Written by new-contact on Jun 11, 2013. Posted in Production News

HLA captures Greek nostalgia filming in Peloponnese for Total Greek Yoghurt

HLA recreated a sense of rural Greek nostalgia filming on location in the country's Peloponnese region for Total Greek Yoghurt. Nineteen Twenty Thirteen shows a boy enjoying the yoghurt snack seemingly in the 1920s, before a smart phone chat gives away the modern setting.

The production team spent two weeks scouting for the perfect filming locations in the Peloponnese region of southern Greece, within a five-hour drive of Athens.

“We were searching for authentic old-world rural Greece, seemingly untouched for a hundred years,” explains Tim Daukes, a Producer with HLA, “with our eyes open to the logistical challenges this approach would have. We wanted to avoid the touristy white-washed island look that is too obvious and clichéd. Simon [Ratigan, the director] wanted somewhere more rugged and remote, so we got right behind him to support his vision.”

The house was a complete ruin buried in a disused olive grove. It was full of snakes, scorpions and unsound dry stone walls.

Tim Daukes, HLA

One of the central challenges was piecing together the specific locations that would work for the narrative of the spot, as the boy runs from a farmhouse and paddock over a hill, past a chapel with a bell tower and eventually into a village square. Close collaboration was needed with local communities to reassure them that they wouldn’t be spoiling the rural landscape.

“The house was the biggest challenge - the production team literally spotted it in the far distance up on a mountainside whilst driving along a very rural road,” says Daukes: “When we got there we knew we'd found the one but that it would require a lot of work.

“The house was a complete ruin buried in a disused olive grove. It was full of snakes, scorpions and unsound dry stone walls, all of which we had to make safe, clear and rebuild to create a lived-in and loved family farmhouse and garden.”

Ratigan opted to create the bygone, historic feel by shooting 35mm film with vintage lenses and using a specific processing technique in post-production. HLA worked locally with servicing company Green Olive Films: “The local producer Maria Kopanou is a marvel!” Daukes adds.

Credits:
Client: Total Greek Yoghurt
Agency: AMV BBDO
Creative Directors: Ian Gabaldoni and Richard Baynham
Agency Producer: Ally Mee
Production Company: HLA, London
Producer: Tim Daukes
Executive Producer: Mike Wells
Production Designer: Marco Puig
Production Service Company: Green Olive Films, Greece
Line Producer: Maria Kopanou
Director of Photography: Karl Oskarsson
Director: Simon Ratigan