We open on animal impresario Jack Hanna complaining that his whole life he’s been dealing with “number two.” Next we see an ensemble of zookeepers/workers, each with a shovel in hand, singing and dancing that finally “there’s no more number two.”
The workers are seen in different venues of the zoo, with different animals, presumably celebrating their now excrement-free lives, no longer having to clean up after the animals.
But as it turns out, these workers’ delight over “no more number two” is that their workplace, The Columbus Zoo, has just been rated the number one zoo in America by USA Travel Guide.
At the end, we see that there’s still a place for number two as it’s announced over the zoo’s public address system that “there’s a cleanup in pachyderm.” The workers then scramble for another encounter with elephant poop.
This spot was directed by Ron Foth Jr. of Columbus, Ohio-based Ron Foth Advertising, which was both agency and production company on the job. Foth Jr. also served as creative director/copywriter as did David Henthorne. Art director was Gene Roy. The DP was Ted Chu.
Martin Nowak executive produced for Ron Foth Advertising and edited the spot.
Singers were enlisted from the Disney film Enchanted, and from Bonnie Story, choreographer of Disney’s High School Musical trilogy. The zookeepers rehearsed and danced like pros in no time. In fact the massive grand finale shot features nearly 100 zoo employees, dancers, gymnasts and Hanna himself, all reveling in their number one ranking. Brian Mann of MannMade Music, Santa Barbara, was the composer with lyrics penned by Foth Jr. and Henthorne.
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