wow, that is the coolest car commercial i have seen in a while. I wonder how many geeks it took to set that one up?

Five geeks to set it up. But all the geeks horses and all the geeks men to put the car back together again.

BEST.AD.EVER!

is there some kind of advertising oscar this masterpiece can win?

If only the companies systems were as good as they tell us the car is !!

It's a total rip-off of a video by Swiss conceptual artists Fischli and Weiss, called 'The Way Things Go' - absolutely identical. Were they involved in this ad?

actually, the artists Fischli and Weiss stole (borrowed) the idea themselves. This whole thing is known as a "Rube Goldberg Machine". Look it up, it's pretty funny.

The Honda add is amazing because it was filmed in only two parts, each part was a complete real-time shot WITHOUT computer animation!!

Well, sure, of course their idea is a development on the Rube Goldberg machine idea, but have you seen the Fischli and Weiss video? I mean, the Honda commercial is almost exactly identical, visually-speaking, down to the drab grey warehouse look of the setting. To the point that if I were them and hadn't gotten paid by Honda, I'd be suing.

However, this is one shot. No cuts. Let me tell you how disappointed i was when i was watching my Fischli/Weiss video and my brother noticed a point where you can tell that it was not one continuous thing. I commend Honda for taking the effort to reshoot it over 600 times to make it work in one single take.

although it does bug me slightly that in all the articles i could find written about this ad, nothing is ever mentioned about the F/W video. Not even acknowledged.

Here's a good article about it otherwise:
www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/04/13/nhonda13.xml

Merci for link fogues.

yes it is odd that the F/W video isn't mentioned - now that it has been brought up i remember being utterly fascinated by that one too.

awesome stuff anyway.

This ad is utterly AMAZING! Kudos to the props guys, Kudos to the patience of the AD/DP/CW and director and EVERYONE involved!

does any one know where i can download this from it wont load in my browswer something about the activeX settings, cannot change configuration am at work on my network :O(

does http://194.29.64.17/thecog/movie.html
give you the same trouble?

I know flash is involved - didn't know activeX was??

www.shots.net

it's their spot of the moment

they're called clios

There is a faster download at:

http://home.attbi.com/~bernhard36/honda-ad.html

if you have quicktime pro you can do the whole "right-click and save as file" thing here"

http://www.beam.tv/beamreels/beamreel.php?dzjgijxl

oooops - that video really hit a VERY sore spot and makes me quite angry!

why?

2 reasons:

(1) i think the world really wastes why too much creative resources promoting waste through commercials for products that destroy our environment

(2) this particular "cog" video is a very, very cheap plagiarism of an artists duo work from 1987-88. the artists are fischli & weiss (swiss) and the video is called "the way things go". see another comment in this section.

looks like another coked up (not pepsi) commercial art director got a kick of ripping off artists...

ooops

We know about the wrench in the Cog - I guess we should have linked the update. willdo.

Dear Anonymous.Why does it hit a sore point?

On your first point: Do you own a car? Have you ever travelled in a car? Or do you cycle everywhere? Because that's the ONLY way you can possibly justify your rediculous sweeping statement. Are you a teenager? You certainly sound like one. Ohhh advertising is soooo badd! its evill! Cars are bad! You tell me the viable alternative to fossil fules and exactly WHY Honda are so evil and wasteful THEN I might believe you.

You second point: Fair enough. It was inspired by another piece of work. Does that mean that creativity should not be informed by outside influences. Did fischli & weiss invent the chain reaction in 1987? i think not. I remember the game "moustrap" from the seventies: it was exactly the same idea as "the way things work" but came before. "Resevoir Dogs" takes influences from "the taking of Pelham 123" "Les Samourai" and numerous others. Does that make it any less of a great film? No. The swiss artists produced a piece of work that very few pople outside the tiny art world are likely to see. But the Honda ad can be and is enjoyed by MILLIONS. This is a brilliant ad. No question. Anything else is just jealousy.

Yours, A riled up (not coked-up) commercial art director fed up with whinging, self-serving "artists"...

I don't understand how the tires are able to travel up-hill. Am I missing somthing or is there annimation?

there are counter weights in the tires that make them travel "uphill".

Do not buy honda products, the creator of this commercial has not even been payed by the greedy fux! The commercial creator has almost gone bankrupt due to the cost needed to make this commercial, none of the expenses were covered by honda.

Smoke
Jaguar
Death Before Dishonor!

care to elaborate on "creator" - do you mean the production house, the director, the creative team or all the cog-applying guys involved?

Honda has enough money to shoot it 600 times. Fischli and Weiss did not. I, however, commend Fischli and Weiss for taking the effort to come up with their own fucking idea.

"Rube Goldberg machine" is more of a loose concept. The Honda ad copies Fischli and Weiss in specifics.

Thankyou Bittertruth and fougees below.