A veteran executive is in an office staring at two charts which are not yet revealed to us. He’s flanked by two colleagues–a guy and a gal–and asks each for an opinion. The guy goes for the bar graph chart, the gal suggests the pie chart. We then see the two charts side by side as the senior exec mulls over what he calls the “age-old dilemma.”
Suddenly, a giant hand holding a job seeker bursts through the wall. The female job seeker is clueless as to what’s just transpired as she’s thrust into this office debate. The executive asks her what she thinks and she hesitatingly responds, “Bar graph.”
“Exactly,” responds the now satisfied executive.
The spot ends with a voiceover declaring, “Find the perfect job faster than you think on WashingtonPost.com–thousands more D.C. jobs than any other website.”
“Charts” is one of three spots in a campaign directed and edited by Michael Wilde of Phasmatrope Studios, Haverford, Penns., for agency Adworks, Washington, D.C.
The Adworks team included creative director Mark Greenspun, associate creative director John McEown, copywriter T.J. Aseltyne and producer Kristine Punga.
Jonathan Isen exec produced for Phasmatrope with Claudio Kuhn serving as producer and Amy D’Alio as production manager. The DP was Andy Lilien. Production designer was Jesse Rosenthal.
The giant hand was created by Philadelphia-based props/rigging company Kitchen Sink.
Post house was Shooters Post and Transfer, Philadelphia.
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