This longer form spot introduces us in tongue-in-cheek fashion to the brave men and women who protect us from the epidemic of softness looking to make its way from Australian cities into the outback country areas.
Shot in the style of reality TV fare, the spot follows the work of the fictitious federal Country Border Patrol who keep the country areas tough by not permitting any soft goods, people or vehicles across rural borders. They deploy helicopters and a fleet of Toyota 4WD Range SUVs to do their job.
We see them catch people trying to smuggle tofu into the country area, the tofu packaged as if its cocaine. Also caught are a city lad trying to sneak a hairdryer past the border patrol, as well as such soft contraband as a latte, a small pampered fluffy dog, even a vehicle with a fake Toyota grill trying to pass for being tough when it’s just another soft garden variety SUV. Also apprehended is a preppy-style man wearing a sweater tied around his neck.
Tim Bullock of Prodigy directed “Country Border Security” for Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney.
The Saatchi team included executive creative director Steve Back, senor copywriter Steve Jackson, senior art director Vince Lagana and producer Kate Winfield.
Editor was Adam Wills of Frame, Set, Match. The DP was Geoffrey Hall.
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