This short documentary tells the story of After Eights mints. From the initial inception, through the design and production stages, and finally on to the marketing of the finished product, this film offers a deep insight into extremely popular household mint. The film opens with a piece to camera by a man in a business suit; he gives a brief outline of the films contents, stating that the film gives a behind the scenes documentation of how After Eight mints came to fruition. Title - The...

This short documentary tells the story of After Eights mints. From the initial inception, through the design and production stages, and finally on to the marketing of the finished product, this film offers a deep insight into extremely popular household mint. The film opens with a piece to camera by a man in a business suit; he gives a brief outline of the films contents, stating that the film gives a behind the scenes documentation of how After Eight mints came to fruition. Title - The After Eight Story. A conveyer belts feeds chocolate into a large piece of machinery. There are then further shots of the chocolate making process. A voice over states that there were initial design specifications for creating After Eight mints, and also talks about the challenges that were involved, such as separating the cream from the chocolate, which is in itself a delicate process. The filmmaker then captures shots of the chocolates mints being wrapped and packaged, before cutting to an interview with an employee. The employee, dressed in a white overall, confirms that making a wafer thin mint chocolate was indeed a challenging process, and as he speaks there are cutaways of people eating the chocolates. This sequence shows how the chocolate was initially made and there are shots of skilled workers measuring out very precise layers of mint, which are then covered in chocolate. The excess is then removed by an air blower - thus creating the rippled effect. The filmmaker then cuts to an office, a man of clear importance to the company sits behind a desk discussing the challenges of mass producing such a complex chocolate. As he talks there are cutaways to the machinery that was adapted to mass produce After Eights, and the filmmaker pays close attention to the flying cutter - a rotating knife that chops the mints into pieces. There are then shots of female workers boxing the chocolates by hand. The voice over asserts that the engineers were also working on an automated packing system, which is then shown in several shots as it wraps the chocolates. The next passage goes into more detail about the specific mint that was used in production, and there is an interview with a man in a black suit and square glasses; expanding on the mint development, he states the mint oil, after much deliberation, came from two farms in Oregon, and the After Eight mint oil is a compound from the two farms. There are still shots of the farms and land owners. There is then a still advertisement used during the launch of the product, and voice over remarks that as soon as the mints were release it was clear they were a very different product. Interviews with other senior management members reveal that post launch the demand far exceeded their forecast and outstripped supply. Various stills of advertising posters are then shown, and the voice over states the company used famous faces to promote their product, but then relied more heavily on wit and charm to entice the public. Another interview with a marketing specialist enforces this point, and the filmmaker then cuts away to various films (both black and white and colour). The films are adverts that heavily feature the role of After Eights in the elegant setting of a dinner party. There are also adverts from foreign countries, including an American advertisement. More shots show the mints being produced by large automated machinery in a German factory, as the voice of announces that After Eights are also made by Macintoshes factories in Canada and West Germany. Another senior manager discusses the uncompromising attitude the company took to producing the After Eight mints. The final shot shows the After Eight box displayed on a table. Title - Rowntree Mackintosh.