Copenhagen Metro: Goth Life and Morning Tremens by Hjaltelin Stahl

We’ve all been there: jumping onboard our city’s metro only to find ourselves stuck alongside a group of noisy, difficult, or occasionally infuriating passengers. Great Guns director Peter Harton captures the feeling perfectly in the latest campaign for Copenhagen’s new Metro line, promoting the fact that 85% of the city’s population will now be connected to the superfast circuit. Creatively devised by Hjaltelin Stahl and produced by Pegasus Productions, the hilarious new campaign celebrates the upcoming Cityringen line with two spots whilst also acknowledging the unavoidable encounters found on public transport.

The campaign captures two different scenarios that highlight the comedically diverse passengers found on the Metro line – and the benefits of the new Cityringen. The first ad, entitled ‘Morning Tremens’, sees one woman make the tiresome trip home after a long night of partying – still dressed in last night’s clothes and clutching her high heels. With smudged make-up and false eyelashes hanging off, she boards the train and manages to find a seat. She then discovers, however, she has sat amongst a group of enthusiastic cub scouts, joined by an equally animated leader who suggests the boys have a snack before their stop. Surrounded by boiled eggs, mackerel, and strong cheese, our traveller is then thrust in the midst of an intense singalong that threatens to push her already fragile state over the edge.

The second spot, meanwhile, features two goths boarding the metro, only to find themselves in the same carriage as a group of joyous, pastel-clad acapella singers. As their discomfort grows, the singers only get louder, prompting some enthusiastic dance moves in the direction of the two uncomfortable men. Fortunately, as with the ending of ‘Morning Tremens,’ ‘Goth Life’ shows that the distressing journey will soon be over, thanks to the new Cityringen line.

Great Guns director Peter Harton aimed to highlight these colourful encounters by making the contrasts between the groups as dramatic as possible, working with DOP Jens Maasbøl to make the spots also feel overwhelmingly claustrophobic.