In this :30 PSA for the Belgian advocacy group 11.11.11, we open on several people dropping from a dark abyss down into a rusty metal structure. One fallen befuddled worker wearing a hardhat stands to look around and make sense of his plight. What he sees are several workers huddled in corners and chatting on different levels of the massive structure.
As if realizing he’s in the right place, the man sits down next one of his fellow workers to wait. the scene cuts to a wide shot where the structure is revealed to be a giant toolbox which slams hut on the workers as a super appears which reads, “Workers are not tools.” An end tag carries the 11.11.11 logo and the slogan, “Fight Injustice,” against a dark backdrop.
Andreas Hasle of Caviar Content, Los Angeles/Brussels/Amsterdam directed this PSA for agency VVL/BBDO, Brussels.
The agency team included creative director/copywriter Jan Ockerman, creative director/art director Jef Boes and producer Leen Van Den Brande.
Post/editorial house was Brussels-based Condor with Stijn De Coninck serving as editor. Audio house was Sonicville in Brussels.
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