Young people are seen and their voices are heard as they discuss their methamphetamine addiction. We see the havoc the drug has wreaked on their lives. Yet we hear in vague terms what has happened.
One says, “I don’t know how it started.”
Another answers, “Slowly, I think.”
“I think,” relates yet another.
“But now it’s gotten bad.”
“Really bad.”
Each voice adds to the description of the plight of addicts.
“I didn’t know it could do this,” says one guy.
“Now I know,” relates a woman.
A quick cut visual collage of self-destructive behavior unfolds on screen tagged by the word Zerometh and accompanied by the website address Zerometh.com, and an ADAA (Alabama District Attorneys Association) logo.
Logging onto the site, we find that the Zerometh initiative was created to fight the meth epidemic in Alabama.
“Effect” is one of three spots in the Zerometh campaign directed by Brian Weber of production house A Common Thread, Los Angeles, for agency D Groupe in Tuscaloosa.
Weber’s support team at A Common Thread included executive producers J.P. McMahon, Tristan Drew and Michael Appel, with Chris Powers serving as producer. The DP was Joshua Reis.
The agency ensemble consisted of D Groupe president/creative director/writer Gregory Davis, art director Randy Reed and producer Troy Courtney.
Doobie White of Therapy, Santa Monica, was editor and sound designer.
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