Cool Commercial

[NightRyder]

This link is to a UK Honda commercial. I know it's a little old, but I hadn't seen it before.

The engineers/gear heads will love this!


“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. The film cost six 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. Honda executives figure the ad will soon pay for itself simply in "free" viewings (Honda isn't paying a dime to have you&nbs p;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. 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.”

Here's the commercial (with sound):

http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/cs/honda/051303/honda_ad.swf


NightRyder

 

[jbcheshire]

That is pretty kewl!!!
I can't imagine the number of takes to get the distances and placement just right for each section/station... man what a backbreaker...

 

[cdru]

Actually, if you want to get technical, there is computer trickery that takes place. The whole chain of events was filmed in two segments. The dividing point is where the muffler rolls across the floor. It was divided for two reasons, the first was the astronomical number of takes/cost it would require to shoot the whole thing at once. But more practically, the filming studio wasn't long enough to do the whole thing. A computer was used just in the splicing of the two takes together.

Also, the number of handmade Accords is also incorrect. Their are more, but there were only that many of that model because they hadn't gone into production yet. Most new models get a couple of hand made vehicles just to make sure everything fits right in engineering.

 

[NightRyder]

Anyone interested in the minutia can find more here.

http://www.snopes.com/autos/business/hondacog.asp


NightRyder

 

[riffjim4069]

That was very cool indeed. Me and my daughter watched it several time.

 

[dfergie]

Yup... pretty cool...

 

[goaliebob99]

that was awsome

 

[Purogamer]

Might be the best commercial I've ever seen, and it wasn't funny or featuring nudity, AMAZING...

Great choice of music to finish it up too, fit really well...

 

[kbohip]

I don't know if it's just the low quality of the video or what but the part where the wheels hit each other looks computer generated to me. They looked like they picked up speed going UP the ramp.

A GREAT commercial though!

 

[Purogamer]

Oh yeah the wheels were totally fake, but so what...

 

[NightRyder]

Oh yeah the wheels were totally fake, but so what...

Actually the tire sequence wasn't fake. I thought the same, but once I read how they did it, it was probably one of the easier segments, and makes perfect sense.

http://www.snopes.com/autos/business/hondacog.asp

In answer to the most frequently asked question about the commercial:

The sequence where the tires roll up a slope looks particularly impressive but is very simple. Steiner says that there is a weight [in each] tire and when the tire is knocked, the weight is displaced and in an attempt to rebalance itself, the tire rolls up the slope.4


NightRyder

 

[Purogamer]

I don't believe it. Gravity makes me doubt that a weighted tire could sit still on a ramp, let alone when bumped, it didn't roll back down...How do you balance a tire with a weight inside it on a ramp? Where's the "behind the scenes" of this to prove it's real...I mean most of it you can understand, but the tires don't make sense.