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    “We Gave Blood”

    By SHOOT StaffUpdated:No Comments1356 Views

    By Millie Takaki

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    This :60 opens on a hand repeatedly squeezing a padded object, a sight common to those of us who donate blood. The camera and an accompanying identifying super then reveal that this hand belongs to "the director of this commercial."

    As we’re taken through a blood donation center, other crewmembers are seen seated in a semi-reclined position donating blood at different stations. We see the cinematographer, an ad agency creative, the sound recordist, the producer, the assistant director, the runner, the camera assistant, the gaffer, the caterer, the editor, the color grader and then finally the voiceover artist, who imparts an important message.

    "The Australian Red Cross Blood Service needs blood," he relates. "So we gave blood to make this commercial. Now we’re asking you to—because Australia needs twenty thousand donations a week."

    The voiceover then gives way to an end tag, with a phone number, a Web site address (donateblood.com.au) and an Australian Red Cross Blood Service logo.

    The spot was directed by Ben Lawrence of Caravan Pictures, Sydney, for BMF Advertising, Sydney. Emma Lawrence produced for Caravan. The brother/sister team of Ben and Emma Lawrence launched Caravan Pictures two years ago in collaboration with longstanding Aussie production house Filmgraphics.

    "We Gave Blood" was shot by DP Anna Howard.

    The agency creative team included executive creative director Warren Brown, copywriter Andrew Petch, art director Andrew Ostram and producer Mandy Payne.

    Editor was Sydney-based freelancer Stuart Morley. Online editor was Stuart Cadzow of Frame, Set & Match, Sydney. Colorist was Frame, Set & Match’s Christine Trodd. Audio mixer was James Martell of Sound Reservoir, Sydney.

    Music composer was Newcastle, Australia-based freelancer Russell Thornton.

    Category:The Best Work You May Never See



    Does “Hundreds of Beavers” Reflect A New Path Forward In Cinema?

    Monday, November 25, 2024

    Hard as it may be to believe, changing the future of cinema was not on Mike Cheslik's mind when he was making "Hundreds of Beavers." Cheslik was in the Northwoods of Wisconsin with a crew of four, sometimes six, standing in snow and making his friend, Ryland Tews, fall down funny.

    "When we were shooting, I kept thinking: It would be so stupid if this got mythologized," says Cheslik.

    And yet, "Hundreds of Beavers" has accrued the stuff of, if not quite myth, then certainly lo-fi legend. Cheslik's film, made for just $150,000 and self-distributed in theaters, has managed to gnaw its way into a movie culture largely dominated by big-budget sequels.

    "Hundreds of Beavers" is a wordless black-and-white bonanza of slapstick antics about a stranded 19th century applejack salesman (Tews) at war with a bevy of beavers, all of whom are played by actors in mascot costumes.

    No one would call "Hundreds of Beavers" expensive looking, but it's far more inventive than much of what Hollywood produces. With some 1,500 effects shots Cheslik slaved over on his home computer, he crafted something like the human version of Donald Duck's snowball fight, and a low-budget heir to the waning tradition of Buster Keaton and "Naked Gun."

    At a time when independent filmmaking is more challenged than ever, "Hundreds of Beavers" has, maybe, suggested a new path forward, albeit a particularly beaver-festooned path.

    After no major distributor stepped forward, the filmmakers opted to launch the movie themselves, beginning with carnivalesque roadshow screenings. Since opening in January, "Hundreds of Beavers" has played in at least one theater every week of the year, though never more than 33 at once. (Blockbusters typically play in around 4,000 locations.)... Read More

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