We've seen recent Xbox 360 spots take on jump rope and water balloons to convey a sense of active, giddy play. But surely the field of children's games to appropriate for creative is narrowing - Hopscotch or Ring Around the Rosie, anyone? With the worldwide playground favorite Cops and Robbers, however, McCann Worldgroup San Francisco found another way to illustrate, as the spots put it, "jumping in" to the Xbox experience.

In Xbox 360 "Cops and Robbers", helmed by Anonymous Content's Garth Davis, rough and ready characters enact a thrill-a-second game of chase in which tall buildings are scaled and leapt from as if they were jungle gyms, culminating in a crazed car chase snaking and skidding through streets and alleys.

Indeed, according to the principals involved, the choice of Bucharest, Romania for the spot's location made the process seem almost like child's play. "Creatively, it offered us a lot of options," says McCann CD Geoff Edwards. "Basically, the city was our set, so with a simple idea like this - friends getting together and playing this game where the stakes were high - we were able to draw up a map of the city and create our dream chase."

It helped that the team was able to effectively have its run of the place for days at a stretch, which wouldn't have been possible in other scouted locations such as Prague and Berlin. "In the other cities we were able to shoot on consecutive Sundays but that would have turned it into a three or four week shoot," says McCann EP Matthew Winks. "In Bucharest we were able to shut down big areas of the city for consecutive weekdays and weekends. So we shot for five straight days which was very cost-effective." Combining those savings with Bucharest's architectural diversity sealed the deal. "We call Bucharest the new Prague," says Edwards. "You're able to get a lot of different types of environments, from things that look like a downtown area in Paris to small streets in Italy."

Cast mainly in France (unlike the rest of the spot's principals, who were cast primarily in Davis' native Australia) the spot's "parkour" specialists proved quite adept at putting their best foot forward. "It's like urban gymnastics," says Edwards. "The key was to allow them to do this in an environment that looked like you could actually do it [there], not a stunt for a stunt's sake."

The pièce de résistance in terms of the spot's stunt work involved the climactic car chase. The whole scenario was to unfold with one of the cars flipping over and then settling back on its wheels. "I was hell-bent on doing a crash that looked real, was plausible, and didn't have [an] art department hiding ramps and bullshit like that," says Davis. But even though the action was well-rehearsed prior to the shoot, the location provided for the actual shot - a cobblestone street - unearthed an extra challenge.

"We did it the first time and the car skidded along and almost hit a building," recalls Edwards. "So Garth went out into the streets to sweep himself and make sure there was enough dust for the car to grip and flip." Getting that shot, says Davis, "was about skill, luck and guts."

All concerned agree that local production services company Domino Films had the right combination of skill and guts needed for the shoot. Anonymous line producer Karen Sproul says that aside from Australian DP Grieg Fraser, the first AD and an Aussie grip who just happened to be in Romania, a "huge" local crew was used, as well as largely local gear (aside from some specialized stunt and safety equipment). "We found Domino were incredibly accommodating, gave us blood, sweat and tears, and the key people we worked with came through for us every time," she maintains.

Still, she recommends having "as much of your own team around you that you can afford," and being able to "roll with the punches." After citing the incredible locations as a highlight of a Bucharest shoot, Davis also offers praise to the local workforce. "They have no fear, will try for anything, and manage to get it."

GOOD TO KNOW
Currency: 1 USD = 2.57 Romanian New Lei (Romania recently dropped four zeros from its currency, but both 'old' lei notes and new lei can be used until Dec. 31, '06).
Bring your own chopper: While McCann's Matthew Winks says permitting Bucharest was "a lot easier than permitting any other European capital we could find", tracking down a helicopter to use for extended lengths of time proved difficult due to "the sort of Soviet bureaucracy that still exists in the insurance industry over there." Still, Winks says you can get away with a little more than in other locales. "They can fly pretty close to the building, as close as 30 meters to the top. In most locations around the world, you have to be away from the city in safe areas and you can't shoot anywhere near that close."
a good night's sleep: $175 up to $400 for a four-star hotel in Bucharest.

McCann WorldGroup www.mccann.com

Anonymous Content www.anonymouscontent.com

Domino Film www.dominofilm.ro