Hope springs eternal, especially for baseball fans who are chomping at the bit for the regular season to begin.
This ode to baseball is simple yet charming as we are shown image after image of a dormant baseball stadium. Empty parking spaces, closed ticket booths, empty kegs, empty souvenir stands, even a slew of empty corrugated cardboard holders for drinks, hot dogs, peanuts and other goodies.
After seeing row upon row of empty seats in a cavernous Dodger Stadium, an uplifting message is supered on screen: “Cheer Up. Season starts soon.” A tagline carries the Dodgers website address.
This spec piece was conceived, directed and shot by Geoff Moore who is on the directorial roster of Detour, Santa Monica. It was done back when he was freelancing and garnered the support of bicoastal/international Station Film where it was exec produced by Michael DiGirolamo and Stephen Orent.
Editor was Catherine Bull of bicoastal Spot Welders.
Needledrop music was from the Icelandic band Sigur Ros.
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