SER1 Interesting H**** COMMERCIAL

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List,
 
This is not Land Rover content but I thought that people who like cars, and
working with them, might enjoy this piece.  Maybe someone with spare time
can produce a similar video while they complete their restoration!
 
Regards,
 
Ben G.
1953 80"
Miami
 
 

Read the story before going to site. 

 There are NO computer graphics or digital tricks in the film you are about
to see. Everything you see really happened in real time, exactly as you see
it. 

 The film required 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 6 million dollars and took three months to complete,
including a full engineering of 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) is 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. ... about those funky windshield wipers: On the new Accords, the
windshield wipers have water sensors and are designed to start functioning
automatically as soon as they become wet. It looks a bit odd in the
commercial. 

 As amazing as this is, the commercial is actually based on an earlier film
from the 1970s called "How Things Move" by two Swiss self-destructing
artifacts artists. 

  http://multimedia.honda-eu.com/newcars/300k_player.swf
<http://multimedia.honda-eu.com/newcars/300k_player.swf>;  

P. S.  Some sharp-eyed folks claim that tires rolling UPHILL necessarily
require computer-generated effects. 

Not so. 

The sequence where the tires roll up a slope looks particularly impressive
but is very simple. There is a weight [in each] tire and when the tire is
knocked, the weight is displaced and in an attempt to re balance itself, the
tire rolls up the slope. 

 

The G-Man



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