This German spot opens on a girl who tells us many people in Germany aren’t sleeping properly. She then shows us what kind of behavior that leads to as we see a woman stop in traffic to mail something but instead of dropping the parcel in the postal box, she drops her car keys into the box. Now she cannot move her car which is causing a traffic jam.
Next we see a man leave his home for work. But instead of taking his briefcase, he walks off with his kid’s backpack.
A sanitation worker thinks he has a firm hold on the railing of a garbage truck as it makes its appointed pick-up rounds. Instead the truck takes off with our worker holding out to a street pole.
However, there’s a cure for these malfunctioning masses–Ikea where everyone can find the perfect mattress, at the right price.
David Lodge of Cobblestone Filmproduktion, Hamburg, directed the spot for Hamburg agency Grabarz & Partner.
The DP was Kjell Lagerroos. Editor was Alex Kutka.
The spot’s soundtrack came from a Yessian Music ensemble consisting of chief creative officer Brian Yessian, composer Mike Kelly, head of production Michael Yessian and music editor Mark Verstraete.
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