Written by on Aug 26, 2010. Posted in Production News

Russian snack brand Kirieshki doubles Finland for Siberia

Russian snack brand Kirieshki has filmed new commercials in Kuusamo, Finland, doubling the region for Siberia. River Fight shows two men playing a version of Battleships using small ice ships and dynamite. The series includes additional spots where the men play a giant game of billiards and use an ice lens to magnify what little sunlight there is.

Masha Maksimenkova, of AC Productions, said: “The weather was a challenge. We originally planned to film near Helsinki but the shoot took place in mid-April and the snow was melting quicker than expected. We ended up near the ski resort of Kuusamo in northern Finnish Lapland, doubling the area for Siberia.”

Kuusamo is very accessible, at only about an hour’s flight from Helsinki. Deep white snow can be guaranteed in that part of the world between October and May, although working with it and general icy conditions brings its own set of challenges.

Hanna Mutanen, of Grillifilms, said: “The thick snow cover on location certainly did not make us any faster. We had to plan very carefully all the crew and equipment movements and that was only possible with an experienced crew that had worked in snow conditions before. We also used a lot of snow vehicles to make things roll faster.”

For the River Fight spot, the production built a wooden grid for the battleship game and added ice effects in post-production. The explosions were filmed in a separate field and overlaid in post-production. The commercials themselves are planned for release in Belarus and Kazakhstan. Mutanen concluded: “We needed permission from land owners to shoot on the chosen locations. Overall, Finland is very friendly when it comes to filming - it is basically free to shoot in public places.”

Click here to view the ad.

Credits
Client: Kirieshki
Agency: IQ Marketing
Creative Director: Dmitry Levteev
Production Company: AC Production, Evgeny Golovan Production house
Producers: Masha Maksimenkova, Ilya Maryakhin

Production Service Company: Grillifilms (part of Scandinavian Shooting Club)
Executive Producer: Hanna Mutanen
Director of Photography: Kjell Lagerroos
Director: Roman Valent