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This is Amazing
Albino Black Sheep ^ | unknown | Honda Techs

Posted on 04/04/2006 12:49:05 PM PDT by Sunsong

And you thought those people that set up roomfulls of
dominos to knock over were amazing...
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 Honda 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. 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:
KEYWORDS: ads; advertisements; cars; dominoes; honda; misc; technology
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To: Alberta's Child
Take it from somebody who works in the automotive advertising business,

The entire sequence is computer generated.

Nearly every car commercial you see on TV now is CGI.

21 posted on 04/04/2006 1:02:55 PM PDT by freedomson (Tagline comment removed by moderator)
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To: bondjamesbond
Their weighted in the top, so as soon as they are peturbed, they "roll" uphill.

There appears to be something on the ramp to keep them in their initial position, so, yeah, weights along the rims would make them accelerate as the weights moved out towards the horizontal from the rim center, and then slow down once the weights passed the horizontal.

I think I'll disassemble my Accord to see if I can duplicate it all.

= )

22 posted on 04/04/2006 1:06:32 PM PDT by Hoplite
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To: 68skylark

Its from around 1997 if I recall.


23 posted on 04/04/2006 1:13:41 PM PDT by RedBloodedAmerican
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To: Alberta's Child
The tires have a weight attached inside the tread at the top. When they get bumped, the weight falls down, rolling the tire up the ramp. Look at the horizontal position of the top of the tire at the beginning position, then look at how that same spot is actually lower even though the tire has rotated and climbed the ramp. The weight fell down inside of the tire.

You can even see one of the tires rock back and forth when the weight hits equibrilium.

Think old fashioned water wheel. The weight of the filled buckets on one side of the wheel are heavier than the empty buckets on the other side, and the wheel turns.

For this video, it does have to be a very dense weight, however.
24 posted on 04/04/2006 1:32:48 PM PDT by Yo-Yo (USAF, TAC, 12th AF, 366 TFW, 366 MG, 366 CRS, Mtn Home AFB, 1978-81)
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The original article, published in The Telegraph, April 4, 2003, provides much more information and a bit of humor.

FR link to original: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/903195/posts

The link may only last for one hour, since it's an archived article. If so, use the FR search for Keyword - either MDM or COG. Title: Lights! Camera! Retake! (check out this cool video)

(snip) At one point three tyres, amazingly, roll uphill. They do so because inside they have been weighted with bolts and screws which have been positioned with fingertip care so that the slightest kiss of kinetic energy pushes them over, onward and, yes, upward. During the pre-shoot set-ups, film assistants had to tiptoe round the set so as not to disturb the feather-sensitive superstructure of the arranged metalwork. The slightest tremor of an ill-judged hand could have undone hours of work.

25 posted on 04/04/2006 1:39:04 PM PDT by Eagle9
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To: Eagle9

Thanks for that! That is really neat!


26 posted on 04/04/2006 2:00:26 PM PDT by Sunsong
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To: Sunsong

Wow!


27 posted on 04/04/2006 7:28:24 PM PDT by secretagent
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To: Alberta's Child; freedomson
Take it from somebody who works in the automotive advertising business, The entire sequence is computer generated.

Here's the original article from the London Telegraph. It's all real. Telegraph article

28 posted on 04/04/2006 8:11:22 PM PDT by Richard Kimball (I like to make everyone's day a little more surreal)
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To: freedomson

Just because "nearly every" car commercial is CGI does not mean that this one is.

The whole appeal of this is that it was done for real, a la Rube Goldberg.


29 posted on 04/04/2006 9:18:38 PM PDT by Choose Ye This Day ("Yo, Mike, you vant us to unpimp zis ting lemme hear you say 'vat.'")
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To: Choose Ye This Day; Richard Kimball
We're professional liars and 90% of the people in this business are 'progressives'. That ought to tell you something.

Phony ads are backed up with phony press releases, you wouldn't believe what lengths these people will go to create interest and image.

I'd ask you to trust me but that would go against my own advice.

30 posted on 04/05/2006 5:29:09 AM PDT by freedomson (Tagline comment removed by moderator)
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To: freedomson

You're wrong. It was real. It wasn't CGI.


31 posted on 04/05/2006 6:45:06 AM PDT by Richard Kimball (I like to make everyone's day a little more surreal)
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To: Richard Kimball
I asked around and Yes, you're correct, it's absolutely, positively 100% real!

The real deal, the genuine article!

And boy what a smooth ride that new Honda is, test drive one today and see for yourself!

32 posted on 04/05/2006 6:57:02 AM PDT by freedomson (Tagline comment removed by moderator)
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