Gorilla (advertisement) - Production

Production

It was hoped that the new campaign would serve to boost sales within the UK and prompt higher brand engagement from the public. Much effort was put into making the first advertisement of the new marketing strategy a hit. The creative idea was "founded upon the notion that all communications should be as effortlessly enjoyable as eating the bar itself." Argentine-born Fallon creative director Juan Cabral, who had created the immensely successful Balls and Paint spots for Sony's BRAVIA line of high-definition television sets, wrote and directed the piece, acting as creative director, art director, copywriter and director. It marked his directorial debut. Other people involved in the campaign at Fallon included senior planner Tamsin Davies, account executive Chris Willingham, executive creative director Richard Flintham, and agency producer Nicky Barnes. Matthew Fone was the production company producer. Actor Garon Michael was hired to fill the central role for his previous work in similar roles, having played great apes in the feature films Congo, Instinct and the 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes.

The gorilla suit was created by Stan Winston Studios in California. It took three months to produce, though pieces had been used in a large number of other projects prior to Gorilla. The "fur" of the suit is composed of knotted yak hairs. The exposed facial features are silicone, and are moved animatronically, through 27 remote-controlled motors and several levers. Two technicians were needed, in addition to the actor inside the suit, to produce the range of motions displayed in the commercial. The suit was cooled by ice-water tubing and a handheld fan pointed at the mouth between takes. While much of the suit had existed prior to the project, several adaptations were made, including custom-made hands for the drum sequence, foam muscle around the chest and shoulders, a new styling for the pelt, and the addition of a gold tooth, grey hairs, and a studio earpiece to give a more "wizened rock star" appearance.

Shooting took place over several days at Music Bank, the famous rehearsal studios in London. Actor, Michael spent forty hours practising the drumming beforehand, but with vision inside the suit limited to a camera feed piped to a small screen inside the head, precision was almost impossible. Many takes ended with the wooden drum sticks broken against the rims, sending shards of wood flying off-camera. This, combined with the difficulty of choreographing the delicate movements of the gorilla head with Michael's acting, meant that 35 takes were required to produce the final 90 second scene.

The spot was lensed by director of photography Daniel Bronks, and edited by Jo Guest at Final Cut, London. Post production was handled by London companies The Moving Picture Company (main body, producer Graham Bird) and Golden Square (end frame, producer Jessica Mankowitz). Sound was designed and arranged by Parv Thind at Wave Studios, London.