The world of mobile technology never ceases to amaze. Perhaps, this is precisely what makes it interesting – as soon as you start thinking that nothing fundamentally new can happen, one or another company throws out such a trick that an echo from it will walk around the world for many years to come. And today the company HTC is acting as a revolutionary, which, based on advertising HTC One, is going to make a full-length film.
You all know that the company HTC has been collaborating for several years with Robert Downey Jr., who stars in its commercials. And this is not an ordinary insipid advertisement, but a real work of art, which in its madness (in the best sense of the word) can compete with Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland or The Matrix by the Wachowski brothers.
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Unfortunately, the entire advertising campaign was aimed primarily at the west, where it made a splash. In our country, this advertisement passed almost unnoticed, it could be seen only on the official website of the company.
Before us is a really unique case – we can only guess about the success of HTC One (M9), but his advertising campaign has already brought HTC immense popularity even among those who are not fundamentally interested in mobile phones .
At the end of last week it became known that the company plans to build on its unexpected success and is going to shoot a full-length film based on the existing short sketches. The director's name is still kept secret, but judging by rumors, one of the masters of cinema had a hand in the initial commercials. Moreover, initially the company did not even conclude a contract with him – the director, who has long known Robert Downey, initially took on this work just for a joke. But this joke very quickly became something more for him, which can be clearly seen in the quality of the videos. And now he happily seized on the opportunity to make the film of his dreams, having set the management HTC only one condition – not to drive him into a rigid framework and to provide complete creative freedom.
As for the cast, it is already clear that the main role will be played by the same Robert Downey Jr. The casting for the rest of the roles has not yet been completed, but we are already promised 'some pleasant surprises'.
The most interesting thing is the plot of the film. Those who have already seen the video about the new HTC One might have noticed that the advertising component was sewn to them with white threads. Yes, there are a couple of times the letter 'M' or the number 9 appears, but, for the most part, they are completely different. Moreover, even these short clips clearly show that all alone are united by one idea and have some semblance of a single plot.
The company said that all the videos will definitely be included in the feature film. True, some of them may be re-shot, because both the budget and the cast this time will be of a completely different level. Moreover, the director's drafts were leaked to the Internet, in which he, first in jest, and then obviously in earnest, wrote the plot of the advertising video. It is not difficult to assume that since all the clips already filmed will be included in the film, then the original plot will not suffer drastic changes. Except for the very beginning, which in these recordings more resembles a frank banter than a serious film. And the attacks on the production Apple of the director also do not paint, apparently, that he has a big grudge against the Apple company.
Director's notes and existing videos
So, I present to you all the material at our disposal. These are both the official commercials and the director's draft notes leaked to the network.
Scene one, cut
The conversation took place in a bar, where the main character had been resting for more than an hour over a glass of beer after a hard day's work. And therefore, at first, he took the most important conversation in his life without due respect.
“You are the chosen one,” a stranger who sat down at his table told him.
– Is it like Neo or like Barack Obama?
– Like every person living on earth. Each of us in this world has our own mission, but very few manage to realize it. And only a few can do it at all. You live a fictitious life and by all means do not notice the real one. Everything that you think is real is nothing more than an illusion that exists only in your head.
– Illusion or not, the beer here is delicious … Hey, bartender! Give me another mug of dark!
– In fact, this beer is not. And there is no bar. And even you and I are not. All this is just an illusion. In general, all things are not at all what they seem at first glance. Tell me what is the best phone in the world?
– iPhone of course! And just don't need me here to prove the coolness of Galaxy, even the waiters don't go with this lagging plastic shovel. Hey bartender! Where is my beer ?!
– You are the same as everyone else – your mind is clouded with ambitions and empty dreams, you do not notice the real essence of things. Do you want me to help you go beyond the usual? Will I show you the underside of reality that is now hidden from your eyes?
– Go ahead. Until they brought me a beer, I'm completely free. Just keep in mind that they'll bring it to me in a minute, and I'm not in the right state to go anywhere.
– And you won't have to go anywhere …
At this point, in the eyes of our hero, it suddenly darkened, and when he regained consciousness, there was no longer any bar.
