Chris McDonald & Matt Statham

"in Berlin
Matt Statham and Chris McDonald, creatives at McCann Erickson London, travelled to Berlin to shoot a spot for Sony Ericsson with directing duo Conkerco from Academy Films.

In September we shot a commercial for the new Sony Ericsson C905 Cybershot phone. The idea was to demonstrate that the photos taken on the 8.1 megapixel C905 could be blown up to massive proportions and then 'let loose' by a gang of young people around the city of Berlin in a way that plays with the environment.

Day 1

We arrive late in the day with Karen Hughes, our producer, at our hotel in formerly communist East Berlin. The brutalist architecture everywhere is a constant reminder of the Cold War at its chilliest. We enjoy a German lager on the terrace outside, when our directors, Chris Rule and Ben White - otherwise known as Conkerco - appear. They look absolutely knackered. Big night, we ask? No, they've both just finished an 11k run through Berlin. We wonder just what kind of crazy guys we're dealing with. Turns out they're in training for a half-marathon in Bristol. Rather them than us. We head out for some typical Berlin grub but find ourselves in a Thai restaurant.


Day 2

Early start. We head over to the offices of Cobblestone - our local production company. It's in the old Karl Marx Buchhandlung (bookshop), which featured in the film The Lives of Others. It's on Karl-Marx-Allee, once Stalinallee and is nearly 2km long and 89 metres wide (the road, not the offices). Every street in Berlin seems to be 89 metres wide. We recce all the locations throughout the day and realise that, usefully, two are within spitting distance of the hotel.

We find ourselves with a spare hour on our hands and our account man, Paul Gardener, is a Berlin virgin. So we commandeer a taxi and visit Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag and the Holocaust memorial - all in one hit. Paul spends it all on the phone. In the evening our clients arrive and we suggest going for some local cuisine, ending up in an Italian restaurant.

Checkpoint Charlie with French Gendarme - obviously.

Day 3

Our first shoot day arrives. We want the spot to feel like an event and we need genuine reactions to the blown-up images - so we're shooting with three 16mm cameras in different positions with different lenses, all handheld. Location number one is the fire escape outside the Berliner Ensemble theatre. We film our 'gang' carrying large canvases of parts of birds up the iron stairway. This will establish our gang in more detail, positioning the huge images.

We then move to our next glamorous location - a building site by the side of Otto-Braun-Strasse. A large hole in the ground has been cordoned off - and we discover that they've just uncovered an old bunker from the war - complete with human remains. Think we've spotted Hitler's sunglasses and discarded cigarette packet, but could be mistaken. Enjoy watching passing motorists as they wonder why a huge picture of a sandcastle is propped up in the sand on a building site. Wait till they see the giant budgies. Tonight we stay in and dine at the hotel restaurant. Japanese, naturally.

Day 4
Because we're shooting from dusk, we have some of the day to ourselves. At last we sample some real German food at the wonderful Weltrestaurant Markthalle on Pucklerstrasse, and get a close look at a surviving section of 'The Wall'.

Arrive on set at 7.00pm. After a glorious balmy day, it's now cold and pouring with rain. The bowser guy providing our wet-down is wondering why he bothered turning up. We film our gang positioning a huge picture of a domestic fish tank onto the side of a bus shelter by the side of Bismarckstrasse. The opera-goers heading into the nearby Deutsche Oper Mittelsteifen try to figure out what is happening. As do the early punters arriving at the Tabu table dancing club behind our production gazebo. Just as we turn over it stops raining. We finally wrap at 1am, too late for all the restaurants. Settle for a sandwich in the hotel bar.

Day 5

Arrive in Alexanderplatz to find that our 30-foot budgerigars are now roosting on top of the buildings in the square. The local commuters and shoppers are wondering how they got there. Cranes, scaffolding, 2 tonnes of concrete and a lot of technicians is the answer. Still can't believe those pictures were taken on a camera phone, but it's true. All the images in the film were shot using the C905.

Some birds in Berlin.

Soon, hundreds of extras are milling about in the square, waiting for Steve Williams our 1st AD to order them about. As we turn over, a strange woman with a Dolly Parton hairdo keeps trying to get into shot. She's pushing a brightly coloured old-fashioned pram with what appears to be a giant baby hidden inside. She's got to go. Steve obliges. Finally, after five hours in the square filming people's reactions to our Budgies we move to our next location - 100 yards from the hotel. A blown-up picture of a girl sticking her tongue out is placed on top of a traffic light, facing a CCTV camera.


As we turn over, two eggs splatter on the pavement, a metre from the camera. Everyone looks up but no culprit can be found. Our D.P, Antonio Paladino, is not amused and the waterproof camera bag comes out - but sadly we have no crash helmets. Apparently, some of the locals have had enough of all the film crews taking over their city all the time. Everyone shrugs and carries on regardless.

Day 6

Our location is the Messe Berlin, a monumental exhibition hall, built before the war and right opposite the building where the Nazis transmitted the Enigma code. The Messe Berlin is standing in for a busy train station, populated by our extras from the Budgies scene. (Crazy pram woman has turned up, but this time without her pram) For this scene a huge banner, depicting a young boy looking through a magnifying glass, is hung from a balcony, so it appears that he is spying on the ant-like 'commuters' below. It's an impressive sight and really captures the playfulness we want to convey.

Afterwards we move to our very last location, a Berlin apartment, which will form the opening of the commercial. It's a cramped affair as all the crew try to squeeze into a one-bed flat, to shoot our main 'gangmember', Kai, capturing a shot of the fishtank which will appear later in the ad. We finally wrap at 8 o'clock and head off for the wrap party. Naturally, this being Berlin, we all end up in a hardcore German Techno club throwing shapes 'til the small hours, before struggling to the airport for the flight home. Chatting with our directors, Chris and Ben, we all realise just how wonderfully hospitable a city Berlin has been to shoot in, and we all can't wait to return.

Berlin is a great place to shoot with varied cityscapes and excellent crews. Somewhere we'll definitely 'Open on…' again.

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