A sick child is held in her mother’s arms as they sit in a crowded emergency room awaiting medical attention.
The screen then cuts to black with a supered message in white, which reads, “Emergency room wait times are getting longer.”
Back to live action where a couple is seated in a car, the male holding a lengthy bill full of charges for medical treatment. You can see from their expressions that the invoice looms large in their minds, making for a precarious financial situation.
An intervening supered message against a black backdrop reads, “Health care costs cause half of California’s bankruptcies.”
Next we see a man on the phone listening to an automated message informing him that he will have to stay on hold for 40 minutes before he can get the necessary medical authorization he needs.
A supered message then reads, “Californians are waiting for health care reform.”
This is followed by a supered rhetorical question, which asks, “What are California’s leaders waiting for?”
An end tag identifies spot’s sponsor, The California Endowment, accompanied by a website address, www.CaHealthReform.org.
Raymond Bark of Santa Monica-based GARTNER directed “Waiting” for public advocacy agency GMMB, Los Angeles. GMMB’s client The California Endowment is looking to generate public momentum for much needed health care reform in the Golden State for both the insured and uninsured.
The GMMB creative team included partner Steve Caplan, copywriter Aimee Sanders Freund, art director Jennifer Harfeld and producer Andrew Silver.
Don Block and Rich Carter executive produced for GARTNER, with Greg Ferguson serving as producer. The DP was Marco Mazzei.
Editor was Adrienne Gits of Rival Editorial, Santa Monica.
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