This starts out like a cliche holiday commercial as a husband walks his wife, her eyes closed, out from their house to the garage. A light snow is falling as the gent clicks the remote control he’s holding to open the garage door. At the same time, his spouse opens her eyes to see her present. The camera then reveals not a bow-topped luxury car, but a bow-topped sheep.
Surprisingly the woman is thrilled with the gift of livestock as a voiceover instructs us to “Give a gift that matters,” at which point we see an animated box open with descriptions of gifts emerging such as sheep for impoverished farmers, tutoring deaf children, building a shelter or clearing landmines.
An end tag carries the website address changingthepresent.org.
Jeff Cooney of Moon, New York, directed this and another similarly themed TV/web spot for Changing The Present, a U.S. nonprofit philanthropic organization that offers a variety of gifts that can do good for those in need. Via contributions to assorted causes–often at a relatively modest cost–gift givers can make the world a better place, one holiday present at a time.
Creating the pro bono spots was New York agency StrawberryFrog with an ensemble that included creative director Scott Goodson, writer Mike Folino, art director Karl Haddad and exec producer Rob Farber.
George Weiser was the DP. John Posimato and Tom Mooney served as executive producers for Moon.
Editor was Dustin Stephens of PS260, New York.
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