This presentation of video wills showcases what parents bequeath to their children. We see different kids at play outdoors–one at a time–alongside TV sets carrying the faces and voices of a not-too-distant future. Those parental voices relate what is being left for the next generation.
“I love you and this is what I leave you,” says a mom pictured on a TV screen, her daughter playing in the foreground. “A climate that’s changing.”
The spot shifts to another child with another TV screen on which another parent appears. Each parental utterance touches upon what will be left for their offspring: storms, overflowing rivers, regrets. The latter coming because as one parent says, “We knew how to stop global warming.” Another parent continues, “and we didn’t do enough.”
A supered message then reads, “Global warming isn’t a fact. It’s a choice.”
We then see another little girl as a parent says, “I promise to leave my children much more than regrets.”
A voiceover intervenes as we see a conventional cooling system and then an energy efficient one. He relates that if we replace home cooling systems with energy efficient units, it’s like taking 275,000 cars off the road.
A website address appears, Flexyourpower.org, so that viewers can get more info and helpful energy saving tips.
“Climate” is one of four spots directed by the duo of Chris Riess and Amy Hill (a.k.a. Riess/Hill) of Santa Monica-based GARTNER for San Francisco agency Brainchild Creative.
The Brainchild ensemble included creative director/writer Jef Loeb, art director David Swope and producer Annie Uzdavinis.
Rich Carter and Don Block executive produced for GARTNER, with Elaine Behnken serving as head of production and Rocky Bice as producer. The DP was John Toon.
Editor was Bob Frisk of Phoenix Editorial and Design, San Francisco. Jonathan Hinman and Sheila Smith served as executive producer and producer, respectively for Phoenix. The Phoenix team also included motion graphics designer/visual effects artist Bobby Van Dyke, online editor/effects artist John Crossley and effects artist Matt Silverman.
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