Television commercial first aired in 1997.
The company television ad campaign was filmed over eight days in November 1996 at locations from Dublin to Hook Head in Wexford and in County Wicklow. Over 100 extras were involved in the filming and this total does not include the 36 greyhounds, who ran themselves ragged around Shelbourne Park Stadium for the ad. Still images from the ad were published during the Christmas holiday of 1996, and the 60-second ad was screened on television throughout 1997, as part of the repositioning campaign.
The CDP team described the advertisement as having “pace and momentum” or, to use racing terminology, it has “rush”. After the concept for the advertisement was approved in mid-October, CDP had their film director appointed within a month and the huge location and filming logistics involved were also in place by the end of November.
This advertisement is the first in a pair of “Moving Eye” commercials, with “Moving Eye 2” airing in 1998. Both advertisements feature panning cameras and smooth transitions between scenes. They feature shots of electricity being used in all ranges of Irish and international life. Both commercials share the tagline “Where do they get their energy?”, which was also used in print advertisements in this period.
Filming began with the Hook Head scene of the incoming helicopter. Interestingly, the Irish-born pilot is a Vietnam veteran. The second aerial shot is one of Dublin at night, which was taken from an unusual angle available while flying out of Dublin airport, while the café bar in the commercial is Hogan’s of George’s Street in Dublin. The agricultural scene was shot on a Wicklow dairy farm at Ballymahon outside Bray. The greyhound scene at Shelbourne Park was the most intricate. It was completed in the “I am a Camera” style, with the viewer brought from traps to finish through the eye of the greyhound. The filming began at 2pm in the afternoon and finished in the early hours of the following morning. The TV studio scenes were shot at Screenscene in Dublin’s Mount Street, where the actual commercial was edited and synchronised with the specially commissioned music for the ad from Paul O’Donaghue. The hospital scene brought the crew and the extras to St. Bricin’s military hospital on Infirmary Road in Dublin. The music concert scenes were filmed at an industrial unit in Sandyford. Here a camera on the Alouma crane, imported specially from the US, was used.
Duration: 01:00
Credits:
Concept and production: CDP Productions
Score: Paul O’Donaghue
Editing: Screenscene
