the series,’ he says. ‘Just about every kid we interviewed at the casting had seen it. They were all big fans.’

The two young actors wait patiently on set for the product shots to be completed before it’s time for them to shine. Their mothers, also in attendance, are quite concerned at one point about the possibility of vegetable dip falling on their sons’ clothes. Besides food, there is not much on set to keep them occupied, other than Buckingham’s dog Casey, who sleeps on her pillow, oblivious to the action around her.

Lake has just come off directing and lensing a Taco Bell spot through Harrod & Mirlin fcb, but is not content to rest after his commercial-making marathon. Lake says he is going to be hard at work over the next while familiarizing himself with the incoming high-definition filmmaking technologies.

‘I’ve been doing some stuff lately getting to know hdtv because it is coming in fairly fast,’ says Lake, adding high-def is going to be a valuable tool once the hardware catches up with the ambitious ideas about it.

‘We couldn’t do this lens on a video camera,’ he says turning to his own camera, still aimed at the array of figures positioned on the simulated lava rock. ‘The whole lensing system, the whole focus system with video is different.’