A motorboat zips along the water carrying a driver, a passenger and a giant harp.
A larger boat then appears, transporting several more musicians.
A pontoon then carries more musicians and their instruments.
Their destination: a platform in the middle of the ocean.
Once congregated there, this large orchestra begins to play a curious creation, with violins and french horns prominent among the sounds.
It turns out this music is a call to the wild, a serenade designed to attract a humpback whale. Microphones are placed underwater to detect any approaching mammal.
Suddenly, in response to the serenade, a bellowing is heard from below the platform. This encourages the musicians to resume in full force, their dedication rewarded by the sight of a humpback whale who emerges from the ocean and flips joyously along its surface.
A supered message appears which reads, “When it comes to communication, anything is possible.”
An end tag carries the logo for Australian mobile phone company Optus, accompanied by a website address, optus.com.au/whalesong.
“Whale Song” was directed by David Denneen of Filmgraphics, Sydney, for M&C Saatchi, Sydney.
Bruce Heald of Noise, Sydney, served as music composer and sound designer. Noise colleague Kathleen Burrows was sound designer/audio post mixer. Noise’s Dan Higson was audio producer on the spot.
The M&C Saatchi team included executive creative director/copywriter Ben Walsh, Optus creative group head/art director Paul Carpenter, copywriter Andy Fleming, producers Jenny Lee-Archer, Rod James and Loren August.
Anna Fawcett produced for Filmgraphics with Simon Duggan serving as DP.
Editor was Sue Schweikert of Filmgraphics Editing.
Visual effects house was Animal Logic, Sydney, where key contributors included VFX artist Colin Renshaw and producers Jacqui Newman and Caroline Renshaw.
Colorist was Marcus Timpson of The Lab, Sydney.
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