From the Minnesota Lottery Blog:
Minnesotans know ice. But not many have seen or experienced the awesomeness that is an ice carousel. We set out to fix that with our latest commercial.
The inspiration came from Finland where folks have been creating spinning circles of ice on lakes and rivers for years. It seemed only natural to bring these creations here to the Land of 10,000 (Frozen) Lakes.
Creating a 40-foot circle in over 13 inches of ice is no small feat. We spent weeks planning every detail and taking every precaution to ensure the safety of the cast and crew. We even had an ice diver at the ready during the entire shoot. (And no, he never had to dive in.)
Not surprisingly, the hardest part of creating an ice carousel is actually cutting the ice. We used a custom chainsaw rig to ensure our circle was as close to perfect as possible. It took hours, not to mention several chainsaws. (Ice water and small engines don’t mix.) In the end, the whole thing was powered by a simple outboard motor.
How cool is that?
Read more here: http://blog.mnlottery.com/blog/2018/02/21/400/yeah_we_did_that_go_behind_the_scenes_of_our_ice_carousel_commercial/