Saturday, September 26, 2009

The Man Who Walked Around the World




Just before setting off to Scotland, friend and colleague
Andrew Weir sent me a link to the new Johnnie Walker short film/ad "The Man Who Walked Around the World."

When I first viewed it, there had been 3000 views. There have now been 130,000, I believe the viral will continue to spread, and I feel no shame in sharing the contagion. Oh wait a sec, this one has subtitles. Ha. The one Andy sent me did not. Anyways... Will use this one for those of you who don't speak English, or those who do but cannae speak Scottish.

The video came up over conversation in the Highlander Inn, with a group of visitors to Glenfiddich Distillery, with members of The Edinburgh University Water of Life Society, and over several drops of Grant's 12yo with Robert Hill and David Stewart in the heart of Speyside. We all had different opinions and thoughts. Naturally. And thank god.

What are yours?

5 comments:

AndyW said...

Thanks for the subtitles - big help. Anyone else expect him to drift into Begbie?
Never mind the politics of it all - what I can't figure out is:
Treadmill and blue screen OR the longest steadicam shot since the nightclub scene in Goodfellas?
Perthshire is almost as beautiful as Ayrshire, almost....

Gregg said...

Totally enjoyed that. Well written, beautifully filmed, and well realised.

I'd love to see rebuttal ads for other blend pioneers like James Buchanan, William Teacher, or Tommy Dewar.

All steadicam, I think, AndyW.

Bozkurt "bozzy" Karasu said...

I definitely liked it... Carlyle is great. He looks like a Danny Boyle character in a Ken Loach movie. Music score sounds a lot like Michael Nyman which also reminded me right away Peter Greenaway shots becasue of its perfect precision.

If you think that it is actually a commercial it totally did the job to draw my full attention. I'll think about the corporate politics later.

cheers...

rbruce said...

Holy shit, did I just happily sit through a 6 minute commercial?

Truly genius script and brilliant execution.

MinneapolisPipe said...

It was real. Here is a link to an interview with the director. Apparently they got it right after 40 takes just as they were losing light.
it was a commercial, but I kept watching simply because of the production values.
http://www.shots.net/article_detail.asp?atype=1&id=9071