This black-and-white spot opens on a dark alley, a forboding venue. We then hear footsteps and soon see a woman walking through the alley. She’s holding a purse and makes her way towards her car. No one else is around and there’s the sense that something bad might be in the offing.
But nothing happens. This slice of city life is thankfully uneventful.
A super appears on screen, which reads, “2,945 fewer crime victims in Milwaukee last year.”
The next message reads, “In some jobs, success is measured by what doesn’t happen.” An end tag carries the website milwaukee.gov/police as the campaign slogan, “Be A Force.”
This spot is one of two in a fully integrated pro bono campaign out of Cramer-Krasselt, Milwaukee, promoting community involvement and police force recruiting efforts.
The agency team included executive creative director Chris Jacobs, creative director Chris Buhrman, creative director/art director Mike Fazende, creative directors/copywriters Brian Ganther and Todd Stone, art directors Shawn Holpfer, Jim Root and Brian Steinseifer, copywriter Jason Ziehm, and producer Timm Gable.
John Biesack of Square Joint, Milwaukee, directed the two spots, which were shot by DP Rob Fischer.
Editor was Rob Due of Independent Edit, Milwaukee. Sound engineer was Independent Edit’s Randy Bobo.
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