We open in a train station crowded with people. As a train arrives, a man is visibly hot and bothered. He pops a Halls lozenge into his mouth, which has an instantaneous cooling effect.
Immediately he is hit on the side of his face by a snowball, thrown by a polar bear. A second snowball also makes facial impact as the man and bear then gravitate towards each other. A catchy musical beat ensues as they start to dance and cavort about, giving each other a high five, shimmying back to back against each other, and then engaging in a big heartfelt embrace.
The spot then cuts to three women who look on and laugh. But they’re not laughing at the polar bear and the man, but only at the latter as the camera reveals what the women see–the guy dancing and hugging, all the while by himself. Indeed there’s been a polar eclipse right before our eyes as the bear has disappeared–and in fact was never there as the man’s imagination got carried away due to the cooling Halls mentho-lyptus lozenge.
Titled “Polar Blast,” the spot was directed by Ram Madhvani of Equinox Films, Mumbai, for Contract Advertising, Mumbai. (Madhvani is handled worldwide–except for India–by greatguns in Venice, Calif, London and Bangkok.)
“Having the man and the polar bear at a train station was a great idea,” related Madhvani. “The challenge was figuring out exactly how they should interact there. The agency guys and I discussed it and at first the plan was to give the interaction a kind of romantic overtone. But the client said that wasn’t energetic enough to appeal to the younger demographic we wanted to connect with.”
Necessity being the mother of invention, the need for “energetic” spawned the creation of what Madhvani laughingly refers to as the “shiver dance.” “Our hope is that it will soon compete with the moon walk,” quipped the director, describing the “shiver dance” as “how you would move if you had ice down the back of your shirt…That dance with the man and the bear shimmying against each other back to back helped to make the spot zany, and popular.”.
Madhvani complimented animatronic bear operator Matt Brady for his tireless work. “Matt told me this job was one of the few in which the director talked to him,” related Madhvani. “Usually the director communicates to him through the first a.d. He appreciated that we struck up a rapport. I appreciated it as well.”
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