Tesla - Not a Dream - (2016) :90 (USA)

This is a spec ad written and directed by the Freise Brothers, identical twins, Adam and Nathan. As a spec directors spot, I'll only look at at the cinematic story-telling here and not the sales proposition, having said that, I think it's really quite good from a directing standpoint. Nicola Tesla's words (sans his Franco-Serbian accent) with a the distinct popping and hissing from early phonograph recordings is the perfect VO and the inspiration that the brothers used to tell the story.
There's really dreamy apocalyptic oil-powered desert scenes with oil tanks floating away, and oil pumps drilling in the distance. The two people who drag the old oil cans along the road long for a better way, and then the Tesla car comes to pick them up. Points for showing off the door handles, that's sleek.

It's actually quite astonishing that the Freises shot this on a shoe-string budget, in a SoCal desert ghost town, using their DSLRs and a rented Tesla. They handled the VFX too, crafting the mechanical structures such as floating trucks and oil pumpjacks with Autodesk 3ds Max and Adobe After Effects. My only nitpick is the edit between black and white and color, not only is the stylistic choice a little predictable but the cut was poor due to disjointed camera movements in the married scenes. Sticking to a 90 second edit, the brothers have now proven they're well ready to take on car client projects.

It is not a dream
It is a simple feat of scientific electrical engineering
Electric power can drive the worlds machinery without the need of coal, oil, or gas
Although perhaps humanity is not yet sufficiently advanced to be willingly led by the inventors keen searching sense
Perhaps it is better in this present world of ours that a revolutionary idea be hampered in its adolescence
All that was great in the past was ridiculed, condemned, combatted, suppressed, only to emerge all the more triumphantly from the struggle.

Our duty is to lay the foundation for those that are to come, and to point the way
Yes, humanity will advance with giant strides
We are whirling through endless space at an inconceivable speed
All around everything is spinning; everything is moving;
Everywhere, there is energy!

Points handed to all Tesla geeks who can spot the Wardenclyffe tower / Tesla tower in the end (which is what Tesla is talking about in his speech).

Credits:
Director, Story, VFX, Edit, Sound: Freise Brothers
Cinematographer: Christian Evans, Freise Brothers
Actors: Giles Ashford, S. Hong
Music: Diana by 'Sonic Architect' Tony Anderson
Nikola Tesla Narration: Jonathan David Dixon

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