While the latest Friday the 13th movie sequel tops the box office in the U.S. during its debut week, a takeoff spot reminiscent of the film’s stalker is generating a buzz in Canada as it drives traffic to the website peerintoasoul.ca.
We open on some lovely young women in an isolated cabin at night, the front door wide open as is often the case in chainsaw massacre type films with victims seemingly oblivious to the obvious. Sure enough a menacing stalker character approaches the cabin wearing a plastic form fitting mask.
The girls go about their business as the man draws nearer.
When we next see the girls, they are laying motionless in the cabin the following morning. At first, we assume they’re dead or at least severely injured. But it turns out they’re just asleep as we see them awaken.
Now in the early morning light, we find the stalker is still outside the cabin, staring at a Kia Soul SUV, the sight of which has captivated him since nightfall.
A super then suggests we log onto peerintoasoul.ca.
This is one of three spots in a Kia Canada campaign directed by Mark Gilbert of Untitled Films, Toronto, for Publicis, Toronto.
The Publicis ensemble included exec creative director Duncan Bruce, creative director/writer Pat Pirisi, associate creative director/art director Gary Holme and producer Dale Harrison.
Peter Davis exec produced for Untitled with Sean Cooley serving as line producer. DP was Robert Yeoman.
Editor was Mick Griffin of Rooster Post Production, Toronto.
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