End of the video.
Scene two, white
– This place shows the true essence of all things. For example, this room is a cage from which your consciousness cannot escape all its life, – explained the interlocutor of our hero, in the most unceremonious way pushing him into a small room. – You can only get out of here when you can correctly answer my question. And you will understand which phone is actually the best on earth.
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– Here's yours iPhone, let's see if he can help you a lot here, – he added, throwing a bulky suitcase at the hero's feet. And without saying another word he left, loudly slamming the door.
The hero stood in the middle of the room, trying in vain to comprehend what had happened. Unfortunately, the abundance of beer drunk in the bar hindered him greatly in this. 'Since he called me the Chosen One, then this is the Matrix, – he thought, and since this is the Matrix, then somewhere there must be Morpheus, who has a magic blue pill. I just need to find a phone number and call him to get me out of this hell. '
[Note: in the original, the shorter and more capacious English word 'shit' was used at this point]
Then his eyes fell on the suitcase with the inscription iPhone 7, inside which something rang merrily. 'Here it is, the solution to all problems!' – thought the hero, happily opening the latches.
But that was not the case, getting to the long-awaited phone was hampered by a white lab coat and an uncomfortable construction helmet with the inscription 'iTunes'. Poorly understanding what exactly he was doing, the hero put it all on himself, and then grabbed the phone choking on the bell.
“Good afternoon, this is Siri,” came a joyful voice, and for some reason, male. – Who do you want to call?
– To Morpheus!
– I'm sorry, I did not get it.
– Then the police!
– Sorry, did not understand, repeat again.
This is how our hero spent the rest of the evening. The only entertainment was telephone viruses, which in this place resembled a mixture of a tennis ball octopus, which flocked to the new iPhone like bees to honey.
[Note: in the original, the shorter and more capacious English word 'shit' was used in this place, and instead of bees there were other insects]
Alas, he had nowhere to go, because the phone had no dial. At the end he gave up on everything, took off his helmet and lay down to sleep.
End of the video.
Scene three, yellow
The hero was clearly not destined to get enough sleep that night. He woke up from the roar of explosions and bullets breaking against the armored glass of the window.
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– Houston, we have a problem! Need support! – some unfamiliar man yelled into the radio.
– What's happening? – the hero shouted to him, rolling off the bed.
– Attack of illegal nightmares! They always attack us at night!
– When will the night end?
– The night will not end until it is dark, it's elementary, – the stranger threw in response.
– And what, nothing can be done?
“You could have turned on the light, but the only normal light bulb burned out. There are only small ones, 40 watts. They can't cancel the night. We'll have to wait for reinforcements with portable searchlights.
– What nonsense, – the hero could not resist, – you have a whole box of these paws!
And not for long he put his hand in there, grabbed the first light bulb that came across and screwed it into an empty cartridge. Later, he realized that this was not a light bulb but a 4MP grenade, but he didn't even have time to get really scared. Apparently, the grenade from such treatment went crazy even more and lit up from surprise. Which proves once again that the impossible is possible. The main thing is to know from which side to approach it. And stock up on the necessary tools.
The bright light made our hero close his eyes, and when he opened his eyes, there were no more men, no box with grains, no more explosions.
End of the video.
Scene four, orange
“You didn't just get rid of your nightmares! – the Hare squealed. – Not being afraid to use a grenade instead of a light bulb, you killed Cowardice in yourself! Killer, killer, killer!
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The portrait of Cowardice stood on the table, next to a shot of vodka, which the Hare drank without clinking glasses. Judging by the photo, Cowardice looked exactly like the Hare himself and was clearly his relative.
Meanwhile, the Hare continued to rush around the room in circles, either mourning the unexpected death of Cowardice, then demanding our hero write a frank confession and surrender to the authorities.
– I killed him, and I will return him to you! – our hero could not resist, loudly bursting a balloon right under the ear of the Hare. – Well, did the veins shake? Has your Cowardice returned to you?
