The Man Who Walked Around The World

Posted by Alex in Advertising, Food & Drinks on September 4, 2009 at 1:26 am


You don’t need a lot of special effect magic to make a brilliant ad. As this short commercial for Johnny Walker whiskey from ad agency BBH London shows, sometimes all you need is a good narrative. That, and Robert Carlyle:

AdFreak suggests that this commercial might be the best of the year so far. It’s for Johnnie Walker brand whiskey, and traces the history of that brand in one long, continuous take for six minutes. Unless there clever and hidden special effects, actor Robert Carlyle had to have, and did, flawless timing.

Check out the clip: Link | Interview with director Jamie Rafn


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16 comments to "The Man Who Walked Around The World"

  1. Jo
    September 4th, 2009 at 7:27 am

    Awesome. A great example of telling a brand story, as much as I think whiskey tastes horrible.

  2. swss
    September 4th, 2009 at 8:55 am

    Fantastic - I was totally riveted for the entire 6 minutes - and I don't even care about whiskey. Robert Carlyle is an amazing storyteller - and, the perfect use of (a few) props.

  3. Gauldar
    September 4th, 2009 at 9:00 am

    Jo, you should try Crown Royal. Jack Daniels is a little potent in taste, which is why I have it with Coke.

  4. Justin
    September 4th, 2009 at 9:40 am

    What I find interesting, is he keeps his walking at quite a brisk pace, and yet his breathing doesn't seem to change once. The guy must be in pretty good shape.

  5. Johnny Cat
    September 4th, 2009 at 11:07 am

    Justin, it's obviously some ADR at work here. (Automatic Dialog Replacement). I noticed a couple of times when it didn't quite match his lips perfectly. I wonder if that take was the first; there were so many opportunities for failure requiring them to back up and start again.

  6. Justin
    September 4th, 2009 at 12:35 pm

    Ah ok, that makes more sense.

  7. James Schend
    September 4th, 2009 at 1:20 pm

    I'm more impressed, as always in shots like this, by the cameraman.

  8. Foreigner1
    September 4th, 2009 at 2:49 pm

    I'd imagine that just outside cameraview there are a bunch of guys running their socks off and fire out of their shoes and their lungs and hearts out to place all those props at exactly the right point when the actor comes at certain points in his script. He uses some kind of autocue for the viewer somewhere in the left-low corner for himself right lower corner just outside the camera, because that is where he looks most. And then -I again imagine- when he walks away, that whole crew of prop-placers nearly drop to the ground fully out of air, just Bégging the producer Nót to do jet anóther take because they just can Nót do that run again... :-)

  9. Zakk?
    September 4th, 2009 at 4:05 pm

    i'm more of a crown royal man myself (there current ad campaign is a good one, i think) but this is an excellent ad.

  10. ted
    September 4th, 2009 at 10:52 pm

    I did notice he kept looking down at the subtitles, which is pretty impressive, because the words would have appeared backwards to him.

  11. Ajan
    September 5th, 2009 at 10:16 am

    I loved the title of the post infact, its soo attracting

  12. Kalel
    September 5th, 2009 at 2:07 pm

    A staggering ad for whiskey.

  13. The Slapster
    September 5th, 2009 at 3:21 pm

    Love to see a version in HD, time to go hunting.

  14. Ali S.
    September 6th, 2009 at 7:48 pm

    A really awesome ad with one of my favourite actors too!

  15. Scooter
    September 8th, 2009 at 10:59 am

    Am I the only one who is bothered when there are sub-titles for people whom I have no trouble understanding. His Scotch accent isn't so thick it needs subtitles.

    They do this on Food network to Morimoto and it bugs be every time.

  16. Gauldar
    September 8th, 2009 at 11:11 am

    @Scooter

    Because even deaf people drink whiskey.


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