The Have a NOS Day interactive short film starts with Nick, a young lad, over-sleeping and darting out the front door, only to face a dilemma: should he jump on his skateboard or take the bus, where three pouting and preening young women appear to be waiting to board?

But no sooner do we see a head-scratching Nick ponder how to resolve his dilemma than the video screen freezes and splits so the viewer can decide the direction of the film’s narrative: skateboarding or hottie carpool.

And so begins a recurring pattern for the interactive short film developed by The Hive, a Toronto indie advertising and strategic marketing agency, where the viewer directs what Nick does over a 24-hour period.

What makes Have a NOS Day even more noteworthy is the interactive short was shot by Hollywood director Elliott Lester, whose latest movie is the Jason Statham-starrer Blitz.

Ren Olivieri, associate creative director at The Hive, recalls putting out a call for directors for the short film and hearing back from Toronto indie producer Buck Productions that British-born Lester was available.

“We couldn’t resist. It was almost too good to the true. So we had that conversation with Buck Productions: ‘Was this too good to be true?'” he recalls.

Turns out Lester liked the concept for the Canadian interactive short – engaging online viewers through interaction, and creating a fast-paced, quick-cutting online film to keep the audience on board until the final credits.

“[Lester’s] treatment was very professional and he was full of ideas on how to make the project better. It was very collaborative, and he brought to the table a number of colleagues who were excited to work on the project,” Olivieri says.

The interactive short was shot on location in and around Los Angeles over a weekend in April, with around 100 set-ups for the production crew to carry off.

“We were flying. We didn’t skimp. There was a crane, a stunt coordinator, all sorts of elements,” Olivieri remembers.

What’s more, Lester proved a taskmaster both for his own crew and the Canadians that came down to Los Angeles to take part in the shoot.

“All the people that were there and a part of the team, [Lester] expected them to hit their marks, keep the camera focused, get the right sound and, if not, he’d say why, and fix it, Olivieri says.

The NOS energy drink campaign will now feature the interactive short on YouTube across Canada from Aug. 24.

And the NOS Facebook page will support the campaign with links to the interactive YouTube film and special features that include behind-the-scenes production clips and photos of the cast and crew.