This spec spot for New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) from young, up-and-coming, unsigned director Keef takes us through the city to see assorted people getting around town in various makeshift ways to presumably avoid the high gasoline prices that go with driving a car. The modes of transportation range from a unicycle to a pogo stock to a bike, to one man carrying another on his back to a gent bouncing on a giant ball to even a woman on a pair of stilts.
Some of the commuting means are a bit unwieldy such as a full grown woman trying to peddle a kid’s tricycle. All the action unfolds to the lyrics, “I’ve Got a Brand New Pair of Roller Skates,” as we see an MTA subway train making its way through the city. A super reads, “MTA. The easy way to get around.”
A parting shot shows the last woman mentioned now walking, carrying the tiny tricycle over her shoulder.
Keef directed the spec piece via Quixotic, New York, teaming on the project with editor Matt Shapiro of Crew Cuts, 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