Link at the bottom....
New Honda commercial in the UK.
Very important that you understand: There are no computer graphics or
digital tricks in the film. Everything you see really happened in real time
exactly as you see it.
The film took 606 takes. On the first 605 takes, something, usually very
minor, didn't work. They would then have to set the whole thing up again.
The crew spent weeks shooting night and day. By the time it was over, they
were ready to change professions. The film cost six million dollars (holy
----!) and took three months to complete including a full engineering the
sequence. In addition, it's two minutes long so every time Honda airs the
film on British television, they're shelling out enough dough to keep any
one of us in clover for a lifetime. However, it is fast becoming the most
downloaded advertisement in Internet history. Honda executives figure the
ad will soon pay for itself simply in "free" viewings (Honda isn't paying a
dime to have you watch this commercial!). When the ad was pitched to senior
executives, they signed off on it immediately without any hesitation --
including the costs.
There are six and only six hand-made Accords in the world. To the horror of
Honda engineers, the filmmakers disassembled two of them to make the film.
Everything you see in the film (aside from the walls, floor, ramp, and
complete Honda Accord) are parts from those two cars.
The voiceover is Garrison Keillor.
When the ad was shown to Honda executives, they liked it and commented on
how amazing computer graphics have gotten. They fell off their chairs when
they found out it was for real.
Oh. And about those funky windshield wipers. On the new Accords, the
windshield wipers have water sensors and are designed to start doing their
thing automatically as soon as they become wet. It looks a bit weird in the
commercial.
As amazing as this is, it's actually based on an earlier film from the
seventies called "How Things Move" by two Swiss self-destructing artifacts
artists (say that ten times fast). In that film, a similar set-up with
household objects goes on for thirty (thirty! three-zero!) minutes with air
jets and fire and chemical reactions. You can get
the video on amazon.com. Or not. Spend your twenty bucks on a latte at
Starbucks.
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