– Yes, – sobbed the frightened Hare, – I feel Cowardice returning again. Go away, do not darken the joy of our meeting!
Scene five, red
Unfortunately, this clip is practically not described in the director's draft. There is a feeling that at this point he was overtaken by a creative crisis, and since the deadlines were running out, he decided to write about the creative crisis.
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How all this has to do with our hero, and even more so with advertising HTC One, still remains a mystery to me.
Scene six, green
To quickly get rid of our hero, the Hare gave him a bicycle.
– Why do you need a bicycle in a small room? – asked the hero. But then he himself noticed that the walls of the room had disappeared, and a thick fog was swirling in their place. 'Was it really that simple,' he thought, pedaling with all his might. “Is it really possible to just leave from here, as from any normal place?”
But no, that was not the case. Whichever direction our hero was driving, after a couple of minutes of wandering in the fog, he would get back to his room every time. True, every time she looked a little different. The suitcase on the floor changed color, pictures appeared on the walls, and the old telephone had an additional receiver or a number disc. 'I should have asked the Hare for directions,' thought the hero. “Well, nothing, sooner or later I'll find someone else alive here, and I'll ask him.”
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And 'someone alive' was not long in coming. This 'someone' turned out to be the Mermaid.
[Note: yes, the word is supposedly feminine, but I couldn't find a more accurate translation]
But he was clearly not disposed to talk. At the moment he was very busy – contemplating the full moon to the sounds of soft, mesmerizing music.
“That he has a tail instead of legs is nothing,” the hero decided. “After all, I'm not a racist. And in principle, I am even ready to support this miracle in the next presidential election. But the fact that he silently stares at the full moon and does not show the slightest inclination to adequate communication is very annoying. Maybe he's a werewolf? I've heard they always go crazy with the full moon. I ought to check it … If anything, I will always have time to escape. '
Our hero had one definite plus – having made a decision, he did not postpone its implementation until later, but immediately began to act. This time, too, he immediately grabbed a dart dart lying on the table and threw it with all his might at the moon. If he had given himself the trouble to think a little, he would have realized that a dart would not hit the moon. But, as you might have noticed, our hero did not like to think. That saved him more than once.
With a chilling ringing of the soul, the moon fell to the floor, in an instant turned into a skinny month.
End of the video.
Scene 7, blue
As it turned out, when they need to, Mermaids can walk perfectly. And even run, and very fast. But the hero was not at all happy with this discovery. Especially when I realized that all four walls had reappeared near the room, and the bicycle had disappeared without a trace.
But in the center of the room the hero noticed a piano, which at first he did not see in the twilight of a moonlit night. In appearance it was the most common, only for some reason it had speaker holes on the sides. Our hero managed to see them perfectly when he cut the tenth circle around the instrument.
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Realizing that he will not last long, he shouted: 'To die, so with music!'. And jumping to the piano, he tried to play the anthem of his native country on it. But, for some reason, a lullaby came out, which his mother sang to him in childhood. This melody had the same calming effect on the Mermaid as it had on the little tomboy our hero once was. Throwing out the remnants of the moon out the window, the Mermaid dived headfirst straight into a nearby pipe, obviously confusing it with a native reservoir.
I will note that this moment is not described in the director's notes in any way, apparently, we are dealing with a brilliant improvisation of the actor himself. Or he just stumbled, stepping on his own tail, which also happens during filming.
End of the video.
Scene 8, purple
As you might guess, the Mermaid did not manage to return home in such a bizarre way. But our hero did not leave him in trouble.
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According to the director's idea, expensive special effects and computer animation were to be involved in this place. During the filming, instead of the Mermaid, a chicken carcass was used, which was previously painted purple. In the full version of the video, it was planned to replace it with a 3D model of the Mermaid, but the cost of the animators' work turned out to be so high that at the very last moment they decided to abandon it. So a chicken painted with paint remained in the video, which somewhat discouraged the audience. Apparently, this was exactly the moment that the company representatives spoke about when they announced that several scenes would be re-shot for the full-length film.
It is also not entirely clear whether the bat should remain in the hands of the hero in the final version. Or it will be replaced, say, with a magic wand.
