We see the world-famous local percussionist Burhan Öcal carrying a chair and walking towards a Mustang that stands in an almost empty parking lot. When he comes near the Mustang, instead of opening the door of the car, he puts the chair in front of the car; sits on it and begins his percussion performance using the car as a percussion instrument.

When he finishes the performance, we see a cat on top of one of the front tires. We understand that it was hiding in the car hood for protection from cold weather. After the performance, she jumps out from the tire and moves away from the car. Then Burhan Öcal gets in the car and starts driving. SUPPER appears: Hit the hood!

Istanbul is known as a cat city. Over 130.000 stray cats live in Istanbul streets. When winter comes, these cats hide under the car hoods where it’s warm to protect from the cold. Unfortunately, when the engines start, this causes death or serious injuries for these unsuspected cats.

Although people know that they need to hit the hood before starting the engine, they usually forget this.

Prior to the shoot, our percussionist practiced on the hood of the car for hours to find what sound comes from which part. We recorded the whole session. After 87 takes, we assembled the best parts to create a composition that feels both improvised but also has a certain flow to it with an impactful outro. Our musician practiced once more on this composition to perfect it. On the shooting day, he performed the piece several times as the sound was recorded live with microphones placed under the hood (AKG D-112 at the center for bass sounds and two Sanken Cub-01 Condenser 30 cm to the sides). Sound design was not merely an executional element, it was at the very core of the idea, helping it to reach millions and making it memorable for masses.