Old Spice Commercials are Black Magic.

So today, like most friday afternoons I spent searching the web looking for interesting things that I could possibly write a blog post on. Normally I'm looking for small interesting tid bits from movies, or running themes in TV shows. But recently while watching videos on YouTube I remembered some funny commercials a couple years back that starred this guy.

                                                                   "Hello Ladies..."

I remembered two iconic Old Spice commercials that I had seen and it wasn't until I watched them recently that I appreciated the difficulty of the commercial. So as a preamble before you watch this scene, just remember that it is all done in one take and there is no CGI whatsoever (except for the diamonds)... Enjoy.

So that is a very impressive commercial. The amount of bells and whistles and things that have to be timed perfectly is unreal. The moving sets, the props and everything needs to be in perfect synch. Here was the one thing that made me watch this commercial over and over again was the fact that I could not figure out how the hell he managed to get on the horse. I mean it is a completely continuos shot and he never even breaks stride. My best guess is he is on wires the entire time and they hoist him up after he exits the boat set. But really I still have no clue. Comment if you know how they did it.

Now if that commercial wasn't amazing enough Old Spice outdid themselves by making another one of these commercials even more elaborate than before. If you have the time, I really suggest you watch this.

 

In an interview with the star of this commercial Isaiah Mustafa he claimed that this took place on location on top of a lake. When he walks on water they put clear plastic panels underneath the water. The cake he catches, is a real cake, and the table saw he uses, is a real saw. If all of that wasn't fantastical enough look closely when he jumps into the hot tub. He is wearing bermuda shorts beforehand, and after the walls of the tub collapse he is wearing jeans and boots. Now Mustafa claims that the pants are real, and although he does not reveal the secret of how they did it. He said that no animation was used on the pants. I myself am skeptical.

I decided to post on advertising this week because I think it is very interesting that some really impressive stuff can be done not just for film and television.