Porsche Awards 2014 Winners: Tobias Haase

Tobias Haase

Automobile Winner

Audi The Future Chauffeur

German, aged 33

Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, Diploma year 2013

Representation Cobblestone (Germany), Rocket Film (Switzerland)

When Tobias Haase released a Mercedes-Benz spec spot depicting a young Adolf Hitler a year ago, it caused a stir in Adland and beyond.

“It was such a big thing in Germany,” recalls Haase. “Not only was everyone in the industry talking about it, but ordinary people too and a big newspaper wrote about it.”

The spot was about sensing danger before it arrived and was created to promote Mercedes’ Collision-Prevent-Assist-System, using the dictator as a vehicle for communicating the message.

Meanwhile, over at Audi HQ, head of communications Florian Otto had also caught wind of the spot and liked what he’d seen. “Just days after releasing [the spec spot], I got a phone call from Audi asking me to do a film for them,” says Haase. “First of all it was just a general request but some weeks later they called again with more specifics.”

The project that came out of their conversations is The Future Chauffeur, the Porsche Award Automobile winner for 2014. Commissioned by the car manufacturer to open Audi’s keynote speech at CES last year, the ad takes the viewer along for a day in the life of a young (rather annoying) chauffeur to promote the future of the brand’s engineering and driving experience.

After being given some essential keywords to work in, Haase wrote, cast and directed the piece, which was shot over two days in

LA after 10 days of prep work. At first glance you might think a big Hollywood budget had been granted but in reality the production company decided to cut resources at the last minute to save on costs.

“We had a couple of extras come around even though the production company decided not to have them in the end. Unfortunately, they didn’t know so someone had to tell them about the mistake,” explains Haase. He had already held one unsuccessful casting session.

“Everyone left but Jake Koeppl [star of the spot]. He was watching me and after a while he asked me about the main role. Being desperate I was pretty happy to give him the script and told him to surprise me and half an hour later he did. He is probably the best actor I have ever worked with and I am sure he will make his way.”

Starting as a student at the Filmakademie in 2008, Haase is now based in Hamburg and works with German production outfit Cobblestone. On winning the Porsche Award Automobile prize he adds: “It’s funny, because the year before I was in the same competition with MCP (the Mercedes spec spot) and I didn’t win. I loved working on this film so I am very thankful that people appreciate what we did.”