Written by new-contact on Oct 26, 2010. Posted in Production News

NZ Lotteries shoots on location in New Zealand and India for epic new ad

New Zealand Lotteries has filmed a new commercial across India and in New Zealand. Lucky Dog shows a yachtsman discovering he’s won the lottery while at sea, only to lose the ticket overboard in a storm. His dog jumps in, rescues the ticket and, swept away, begins an epic journey back to his owner.

South Africa, China, Thailand and Nepal were considered as shoot locations, but India eventually won out. Filming took place on location in Jodphur and Jaisalmer in the north-west of the country and in Mumbai.

They offered the right looks needed for the story, while the country as a whole offers competitive costs. The main issue was in sorting out visas for the crew.

Claire Kelly, a Producer with The Sweet Shop, said: “It takes around five weeks [to sort visas]; this definitely makes India a harder place to go with. There is a fair bit of inflexibility here and commercial filmmakers have to go in on journalists’ visas. This process can be pretty frustrating.”

In addition, of course, there was a dog involved and the team initially decided to try and find one locally. Madhukar Kotian, an Executive Producer with Fingerprint Films, said: “We went through extensive research on which breed to use. The Director short-listed a Wire Fox terrier, which was not available in India. We tried importing the dog from China, Bangkok and Malaysia, but it was not meeting our requirement. The major issue was training the dog, which was a minimum of 30 days and we were running out of time.”

In the end The Sweet Shop decided to bring a dog over from New Zealand. Kelly said: “Finding domestic airlines that would take the dog was a bit of a hassle, as was finding hotels that were happy to have a four-legged guest. Then there was getting the dog prepped to take into India. We had three dogs in New Zealand and we took one to India.”

Flying from Mumbai to Jodphur, the crew then drove the 300km to Jaisalmer, a journey Kelly describes as “perilous”. These locations were used for their generic Asian landscapes, while paddy fields in Film City, Mumbai, were also used. The commercial’s opening boating scenes were filmed in an Auckland studio. A Mini Technocrane with a Stab-C stabilised head was mounted on a float, along with a V8 wind machine.

Commenting on the India shoot, Kelly concluded: “Keep an open mind, be patient and try not to let the driving bother you.”

Click here to view the film.

Credits
Client: NZ Lotteries
Agency: DDB New Zealand
Group Executive Creative Director: Toby Talbot
Production Company: The Sweet Shop, Auckland
Producer: Claire Kelly

Production Service Company: Fingerprint Films, Mumbai
Executive Producer: Madhukar Kotian
Director of Photography: Geoffrey Simpson
Director: Steve Ayson