250,000 Rubber Balls

13 Replies to “250,000 Rubber Balls”

1. That is pretty cool. Obviously digital, since there’d have been widespread destruction as the little buggers hit windows and such, but…

   Kind of like snow, California style. :)

2. Hey Jim – That thought crossed my mind, but I just checked out the official page for the commercial (“behind the scenes”), which says:

   In an age when CGI is commonplace, this makes the commercial all the more extraordinary. Every single frame was shot over two days – with the main sequence involving a 23-man camera crew and only one chance to get it right.

   An entire block was closed off and special compressed-air cannons shot the balls into the air, while earth moving equipment poured thousands down the street. Not that you’d know it from the finished product, but these balls can do some damage, so all the cars were props and crew members went so far as to having protective shields and crash helmets.

3. Check out the extended version… this is just too cool. Scott is right.. soothing.

4. Wow.

   In one shot in the extended version, you can see the mailbox moving under the impact, and it’s not an obvious way for the thing to move.

   Color me impressed. One wonders if it was cheaper to do it in the real world, or what.

   -Jim

5. On further review, there’s something very… Apple-like about that commercial. Like the ad men figured out that you don’t have to stuff the idea up our nose, just… catch our eye.

6. One wonders if it was cheaper to do it in the real world, or what.

   I’d like to fantasize that they thought it would be more soulful/believable.

7. This is one of the more gorgeous, dreamy and, yes, dare I say it — poetic things I’ve seen in a long time.

   WAY better than 90 % of the self-indulgent and mannered “art” films I see at galleries.

   Thanks so much for posting the link.

8. Wow! That ad has been running here for about 6 months, and I’d always assumed it was CGI (and boggled my head over the complexity of the algorithms involved). Amazed to discover that that they’re *real* balls. They kinda look too perfect to be real :)

9. I think it’s a really interesting commentary on how our brains have been reprogrammed to suspect that things purporting to be real must be CGI or otherwise faked if they’re at all incredible. Traditionally it was easy to lie with words, hard to do it with photo/video. Now we half-expect photo/video to be a lie.

10. That is amazingly beautiful. I’d seen some still photos of this awhile back but the video just knocks me out.

    Here’s a photoset that seems to be by someone involved in the production — you can see some of that earthmoving equipment:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/sepiatone/32294142/

11. That looks like the Funnest. Day. Ever. I’d love to hear a closely mic’d audio track — what did the event sound like?

12. Thought you might like to see this UK spoof of the Sony ad:
    http://www.swansea-res.org.uk/tv_advert.html
    (the “residents’ association” is also a spoof)

13. Mmmm, pulpy!

    Dan, that was amazing, thanks for the link.