Rushes post ingenious 118 118 viral

13th Apr 2006: Rushes and Rogue Films have just completed a hilarious viral, pastiching the recent Honda ‘Choir’ commercial, for the telephone directory firm 118 118.

Whilst the original Honda commercial features a suited and booted professional choir in an underground car park, the viral features two absurd men clad in wigs and red and white seventies vests emblazoned with 118118 ‘hanging out’ in a multi-storey car park. The shots of the men are interspersed with scenes of a beaten up white 70’s van sporting a red stripe, instead of the smooth, sleek Honda. The men make over exaggerated, clunky noises to correspond with the movements of the van, including the reverberation and hum of the engine, the tap tap tap of raindrops on the windscreen, the swish of the windscreen wipers, the hiss of the brakes, the screeching of a window being wound down and so on. The overall impression created is comedic and more than a little ridiculous, whereas the Honda commercial is certainly taking itself rather more seriously.

Simone Grattarola, Senior Colourist at Rushes commented “The original commercial was shot 35mm on a big budget, while we were working with 16mm and with a smaller budget. This only went to give the piece more claim of being the original’s cynical, ugly brother! From viewing the original and observing what had gone into the original grade, our challenge was to match it all up so that our grade mirrored as closely as possible that of the original. It was one of the funniest sessions I've been involved in, from the naughty schoolboy feeling of what we were doing, to Nick Jones keeping us all entertained!”