* Way Cool Honda ad, ca. 2007
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 is 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 were 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.