Look up at this commercial. Look down at the interview about how they made it. Anything is possible when your man smells like Old Spice and not a lady. And if you're really going to put that message across, you have to respect the integrity of the frame-space. This hilarious bit is accomplished in one shot (requiring three days and quite a few takes), with only one obvious use of CGI (the appearance of the product itself) and one invisible use (erasing a piece of equipment from the shot at the end).
Buster Keaton would approve -- though he probably would have found a way to do everything in-camera.
How They Did It:
(tip: BuzzFeed)
9 Comments
Probably a little more CGI in this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNjzHnGRugo
Still, a great commercial; ad execs at Old Spice better be making the big bucks.
The line, "I'm on a horse," in its context, is maybe my favorite line I've ever heard in a commercial.
It really is hilariously brilliant.
For about the last four years or so, Old Spice has had some of the cleverest advertising in the business, which is funny because prior to that, their commercials were laughably bad.
I watch a lot of TV shows online, which results in hearing the same one or two commercials about ten times in a row. This Old Spice commercial is the ONLY one that I've ever liked after this process. Oddly, I didn't even think too much about the effects going on. I was mostly impressed with the performance by this actor. His timing and air of superiority is perfectly pitched.
I like that you mentioned Keaton, as that first pull up of the set quite vividly echoes a shot from the cyclone sequence in Steamboat Bill, Jr.
Sorry—couldn't suppress my Keaton geekery.
With the advent of TiVo, most of the television that my wife and I watch is time-shifted, and we regularly fast-forward through commercials in order to get back to whatever show we were focused on.
Not only did the few frames of this commercial that we saw intrigue us so much that we jumped back to the beginning to watch it - but then we immediately watched it again. And again. And we still watch it every time we run across it.
So many advertisers whinge about how time-shifting technology is hurting them by giving people the chance to "opt-out" of watching their commercials. Old Spice has proven with this commercial (and the previous series of ads starring Bruce Campbell) that people will still watch their ads - if you give them something worth watching.
My wife HATES these commercials. They freak her out. I watched the one in which he appears to be moving forward, but as the camera moves out, he is riding backwards. It was really very interesting the way our perception of the direction of movement was incorrect.
Listen closely to his inflection. It took me a few times, then I realized he is channeling Cary Elwes from the Princess Bride, particularly in the second half of the movie, once he has taken over the Dread Pirate Roberts moniker. Try listening to it, then some clips from the movie. It's practically an homage.
Springer
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