CineAlta HD was used on J Walter Thompson’s new Smirnoff commercial, employing a hand-held look with sophisticated special effects to make the viewer sit up and take notice.

The 60 second spot, subtitled If Smirnoff Made Pet Food, shows guests arriving at a party where a dog is playing at the piano and breaking into song. It might look like a lyrical canine caught on camera, but it took around three and a half months to make, including a month in post production.

The realism that director Daniel Kleinman was after meant using specific post production techniques which, in turn, dictated shooting in frames. So the choice of format was between film or CineAlta HD. Using CineAlta HD meant that the footage could be worked on with painstaking attention to detail by Sean Broughton on Inferno at Smoke and Mirrors.

The party and the antics of the highly-trained dog were caught on camera during a four day shoot on location in a flat in North London. The hand-held CineAlta HDCAM camera allowed for the look that was wanted and at the same time it saved on the cost of film.