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Rube Goldberg meets Honda Accord's Advertising Agency
Honda ^ | Honda's Ad Agency

Posted on 04/01/2005 7:33:52 PM PST by Swordmaker

You got to see this to believe it... requires Flash6 plug in.

http://www.steelcitysfinest.com/HondaAccordAd.htm

BE SURE THE VOLUME ON YOUR SPEAKERS IS TURNED UP.

We are told that 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 and took three months to complete including 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) 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.


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; Business/Economy; Cheese, Moose, Sister; Local News; Miscellaneous; Music/Entertainment; Science; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: howdtheydothat; simplyamazing

1 posted on 04/01/2005 7:33:52 PM PST by Swordmaker
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To: Swordmaker
The link:

The most downloaded commercial

2 posted on 04/01/2005 7:34:47 PM PST by Swordmaker
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To: Swordmaker

Welcome to last year.


3 posted on 04/01/2005 7:41:18 PM PST by flashbunny (Every thought that enters my head requires its own vanity thread.)
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To: flashbunny
Welcome to last year.

Well, it's new to me... but still good.

4 posted on 04/01/2005 7:46:56 PM PST by Swordmaker
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To: Swordmaker

That is a remarkable commercial! What guy hasn't played with such ideas since the old Mouse Trap game was available?

Thanks for the head's up!


5 posted on 04/01/2005 7:49:51 PM PST by ConservativeMind
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To: Swordmaker

Remarkable, yes, but I had a Pixar insider look at it. He came back and told me they could have done it all with computer-generated geometry in half the time for 1/10th of the money -- and you still wouldn't have been able to tell it wasn't real.

Chalk it up as an expensive novelty in advertising; a failure to engage the power of a better medium.

Oh, and I like the Suburban Trunk Monkey better.


6 posted on 04/01/2005 8:23:48 PM PST by HKMk23 (Rex regum et Dominus dominantium)
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To: HKMk23

Yes, It's good and the Trunk Monkey series is better, but I also like the Ford Ka Pigeon.


7 posted on 04/02/2005 7:22:13 AM PST by AntiBurr ("A generation that ignores history has no past--and no future." --Heinlein)
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To: Swordmaker

LOL, that's great. Can't wait to show hubby and the kid.


8 posted on 04/02/2005 9:20:56 AM PST by jocon307 (We can try to understand the New York Times effect on man)
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