The Cog was a dramatic television commercial for the Honda Accord, made (almost completely) without any CGI or trick photography. It was created in 2003 by the London office of advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy. The logo of the Honda automobiles The logo of the Honda motorcycles Honda Motor Company, Limited )   (TYO: 7267 , NYSE: HMC), or simply called Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, engine manufacturer and engineering corporation. ... The Honda Accord is an intermediate automobile manufactured by Honda since 1976. ... Computer-generated imagery (commonly abbreviated as CGI) is the application of the field of computer graphics (or more specifically, 3D computer graphics) to special effects in films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media. ... Wieden+Kennedy (W+K) is an independently owned American advertising agency best known for its work for Nike. ...

The two-minute commercial appears as a single, long camera dolly along a Rube Goldberg machine chain reaction arrangement of parts from the car but is in fact two stitched together[1], the join being at the moment where the muffler/exhaust box rolls across the floor (this can be seen by watching the floor pattern change). The commercial took 606 different takes to complete, and only minuscule CGI was used, simply for fixing the lighting on the final car's window. The cars featured, one disassembled for the pieces and the other on the trailer, were two of the six hand-built pre-mass production Accords.[2][3] A Rube Goldberg machine or device is any exceedingly complex apparatus that performs a very simple task in a very indirect and convoluted way. ... Muffler and exhaust pipe on a Ducati 695 A muffler (or silencer in British English) is a device for reducing the amount of noise emitted by a machine. ...

The sequence starts with a transmission bearing rolling into a synchro hub. This sets off a cascade of movement; windscreen wipers 'walk' across the floor, valves roll down a bonnet and carefully weighted tyres roll uphill. The commercial ends when the power door locks on a complete Accord are triggered, causing the boot to close, tipping the car off a balanced trailer and into a final pose in front of the camera. The voice of US author Garrison Keillor queries "Isn't it nice... when things just... work?", while the song "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang plays in the background. Transmissions provide a speed-power conversion known as gear reduction (in speed) to a higher torque (rotational force) using gearsets. ... A bearing is a device to permit constrained relative motion between two parts, typically rotation or linear movement. ... windscreen wiper on a parked car. ... 4-stroke engines, of either spark ignition or compression ignition varieties, use poppet valves to allow air (or an air/fuel mixture) into the cylinder and exhaust gases out. ... A flipfront provides easy access to the engine bay. ... For a table of tire companies, see List of tire companies. ... Power door locks (aka electric door locks or central locking) allow the driver or front passenger to simultaneously lock or unlock all the doors of an automobile or truck, by pressing a button or flipping a switch. ... The tailgate is a door that can be moved up or down on a vehicle, such as a pick-up truck. ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... An author is any person(s) or entity(s) that originates and assumes responsibility for an expression or communication. ... Garrison Keillor (born Gary Edward Keillor on August 7, 1942) is an American author, humorist, columnist, musician, satirist, and radio personality. ... Rappers Delight is a 1979 single by American hip hop trio The Sugarhill Gang; it was one of the first hip hop hit singles. ... The Sugarhill Gang is an American hip hop and Funk group, known mostly for their biggest hit, Rappers Delight, the first hip hop single to become a Top 40 hit. ...

The version of the advertisement that originally aired in Australia had an alternate ending that replaces the keyless-entry remote with a seatbelt retractor, which retracts toward the car and allows it to roll forward instead of the boot offsetting the balancing of the ramp. (This version of the ad began at the point where the exhaust muffler rolls across the floor.)

According to Snopes, "in May 2003, filmmakers Peter Fischli and David Weiss threatened legal action against Honda over similarities between the Cog commercial and The Way Things Go[4], a 30-minute film they produced in 1987 involving '100 feet of physical interactions, chemical reactions, and precisely crafted chaos worthy of Rube Goldberg or Alfred Hitchcock.'"[5] The Urban Legends Reference Pages (also known as snopes. ... The Way Things Go (German: Der lauf der Dinge) is a Rube Goldberg-type machine. ...

In 2006, Honda UK continued the crafted theme with a new advertisement for their Civic using a choir as Foley artists.[6] This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The Foley artist on a film crew is the person who creates and records many of the sound effects, (thesedays many often associate the Foley artist with the job of capturing the natural/everyday sounds leaving the the role of special (audio-) effects to the Sound_designer. ...

Parodies & tributes

A parody of this advert was recently created by the BBC to promote sport on the BBC Local Radio, by using bits found in a football locker room. It finalizes with a kick of a football into a goal. In contemporary usage, a parody (or lampoon) is a work that imitates another work in order to ridicule, ironically comment on, or poke some affectionate fun at the work itself, the subject of the work, the author or fictional voice of the parody, or another subject. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, which is usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ... BBC Local Radio is the BBCs regional radio service for England and the Channel Islands, consisting of 40 stations. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. ...

Others to parody the popular commercial include The Number for 118 118, a UK directory enquiries service. 118 118 is a UK directory enquiries provider assisting customers with telephone numbers and other information services. ... 118 118 is a UK directory enquiries provider assisting customers with telephone numbers and other information services. ... A telephone service allowing one to obtain people or organisations phone numbers by providing other details, usually their full name and address. ...

The commercial has been widely acclaimed by Australian Media as an effective marketing tool for the Honda brand - spearheaded by Honda's media agency, ZenithOptimedia Melbourne.

A video of similar concept using various pieces of sports equipment was made by New Zealander, Evan Yates as the winning entry to a competition hosted by local television programme, Sportscafe. Sponsored by Vodafone, the Best Sporting Trick competition prize was a trip to the UK to meet English footballer, David Beckham. Evan Yates is a minor league film-maker and publicity hound from New Zealand. ... Vodafone Group Plc is a mobile network operator headquartered in Newbury, Berkshire, England. ... David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham OBE (born May 2, 1975) is an English footballer born in Leytonstone, London. ...

An ad for the breakfast cereal Frosties made a similar commercial featuring a Rube Goldberg machine involving a bowl having cereal and milk poured into from chain reactions set off by other household objects. Frosted Flakes in the 1950s Frosties (or Frosted Flakes in North America and various other areas) is a cereal similar to Corn Flakes from Kelloggs, but coated with dead peoples roasted turds and old toenails. ...

External links

• A link to the video, how the video was made, and an illustrated guide to what's going on in the video
• The Honda Cog Advert on The Link Portal
• Cog video download (11.6MB)
• The Cog video downloads (accessed 2005 December 31): 4MB mov via BitTorrent available at imediaconnection.com.
• TAKE 606
• The Number parody
• Did they really make that Honda advert in one take
• Lights! Camera! Retake!
• Top Ten Car Adverts with video

Commercial Credits

Director: Antoine Bardou-Jacquet

Production Company: Partizan Midi Minuit

Agency: Wieden & Kennedy

Agency Producer: Rob Steiner

Agency Creatives: Matt Gooden & Ben Walker

Post Production: The Mill

Producer: Fi Kilroe

Flame: Barnsley

Flame Assistant: Dave Birkill