MacPrince

According (no pun intended) to the article (Shake's second link), the tires were weighted at the tops and perfectly balanced, so the slightest bump would unbalance the weight, and propel them forward and up the ramp.

(Edit: I didn't notice the article was already linked)

mabel

Cool... you can definitely tell it took 5 months to set that up.
what I am wondering is: why didn't they just put a US sold car in place of the wagon so they could advertise it here?

Brahma's atheist

I'd not seen the full ad before now. I originally wasn't that impressed because I thought it was CG or something. I'm impressed now though

BrotherMan

There's a part that I haven't figured out yet.

A piece rolls towards a driver's side door. It hits the window and the window rolls down. The piece continues down. The plank that the piece rolls on looks like it goes through the window. Am I seeing that right?

dunadan

If you look closely, you can see where the board was cut in half. And with the tires after the first one you can see how the weight at the top makes them roll faster after they get going, and that they hit the next tire in line at right about 1/2 revolution, before the weight would start slowing them down.

Stunning. I hope some physics teacher somewhere uses this in his or her class. I liked watching the whole thing again to see where the potential energy was converted to kinetic energy, and how the energy levels went up and down in the various objects used.

philechat

I saw a small crack on the plank that is about the width of the car window.

trillian

Honda has different ad agencies in the UK and the US. Most agencies demand exclusivity (so they can plan out a single image and marketing strategy) so Honda probably cant show the ad here without its US agency agreeing to lose a ton of money or getting fired.

Enjoyed this ad!!

Nostalgic Pushhead

What causes the banner at the end to fall? I can't tell.

KoopaFanatic

Well, I can't tell for sure, but it looked like a tripwire going through a pulley system. My guess is that there's a line fixed to the floor on the right side (car's perspective) and running through a pulley on the left side, then up to the ceiling and back down through another pulley to the banner. The car rolls over the wire, increases the tension on the line which pulls the tape (or whatever fastener they're using) off of the folded-up bottom of the banner, and *flop* the thing unfolds.

Just my guess though

mecca777

UK dwellers can get a free promo DVD of the advert, which also includes a "Making Of" featurette.

It is, of course, a blatant steal of someone else's idea, just like all the most interesting adverts over here. This particular ad was "inspired" by The Way Things Go, an art video by Peter Fischli and David Weiss, which is highly recommended if you like the Honda advert.

And I still think that there's been some tidy-up work done, apart from the CG exhaust. Some of the reflections in the smaller metal parts look suspiciously detailed. It's still one of the best adverts on UK TV at the moment - instantly memorable, it grabs your attention and makes you wonder how it was done. It's a hell of an improvement over Honda's previous "WHATIF?" ads, which were absolutely awful.