Channel 4 homage to Kubrick

From the British newspaper Guardian, on July 3rd:

Channel 4 has painstakingly recreated the set of Stanley Kubrick horror film The Shining, complete with look-a-likes of the crew and cast members including Shelley Duvall, for a TV ad to promote a More 4 season of the director’s films.

The 65-second promotional spot has been filmed as a one-take tracking shot through the recreation of The Shining set.

Channel 4’s tv ad sure looks nice.

(via Daring Fireball)

Creative grass roots marketing

Barack Obama seems to have an ever-increasing chance of winning the US presidential election later this year, if the various grass roots campaigns are of any indication. Boobs for Barack (not work safe) is sure to catch at least some eyes.

Too smooth

The picture quality on Robert Luketic’s card counting film 21 looked too smooth when I saw it in cinema on Tuesday. Avid’s customer showcase page confirmed what I suspected: it was not shot on film, it was shot with HD digital cameras.

The digital movie cameras of today can provide amazing looking shots if the director and director of photography know what they’re doing, but in this case the end result looked like a dvd projected with a digital projector, even though the theater I saw it in used film projectors. I really missed the grain and texture of film. Very disappointing.

Quantum of Solace teaser follows previous formula

The teaser trailer for the upcoming James Bond film Quantum of Solace was released on Monday and guess what – it’s basically a remake of the Casino Royale (the previous Bond film) teaser trailer.

Here’s the new Quantum of Solace teaser (and you can also find it on the official 007 site):

Compare the above with teaser for Casino Royale from two years ago (also available on Apple’s trailer site):

There’s definitely similarities. First there’s a relatively slow build up with M scolding Bond (with the idea of one of the smaller villains talking down to Bond taken from the final trailer for Casino Royale) followed by a potpourri of action scenes, with images of scantily clad Daniel Craig and Bond girls thrown in for good measure.

I know it worked very well last time (Casino Royale was a major success), so you can’t blame for them using the same format for cutting the clips together. Still, a few surprises in the teaser would have been nice for fans.

Here’s a good example of a more original approach when talking about Bond teasers. It’s from 2002’s Die Another Day, the last Pierce Brosnan Bond film:

I just love the way those sand dunes turn into Bond girls and the bullet morphs into Bond’s car, plus as a bonus you can here her blow the smoke in the end. Nice touch.