Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The art of the actor

If you're a Crikey reader you may have seen this already, but if not, have a look.

I love actors, I just love them to death, and most of all I love Robert Carlyle. Their job, done well, is the most seamless imaginable combination of body, mind and soul.

This commercial was shot in one take, as you can see. Watch the way Carlyle paces the walking and talking to coincide perfectly with every prop. Watch the way he keeps it up while negotiating that rocky, rutted path, telling an engaging story, and maintaining a consistent distance from the camera. He'll be 50 next April, but he still moves like a hyperactive 25-year-old.

It's not just him, either. Everything about this ad is lovely.


14 comments:

Fine said...

Great stuff, Pav. Actors amaze me in that they enter into a character with one part of their minds, and be completely technically adept with another, so they know what the camera is doing and where the props are and they can repeat it exactly, or alter it slightly, or completely. And remember their lines. And keep on walking at a decent clip. And deal with the pressure of trying not to stuff up.

Kudos to the grips and gaffers on this too, who have to really know what they're doing.

Anonymous said...

I want to buy the camera operator a drink.

If it was a Steadicam, a whole bottle.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for that. What a complete treat.

M-H said...

Lovely, just beautiful. Thanks

Emily said...

I've played this over three times this afternoon since seeing it on my Crikey email. A useful antidote to the political bunfight going on at present.
I envied the freedom of gait, I could smell the air and feel the mist on my face.
A beautifully choreographed piece of work. I hope it wins a prize somewhere.

Anonymous said...

Love the fact it has subtitles, for all those folk who cannae get tae grips wiya Scots accent (I didn't mention the Americans, did I?).

Fabulous ad, thank you, apart from the "less breakages".
But once a sub, always a bloody sub.

Olivia

iODyne said...

Mr. Carlyle is indeed, the full Hamish McMonty.

Elisabeth said...

This is probably one of the best 'ads' I've seen in a long while. Thanks for posting it.

Kerryn Goldsworthy said...

Oh, Olivia, I know!

But I heard an old recording of someone from the early days of the CSIRO say 'disinterested' when he meant 'uninterested' on the radio this afternoon, so there goes my theory that people didn't make these mistakes in the good old days.

tigtog said...

That was just delightful. I missed it on Crikey, so thanks so much for posting it.

Filmed right in the wild heart of the Perthshire highlands too - north of Loch Lomond and west of Ben Nevis. That road probably has its origins in the clans droving their cattle into the nearest market town.

via collins said...

This advert, yes it's tremendous, screened before The Ghost Writer when I saw it on Sunday night.
The only product that I saw recognisably on screen during the film (I don't know about Lear jets or upmarket cars) was a wee bottle of Johnnie Walker Black being pulled from a hotel mini-bar.

As if the film wasn't making me paranoid enough, I did quickly connect the advert and the product placement!

VV: vibus

Anonymous said...

Loved it! I've been a fan of both whiskey and sexy Robert for ages. He has the practised authority and presence of a very fine actor. He can tip a jug o'er sweetly wi' me anytime. Helen

Link said...

Very much looking forward to speedier broadband . . . took bloody ages to see this and then had to watch it in several thousand takes.

Tinged slightly green,(no doubt) Irish BF said Carlyle was a 'haughty git' and Johnnie Walker was 'shite'. But it was a fine piece of cinema. No bloody trees over there huh?

The Honourable Husband said...

The chief marketer responsible for this piece, was also a client of mine earlier this decade. A small world, no?

I can report that he is a great believer in the virtues (for both) of mixing art and commerce.

He is himself a great raconteur, especially during moments when we enjoy a highly-responsible drink together.

His facebook page tells us that he is chuffed with the response to this piece. And chuffed that it won an award at Cannes.