Pure genius. /Swoon.
First off, I want to give mad props/kudos/praise to Robert Carlyle, of Trainspotting and Full Monty Fame, for his amazing, brilliant, magnificent performance, the director Jamie Rafn and the steadicam op George Richmond for the making this nearly impossible shot look like it was a piece of rhubarb pie, and Justin Moore for writing one of the best pieces of copy that will ever pass through my ears.
'The Man Who Walked Around the World', developed by Bartle, Bogle, Hegarty (BBH), received second place at this year's Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. At least I think it did. Some weird ad that wasn't in the program snuck its way in after this showed. After it finished and the credits rolled (yes, this spot did have its own set of credits afterwards) I was still basking in the brilliance of what I just watched when I heard:
"Ugh, finally."
Wait, what?
Some other comments I heard were, "That was so long", "What was that?", "I was bored the entire time."
To each of these people, I say this: That's what she said.
Just because sexy ladies aren't polishing soccer balls with their tongues firmly pressing against the inside of their cheek, doesn't mean it's not a good ad. A laugh should not be the only pay off that an ad should offer.
These are my reasons for why this was one of the best things I've even seen:
1) A thirty-second single shot is hard to do. A six-minute shot with no cuts or edits whatsoever is hell on earth. They pulled it off flawlessly.
2) It's not just a man walking. It's a man walking and talking. This is hard. What's harder is when you add things he has to interact with on the way without stopping. The sheer amount and precision they had to plan out for the blocking, and that Robert Carlyle had to execute, is almost unbelievable. One step too fast or one sentence said to slow can ruin an entire shot. In this case, 40th time's a charm.
3) Keeping hold of a viewer's attention for more than 10 seconds is also hard. Now I can't say that this ad kept everyone's attention, which is obvious because of the comments I heard, but if you did start listening right from the beginning, then I know you couldn't stop. It was engaging, it was interesting, it had a strong flow to it. You wanted to hear what happened to little John, the local farm boy.
4) Robert Carlyle, again, was amazing. He had a massive presence on screen, as massive as the location that it was shot in. As soon as he walks close enough to the camera for us to recognize who he is, he gives us a bit o' sass and attitude, telling the bagpiper to "shut it". Awesome. I hate bagpipe too. He then tells us a story. I emphasize 'us' because you feel as though he's talking to you. By the end of it, you notice that six minutes have passed, and as you look at him waking off into the distance, you want him to come back and tell you more.
5) It's just something you don't see anymore. Everyone is trying to be louder, brighter, and wackier than each other. It's nice to see something so simple and elegant. Beautiful.
But what do I know? Tell me what thoughts you had about it.
PS. Here's an interview with director Jamie Rafn. An interesting read if you enjoyed this!
