My best friend's brother shot this Johnny Walker commercial..an incredible job of directing, acting, and filming. It is a continuous shot..6 minutes long. I'll have to find out how many takes it took to get it right. You'll recognize the actor from Trainspotting and some other films:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV7OExniz3s

My friend's brother (Jamie Rafn) is the director..



BeachAV8R

Excellent and "Johnny Blue" is a damn fine Scotch ( for a blend )

Just talked to my best friend - he said it was finally accomplished on the 40th take. One shot, no editing.

Amazing.

isn't that the crazy guy with the mustache in Trainspotting?

and that's more of an infomercial lol

Yeh thats Robert Carlyle, nice Ad

great ad, so-so whisky

I haven't had a drop of whiskey since I passed out in 1996 on the concrete sidewalk in front of "The Palace" on (appropriately named) Whiskey Row in Prescott, AZ. My 21st birthday. About a dozen+ whiskey sours and I was absolutely gone. I vaguely remember standing on top of a bar stool singing some song I can't remember now...

I'm actually surprised it takes 40 takes to shoot something like that?

I mean, any theater actor is supposed to do an hour without break, comedians do it too.

The idea is very good, but it doesn't seem technically complicated, as long as you have an actor who can memorize his text. I wonder how they drove the camera.

Steadicam probably.

I wouldn't want to walk backwards for 5:30

Was thinking more along the lines of a small hand-thrown cart or something, with the camera operator riding backwards while someone else pulls on.

JW Blue is far from so-so.

-Skater

Great story, and a great commercial.

-Skater

Nice ad JW Blue is great, the red and black ones are okay. That said, I wouldn't refuse a free glass of either

I think you underestimate the complexity involved. The guy talks uninterrupted for 5 minutes, while walking over rough terrain, having to remember every detail, while hitting more than a dozen marks for props that are timed specifically for his gait. He's a professional actor...I doubt he has trouble learning his lines..but the pressure of continuous take shooting can be enormous. No..it doesn't have a bunch of flashy gimmicks...but sometimes the most simplistic concepts can be the most difficult to pull off.

As for how the entire thing was filmed..my guess would be something like a real pro with a backwards facing Steadicam. The guy walks forwards but the camera is facing backwards..and he is skilled at using it while shooting without facing his subject:

http://gadgets.boingboing.net/zacuto.jpg

Just a guess though. Whatever it was, it was definitely gyro stabilized judging from that terrain.

He's the one the that threw up on your shoes.

Seriously, that is a brilliant commercial. Sometimes when do people do things so well it makes it look easy. I can tell, that was not easy. Just executed exactly right.

Well..I'll bet on the take just before the one that worked (take #39) they were all thinking "F-it..let's go with plan B.."

nice advert, but they weren't confident enough to do it without adding some chances for sneaky cuts if needed - the smoke, going through the door, the overhead sign...

haha Johnny Walker Blue. It's still a blend that they sell to tourists who don't know any better. Learn your drinks, choose a malt. I like Islay but my wife thinks it smells of antiseptic (and it probably is!)

Most amazing single take btw:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Ark

I've seen it, it is not bad at all.

Definitely a great commercial.

As an aside, I happened to mention it to my dearest, angelic, bound-for-sainthood mother, who promptly told me that the commercial sounded familiar. Excuse me?!? So with her curiosity piqued, it turned out that she had had another Johnnie Walker commercial in mind. Excuse me, twice?!? This from a woman who I've seen drink a glass of white wine maybe a dozen times in as many years. It appears as though she must have lived another life between delicious homemade meals and "Miss Marple" mysteries.

Anyways! She concurs: bravo zulu