Project 6 Studio

Kit Kat, a favourite chocolate snack, has gained popularity throughout the world, and is now available in more than 70 countries.
This world-famous chocolate bar, which admirers associate with a short break or a moment just for themselves, is celebrating its 75th birthday.
The unmistakeable slogan “Have a break, have a Kit Kat!” has been this brand’s signature for the past 75 years.

Have a break from work, have a Kit Kat!
And when the customs officer is busy munching away – the smugglers lead a merry dance!

With this classic idea in mind, we began work on the remake of the old Nestle commercial in which a busy customs officer picks up a Kit Kat and, for a moment, time stops for him to enjoy his break. Crunchy wafers and delicious milk chocolate are good enough reasons for the customs officer to forget his duties and let himself drift away during his break.
The production seemed fairly straightforward to start with; the customs officer - a decent normal guy, a confused old lady and a few smugglers. It sounds like a piece of cake, but there is always a but …
Unsurprisingly, customs in international airports are not altogether enthusiastic about the idea of a film crew taking over their premises for a few days, let alone allowing a flashy red convertible to be driven through the passenger-scanning device. Which is why we decided to crank up the film illusion and build the whole set in a film studio. For this we needed 60kW of lighting, 10 white panels with neon lights, 80 square metres of lacquered floor, a red convertible, a man who can walk on stilts, and a whole load of extras, including a panda bear and Playboy’s Miss December, not forgetting her red stilettos.

Storyboard

	Shot #1 Establishing wide shot of the customs area The customs officer checks to see if someone is coming …		Shot #8 …followed by a diva wearing a fur coat, sitting on a trolley of suitcases being pushed by a liftboy, who is also leading a goat.
	Shot #2 … and once he sees that no one is there, he decides to have a break.		Shot #9 Close-up. He is fixated on his chocolate bar.
	Shot #3 He sits on the table and takes out his Kit Kat.		Shot #10 An Egyptian mummy smuggling a sarcophagus, a scuba diver with an antique statue, and two men in overalls carrying a stolen painting walk behind him.
	Shot #4 He opens the wrapper …		Shot #11 A panda driving a red Mustang and a Playboy bunny pass behind him.
	Shot #5  … breaks it in half.		Shot #12 The customs officer finishes his break and gets back to work, blissfully unaware of what has just happened.
	Shot #6 While he is deeply engrossed in his chocolate bar, a moustachioed Gypsy sneaks behind him with a bulging suitcase.		Shot #13 A little old lady is the next in line for inspection.
	Shot #7 Then comes a man on stilts, smuggling a violin …		Shot #14 He decides to thoroughly examine the poor old lady.

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Casting of the lead role

The old saying goes “Preparation is half the battle”.  For that reason, first we started looking for an actor who would play the role of the customs officer. In our creative pre-production meetings we short-listed Alen Šalinović from several potential actors. In order to fit the character described in the screenplay as much as possible, we decided to experiment with different kinds of wigs.

“As we were shooting this commercial inspired by the original, it was rather important to capture all the facial expressions of pleasure and enjoyment in the Kit Kat, which was no problem for me as I am a big fan of this chocolate bar. But also, I tried to give this project a personal touch, as did all of the actors involved in it.” Alen Šalinović, actor 

Casting of extras and costume fitting

“Good afternoon. Do you happen to know anyone who can walk on stilts? Do you have your own diving equipment? Would you mind if we bandaged you up and turned you into a mummy?”
We were asking these and similar questions while looking for extras and actors to appear in the commercial. After dialling all known and un-known numbers to find the 10 extras, a panda bear costume and a real goat, the costume rehearsal turned out to be a whole lot of fun.

Set design and props

The screenplay covered all the scene’s elements in detail, but there was still plenty of opportunity for creative freedom in the design and production of the set. Three carpenters, a painter, a graphic designer, an electrician and even a sculptor, all joined forces to make the set in studio no. 4 at Jadran Film.

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Lights, camera, aaaand action!

Wednesday, 21 January 2010 – Decision day. Actor rehearsals were finished, costumes and props were finalised, and everyone was ready for the first shot.

Final TV spot:

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