A group of fearless young men leap from building-top to building-top high above Toronto’s streets in ‘Tic Tac Toe,’ a spot for Microsoft’s Xbox from The Partners’ Film Company created by MacLaren McCann, Toronto, which transforms the usually stagnant game into an extreme sport… And the best part is it’s all real.

‘There was no green screen used in any shot in the spot,’ says Partners’ producer Gigi Realini. ‘It was all done in-camera, live with the use of cranes, wires and stuntmen actually jumping from building-top to building-top.’ The result is a seamless, high-energy spot, which garners director Steve Chase OTS’s best director honors for Top Spots 2003.

The spot was shot in 16mm to give it the raw energetic feel it needed to be believable. The only shot that wasn’t achieved in-camera is the final scene, which pulls out to reveal the completed rooftop tic-tac-toe board. To achieve the shot, Chase spent a day in a helicopter capturing building tops at different angels, which were then edited by David Baxter of Toronto house AXYZ into a composite matte painting.

In addition to directing the complicated shoot, Chase assisted DOP Danny Mindel by manning B camera. And an additional Steadicam rounded out the three-camera shoot.

Montreal-born Chase started in advertising as an art director at several Toronto agencies, including Anderson Advertising and Lowe Marschalk, before turning to directing in 1987. He directed for American prodco Fahrenheit Films before joining Reactor, which still reps him south of the boarder.

In Canada, Chase set up commercial production company Jolly Roger in 1994, but when the partnership with James and Peter Davis dissolved, and Jolly Roger became untitled, Chase joined Partners’, where he continues to direct.

In the last year and a half, Chase completed four projects in Canada including a Labatt spot for the Olympics, the Bessie-winning GM spot ‘What If,’ ‘Tic Tac Toe,’ and has just returned from Spain where he shot a spot for Royal Bank through MacLaren McCann.