The Proposal: a Case Study

handplayed
3 min readJun 9, 2021

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EVN made us an accomplice in Alex and Katya’s magical love story. Magic — like the quiet night sky, full of luminous stars, in which a large residential building lit on and off to send coordinated messages of love on its façade. We had the opportunity to produce this flash mob video that marked the beginning of Alex and Katya’s married life.

After 8 years together Alex had decided to propose to Katya. He was sure of her answer but she didn’t even realize what was about to happen. We chose a large residential building in Plovdiv. We told the residents that they would be part of a choreographed light show on their façade. Everyone had their secret role in this big, real fairytale. And even though not everything went as planned — like a circus appearing all of a sudden in front of the residential building, a neighbor deciding they will boycott the whole operation, street lamps catching on fire in the midst of shooting, etc. — we managed to complete our mission.

This TVC was a complex plan which took us two months of pre-production, finding the right man who was ready to make such a proposal, a fake commercial production to keep his future fiancée oblivious to our real intent, a large crew handling the coordination and shooting of an actual marriage proposal in real time, and a coordinated flash mob of more than 50 residents of a block in Plovdiv, who turned the lights in their rooms on and off to write the words “Would you marry me?” on the building’s façade. More than a hundred people in beautiful harmony in the name of love.

A seemingly impossible mission, turned into reality, thanks to the best trio for a project like this: the creative and romantic director — Martin Iliev, the detail-oriented storytellers — Alexander Stanishev and Dimitar Nedelchev-Susela. And that’s how the rest of Katya and Alex’s life began. And they live happily ever after. Check the video from behind the scenes. Welcome to the place where everything can happen, as long as you imagine it.

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Client: EVN Bulgaria

Agency: guts&brainsDDB Sofia

Director: Vasil Petrakov

DOP: Alexander Stanishev, Dimitar Nedelchev

Producer: Angel Ivanov, handplayed

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WHAT WE DID:

Casting

Script Writing

Equipment

Location Scouting

Flashmob coordination

Video Production

Post production

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handplayed

handplayed is an award-winning full-service content creation studio, based in Sofia,Bulgaria. We produce commercials, music videos, films & experiences.