Project: A 30-second spot for AXA Institutional, "Réincarnation."

Ad Agency: TBWA\France.

Production Company: Psycho for Première Heure, with Frédéric Planchon as director. Adfilm Valas serviced the shoot in India. (Note: Planchon is no longer with Première Heure; he remains with Academy in the UK).

Mandate: A mystical-looking ad showing a day in the life of India, illustrating the point that you can't control the next life, so take care of this one.

The Solution: India was the perfect locale to set up the reincarnation motif. Much of the shoot used natural light to capture a documentary look from the country.

Reincarnation is the basis for this spot for Paris-based insurance company AXA. Several animals are shown in their natural habitat, while their past life names are supered onscreen.

Originally, the plan was to just shoot the animals in the wild, but director Frédéric Planchon carried it further, using India to reinforce the reincarnation concept.

"At the beginning it was only to be done in the wild part of the jungle, and it was Planchon's idea to put in some sequences of the city," says Jérúme Rucki, line producer. "[The spot's] purpose was to show one day in India...different animals, different parts of the country, the city, the desert, the idea was to have a kaleidoscope."

Planchon and Rucki were on familiar territory because the two had shot a Thompson ad in India seven years before. The two had also worked with Mumbai's Adfilm Valas, the production services company for the AXA shoot.

The plan was to shoot in three areas: Mumbai (formerly Bombay) for the city sequences, and two cities (Udaipur and Jaipur) in the province of Rajasthan. The tourist region is known as India's "triangle of treasures" because of the beautiful temples, architecture and wildlife.

"Most of these people come [to Rajasthan] to shoot the ambience," says Prabhakar Shetty, executive producer on the shoot for Adfilm Valas. "You won't get that color anywhere else in the world."

Therefore, much of the two-week shoot used natural light. The effect is particularly evident in the opening and closing dawn and dusk shots of different temples. The plan was to get all the animals for the shoot in India, but conservation and film authorities are making that more difficult. Shetty says film companies are still allowed to shoot animals in the wild, but it is becoming increasingly difficult. For bureaucratic and safety reasons, Rucki says they decided to shoot some of the sequences, like one with a tiger, on a blue screen in studio in France. Other in-studio animal sequences included ones with birds, ants and a lizard. These animals were placed in their habitats during post-production at Première Heure.

The rest of the animals were shot in India. Second assistant director, Phillipe Holodenko cast and served as a technical advisor with the animals. He was largely responsible for setting up two sequences in the busy streets of Mumbai -- one involving a rooster in traffic, and one with a rat shimmying along pipe among people doing laundry.

Newer regulations regarding animals are a case in point of filming in India. A fair amount of administrative work is required in advance of the shoot. Permits must be obtained from local embassies or high commissions, and companies have three weeks to detail everything they require.

"In each city, you have specific restrictions, so we can say the country is a little bit administrative, and you have to follow the rules," says Rucki. "Because of my experience and the experience of Psycho/Première Heure in India, we knew it would take a bit of time because you cannot challenge the rules."

Rucki adds that permits can protect you as well, and authorities recognize and can help in sticky situations.

"You do need Ministry [of Film] permission, but once you get that, all the other permits fall into place," says Shetty.

Equipment wise, Bollywood is a huge film center, so all gear is available. Psycho/Première Heure was more comfortable bringing its own cameras and stock. Adfilm Valas provided generators, lights, cranes and trucks. Unlike other regions, each piece of equipment comes with its own attendant who is paid usually between US$10-$20 a day.

"You don't get that in Europe and America. You walk into an equipment shop and you take it. Here, it doesn't happen that way. Every piece of equipment comes with a man," says Shetty. "So generally a unit becomes very big. But it's still very cheap compared to [American] standards."

That's something that is true with everything in India. At press time, the US dollar was worth 47 rupees, and considering the much lower cost of living, it's a cost-effective place to shoot. In addition, extras come cheap; as Rucki puts it, "extras in India mean real people off the street."

The only difficulty the shoot had was moving the 30-person crew around. It is a huge country and travel isn't always smooth, so the challenge came from moving from Mumbai to within Rajasthan in as little time as possible.

"Even though this is a big country for the movie industry, the way they do it is not at all the same. For example, it takes an Indian feature film at least one year to be made, because they have a lot of people," says Rucki. "The passage of time is not the same -- especially in the ad business, we have to go fast and quick."

Agency Credits:

TV Producers: Evelyne Luverdis, Ghislaine Byramjee

Creative Director: Jean-Pierre Barbou

Webfiles>

Federation of Film Societies of India> www.ifson.org

Indian Television> www.indiantelevision.com