One thing is for sure – returning home, Rusalka exceeded the speed limit according to the rules of the road, and was captured by the traffic police camera.
End of the video.
Scene nine, gray
Having sent all the unexpected guests out of his room, our hero finally got the opportunity to think calmly.
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iPhone 7, which turned out to be a simple 'dialer'. Lying Siri, who is actually a deaf man. Solved all the problems of a grenade with an inscription 4MP. Piano with crystal clear sound and slotted speakers on the sides. It all made sense. All these were pieces of a mosaic, from which the general picture was gradually formed, fascinating and frightening at the same time.
Suddenly our hero realized that all this time the decision was under his nose, but he stubbornly did not notice it. The answer lay in plain sight all this time, but he himself preferred not to see it.
A Sound of Thunder.
End of the video.
Scene ten, black
He was tapped on the shoulder from behind. Until recently, the hero would have wondered where a person could appear in a closed room. But now he knew that nothing was impossible in the world.
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They looked at each other in silence. Hero and stranger, writer and character, teacher and student.
They didn't need words. Words can deceive. The eyes are not.
'You're a fine fellow,' thought the stranger. – You're on the right track. Now that you understand the true essence of things, I can give you a little hint. '
“Don't,” our hero thought in response, “don’t change your rules. I'll find the answer myself '
'Good. Search. Cut out all the husks, get to the bottom of it, 'said the eyes of the stranger.
He silently threw the magician's black top hat at the feet of our hero and without saying a word aloud he walked away. And the hero got to the bottom of it.
End of the video.
Part eleven, white
Our hero opened his eyes. He was lying on the bed in the very white room in which he came to after an evening in the bar. Hare, Cowardice, Mermaid, long wanderings in the fog and a cube with the inscription M9, which was the only bright spot in this entire dark story – was it all at all? Is it a dream or reality? But it was no longer important – whether in a dream or in reality, but he had already found the solution to the puzzle. Which means that nothing else keeps him here.
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Reflections were interrupted by a stranger who silently picked up a suitcase with iPhone 7 and left, closing the door behind him.
Of course, when our hero ran to the door and pulled the handle, it was closed. It was very annoying. The stranger promised him that he could get out of here as soon as he found the answer to his question. And this man was clearly not one of those who cheat.
'So the answer is not correct? – thought the hero. – Or … the whole point is that despite the found solution, I still do not believe in myself? It's one thing to know that you can do anything. Feeling almighty is another matter. '
The hero quickly looked around the room, looking for some clue. And I saw a cylinder on the floor, which now turned white. 'Good sign! – for some reason he thought, putting his hat on his head. – Now then I will definitely succeed! '.
It turned out that the hat covered the keyhole with the key already inserted into it. There was a tag on the key with the number 9. One movement and the brickwork outside the window was replaced by a sunny landscape.
The hero took one last look around this strange room and disappeared behind the door. Ahead of him was a very interesting life in a familiar, but at the same time amazing and full of secrets and mysteries world.
Part twelve, the last
– What's the best phone in the world? – asked our hero of a person passing by, lovingly stroking a new one iPhone.
– Of course iPhone, what is there to think! – he exclaimed.
“Not all that glitters is gold,” our hero said edifyingly, pushing the unlucky passer-by into the door that was painfully familiar to us, which appeared from the air. – It took me one night to get to this clever idea. Let's see how much you can handle …
Outcome
Even taking into account the fact that all these are only rough sketches that the director made for the very first commercials HTC, we can safely say that we are waiting for a real hit. This will be a picture of life and death, truth and lies, the place in this world of each person and the framework into which we involuntarily drive ourselves.
Before that, we knew HTC only as a company that produces unusual smartphones. And now – as people who create amazing and unparalleled films. Films after which the world will never be the same for us.
The only pity is that it will take a long time to wait for the end of filming – according to preliminary forecasts, the film will not be released until mid-2016. And when he gets to the cinemas of our country is completely a mystery. But I am ready to wait for such a picture.
Would you like to see a movie like this?
