MTS Premium: hack the system

Director David Bintsene shot the series on motion control: a robotic arm repeats the camera move with frame accuracy. We relied on it at every stage: in pre-production we planned the camera moves and transitions, in art direction we built the world of the dacha and the packshots, in VFX we stitched the live plates with graphics. The final frames parody failed family photos from a photo studio: three friends pose against liquid chrome, a rhinestone throne and golden rain, and the transition into them passes through a phone screen.

A pier, deck chairs, an overcast summer. Ilya speeds past on a jet ski with an open laptop, shouting that he has hacked the system: the Wi-Fi now flies, the whole internet is ours. Slava doesn't look up from his phone: the whole internet is ours anyway, we're on Premium. The episode sets the formula for the series. Packshot: the friends pose in front of a photo wallpaper with palm trees and a beach.

Ilya, in a tinfoil hat, crawls out of a silver tent by the barbecue and offers Slava an “innovative unwanted-call reflector”. Slava replies that Premium already has spam blocking, and calls his mom back. Packshot: the friends against liquid chrome, a continuation of the foil from the scene.

Ilya has “hacked” the music system: a wall of speakers by the fountain, wires and headphones, so that the whole crew listens to the same thing. Slava shows that with family Premium everyone can listen to their own music in MTS Music. The camera dives into the phone screen and comes out into the packshot: a family portrait on a rhinestone throne with a cat in arms.

A night open-air cinema. With a telescope and a laptop, Ilya has built an “innovative neighbor-screen recognition system” so that everyone can watch different films at once. Slava, holding a bucket of popcorn, reminds him that on Premium you can already watch whatever you want in KION. Packshot: the three in cowboy hats under a rain of popcorn.

By a blue fountain, Ilya demonstrates a “cash magnet” that is supposed to bring money back. Slava notes that Premium attracts more: cashback comes back for everyone. Packshot: the friends catch a golden rain of coins.