A young, clean-cut looking man washes up in a public bathroom. As he stands in front of the sink, looking into the mirror, graphics appear–first in reverse as if a mirror image and then righted so we can easily read the messages.
The succession of supered messages that appear next to the guy on screen read: “You wouldn’t jump off a roof.”/”You wouldn’t say racial slurs”/”You wouldn’t run from the cops.”/”You wouldn’t hurt your girlfriend.”
Then the next message has a jarring impact “But he would.” The other “he” is the guy in the mirror staring back at him. This mirrored persona is wild, raucous, offensive and out of control.
A final message then appears on screen: “Control your drinking. Control your other you.”
This Clemson University spot urging its students to refrain from drinking or at least drink responsibly was developed on a pro-bono basis by Greenville, S.C.-based agency Erwin-Penland.
The spot is one of three directed, shot and edited by Doug Olney of Tallboy Films, New York.
The Erwin-Penland team consisted of creative director Andy Mendelsohn, copywriter Karen Walker, art director Jason Smith and producer Jane Cashin.
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