Hi-tech advances may afford mankind greater freedoms, but the task of creating a spot for Honda that depicted technology interacting with technology meant a whole host of restrictions.

Created by Wieden + Kennedy, London, Honda "Museum" features the carmaker's robot Asimo strolling through a museum pondering various technological advances. While the spot exudes a simple charm, the triple threat of securing four museum locations in Berlin, an exhausting six-night shoot and the idiosyncrasies of working with Asimo, who comes with a team of handlers, made the process rather regimented.

"There was not much room for improvisation because on the one side you've got the museum and its restrictions and then you have Asimo, which is a very complicated thing," says Stephan Vens, executive producer at Berlin's Trigger Happy Productions before applauding Gorgeous director Peter Thwaites for his handling of the job. Indeed, Thwaites' detailed vision of the spot helped assuage concerns on the part of museums, which, in many cases, were reluctant to grant camera crews access to their collections.

For a city of approximately four million people, Berlin has a whopping 153 museums, primarily a throwback to when east and west Berlin had their own cultural infrastructures. It's one of the reasons that the London-based production traveled to Germany, along with budgetary and timing concerns. Still, convincing these institutions to permit a commercial shoot required about three to four weeks, not to mention extra insurance, says Vens.

"It took a long time to go through the levels of authority because you're not just going into someone's house or into a studio," says W+K producer Julia Methold. "You've got priceless artifacts in there and you're asking to bring in 45 people, equipment, dollies, tracks, hot lights and everything. They've got to protect themselves, which is why some of them said no."

Ultimately, the Museum of Natural History, Museum of Technology, Museum for Communications and Museum for German History all got on board, with the technology and communications museums being the most amenable.

But locations were only part of the battle. As the crew soon discovered, shooting with Asimo was significantly different than with human talent. Despite its small, light frame, picking the robot up and moving it was out of the question.

"We wanted to shoot more locations but with moving Asimo you lose like three hours of shooting time," says Vens. "These were the types of things that you didn't know before." Despite what Methold considers an ample six shoot days, some scenarios had to be scrapped. "Our shot list was enormous; it was just a wish list," she says. "Moving locations, changing set ups and having to practice everything with Asimo beforehand took a lot longer than we thought it would."

Still, gruelling nights and practical restrictions be damned, the production went smoothly. Even some of the security guards, who were understandably nervous in the beginning, got in on the action.

"In the end, they were helping us carry tripods around," says Vens. "It must be very boring to be a night security guard in a museum."

Wieden + Kennedy http://www.wklondon.com
Gorgeous http://www.gorgeous.co.uk
Trigger Happy Productions http://www.triggerhappyproductions.com