‘Get over here, man. You’ve got to see this.’

The Players Film Company president Philip Mellows motions a newcomer on the set to join him and a dozen or so others crowded around the monitor to watch the biggest shot of this particular shoot. The Players crew is about to detonate a tank holding 1,800 pounds of water, which will spill down through a one-quarter-scale subway tunnel model, simulating a major washout.

The monitor thing seems somewhat odd. After all, just yards away a humongous water tank is about to explode – full scale. But Mellows’ childlike excitement wins the day and all gather around the small screen.

The glass holding the water in the tank is being sacrificed today for Toronto agency Ammirati Puris and client Clarica. This is the second of two spots being shot over the course of four days, with Players director Gary McKendry at the helm. Creative for both spots has been provided by APL cocreative directors Stephen Jurisic (art director) and Angus Tucker (copywriter) and continues the Clarica theme, ‘There’s a lot to be said for clarity.’

The first spot, ‘No Parking,’ shows a baffled man in his car staring out at a sea of conflicting parking signs.

Director McKendry, born in Northern Ireland and now living in New York, says this was the less complicated of the two ads for obvious reasons – the lack of explosions being the biggie. He adds actor Jason Palter also made his life easier.

‘In this spot, the guy parking his car carried the entire thing,’ says McKendry. ‘The camera was on him for the entire spot and he was fantastic. I am really impressed with the depth of the talent [in Canada].’

He is also partial to the crews Players brings in and particularly enjoys working with DOP Sean Valentini, who is manning the camera on this leg of the Clarica campaign. This is McKendry’s third outing with Valentini and he says the two have developed an on-set chemistry.

‘He’s quick, which is great, but he doesn’t have one set look, which is fantastic,’ says McKendry. ‘I’m a nightmare in a lot of ways because I used to be a storyboard artist and then a creative director, so once I’ve storyboarded the spot that is kind of it for me. I have to be working with talent when I’m directing, so you need a DOP that is comfortable with your boards and bringing them to life. Sean is also like me for wanting to keep the set loose.’

Now back to the explosion and the second ad, ‘Subway.’

‘Subway’ is a very complex, technical shoot. It could be a lengthy one, too, if the explosion is botched. It took hours to fill the tank once and will take several more to fill it again if this shot is not perfect.

The spot involves a subway stop where the unknowing folks on the platform are about to meet with a major disaster. The subway dispatcher sees the catastrophe coming and tries to warn those on the platform to evacuate.

‘Leave the station! Leave the station!’ he shouts.

Subway intercoms, being what they are, leave the passengers on the platform befuddled. One confused transit patron says to himself, ‘Lead the nation?’

There’s a lot to be said for clarity.

Then a wall of water gushes through the tunnel and washes them all away. At least, that is what is supposed to happen.

According to Jurisic, this shot falls on the heels of some successful moments elsewhere on the set, constructed at Toronto’s Lakeshore Studios.

‘We shot the talent in the water tank this morning, to be the button on the spot,’ says Jurisic. ‘Now we are about to blow the water tank. We shot the tunnel the other day, just a lock-off, and in post they’ll put the water to match the scale of the tunnel.’

McKendry, who earlier worked with Jurisic and Tucker on a Carlsberg job, is confident all their preplanning will pay off.

‘It is really vital,’ says McKendry. ‘We all talked about this before Christmas and we have worked out pretty much how we are going to do it.’

During the planning process, all parties agreed they didn’t want to spend a lot of money on elements that would not be seen on camera. Different models of train stations are being used to keep costs down.

‘With every model you only get one take,’ says McKendry. ‘There is 1,800 pounds of water in there, so it is going to wipe out any model you make. We made a black plate that would match inside the tunnel of the real train station.’

Budget notwithstanding, McKendry admits a few shortcuts were taken elsewhere for the sake of dramatic, visual storytelling.

‘We cheated the corner [on the model tunnel] so the wave when it came around would be more dramatic and bigger,’ he says. ‘We made the scale model tighter curved so you can see [the water] hit the wall and hit the far side and then spill out, because if it had been too long and too straight it would make it too quick. There are 1,800 pounds of water in that thing, held by a piece of glass with squibs in it. The squibs will detonate the glass and the water will spill out.’

The crew, production house and agency folk are all crouched around the monitor. For the first time that day the silence is not forced. The next four sounds heard are: ‘Action,’ ‘BANG,’ ‘splash,’ and then cheers. These are the sounds of success. Tucker and Jurisic remain relatively quiet but still manage to look pleased. Mellows’ childlike excitement has turned into very adult relief.

Soon McKendry rushes back to some scattered applause. He stands by the monitor and proudly announces, ‘Hey, if you need a good explosion, always call a guy from Belfast.’ *

-www.playersfilm.com