This unnerving spot shows us the face, literally, of pancreatic cancer–a man who’s a backseat passenger in a car driven by his victim.
The passenger identifies the driver as Dan and then himself as “Dan’s pancreatic cancer.”
He goes on to say, “Dan has no idea I’m here. Two months from now, he’ll see his doctor about a stomach ache. Three months after that, he’ll be dead.”
This ride won’t be the last for our grim reaper passenger. He looks out the car’s side window into a rainy night and informs us that he has “35,000 other people to kill this year.”
A supered message then asks us to help stop the most lethal cancer there is–pancreatic cancer. A tag carries the website address curePC.org and the identities of the PSA’s sponsors, The Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research, and Cablevision.
Jeremy Russell of tight, Santa Monica, directed the spot for Gardner Nelson + Partners, New York.
Of the passenger, Russell said, “I remember when that guy came in to audition, he didn’t even have to say anything and he would have gotten the job. I always thought casting would be the most important part of this spot and that turned out to be true.” Russell noted that there was a definite vibe between the two men in the car. “I had them in there for about an hour and I had asked them not to talk to each other at all. I don’t think they’d even met.”
The strategy worked like a charm, allowing the interaction between the men on screen to read as cold and impersonal.
Another element underscoring the spot’s somber tone was the rain. (The job was shot in New York.)
“We had a rig attached to the car that created the rain effect for the majority of the spot,” said Russell. “When it came time to shoot the exteriors of the moving car, it started to rain for real. Perfect timing.”
The agency team consisted of creative director Tom Nelson, copywriter Chris Baier, art director James Groom and producer Gillian Blain.
Jack Donnelly was the DP. Editor was Tom Schachte of Bluerock, New York.
Does “Hundreds of Beavers” Reflect A New Path Forward In Cinema?
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