A female fashion model “vogues” for the camera juxtaposed with shots of spaghetti coming to a boil in a stove top pot.
We see her slurp spaghetti, romance spaghetti, growl the word “spaghetti,” with an ending product shot of uncooked spaghetti in an upscale glass bottle as if spaghetti is a new hot, in vogue fragrance.
But then this spoof is disrupted by a sobering message that appears on screen: “Food shouldn’t feel like a luxury.”
Next comes a request that we donate to the Greater Chicago Food Depository, accompanied by a phone number (773 247-FOOD) and website address (www.every1can.org).
The pro bono PSA was directed by Chris Markos of Dictionary Films, Chicago, for Leo Burnett, Chicago.
The Burnett team included exec creative directors Bob Winter and Reed Collins, copywriter Dave Derrick, art director Stephanie Simpson, exec producer David Moore and producer Topher Cochrane.
The DP was Russ Harper.
Kathryn Hempel of Cutters, Chicago, was the editor.
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