DETAILS
it was a privilege to work with director lone scherfig (italian for beginners and wilbur wants to kill himself) and legendary cinematographer jan weincke (d.p. for nils malmros, arthur penn, bille august, and susanne bier) in this commercial for another famous danish export, carlsberg beer.
 
in this particular spot, which was part of an immensely successful, award-winning advertising campaign for carlsberg, we created a home environment featuring extreme comfort with a restrained hint of the luxurious.
 
i'm a big fan of practicals (lamps and other light sources which are part of the decoration), they provide rich textures and deep backgrounds, and this commercial is a testimony to that.
 
with the punch line in the commercial referring to bali, it was appropriate to include a few balinese masks as décor for the walls, thereby foreshadowing the joke.
 
the composite picture (to the left) was shown to the agency and director, and we proceeded to develop the production design from there. everything seen in this spot has been brought to this location by the art department. the location was completely empty before our arrival.
 
the many bookshelves came from montana, the couch and ottoman from paustian, the leather armchair and coffee table from bo-tikken. books came from scanprops, and danmarks radio rented out the volumes of fake books. asian ornaments and masks from bagus interiors in copenhagen, paintings were rented from local artists, in addition to framed art works from a shop in hellerup. the refrigerator came from interstudio, as well as some of the lamps. additional lamps came from casa shop, and the rug is paustian's. there's a grand piano in there as well.
 
like previous carlsberg commercials, the time honoured tradition of an active fireplace was employed, with firewood ablaze, to crystalize that sense of danish 'hygge.' additionally, we had a small rain machine rigged to the exterior windows and glass door, though one can hardly see the rain, considering that we were shooting this spot during the danish winter(where the day is as dark as night).
 
anecdotal comments, part one: of course, it was my good fortune to select a refrigerator that weighed five tons. this beautiful designer fridge was selected on the basis of its height and metallic veneer. on the day of the pick-up, the poor guys who had to schlep the thing into the truck nearly threw their backs out. word to the wise: try lifting the fridge before one snaps a photograph of it in order to show it to the director. if it is liftable, fine. otherwise, your crew will hate you.

client: carlsberg.
agency: halbye-kaag.