This is a little old, I know, but I just caught another glimpse of the famous Sony Bravia commercial. Basically, it's a very simple ad featuring 250,000 superballs (aka "bouncy balls") bouncing down a typical San Francisco street. The mere sight of such a thing is incredible…it's definitely worth a look. Here's a streaming YouTube version, though I encourage you to visit the link where you can find a high-resolution Quicktime version, which gives you a much fuller effect of how cool this commercial really is.
According to Sony's site, the entire effect was captured without the use of computer graphics:
In an age when CGI is commonplace, this makes the commercial all the more extraordinary. Every single frame was shot over two days – with the main sequence involving a 23-man camera crew and only one chance to get it right.
An entire block was closed off and special compressed-air cannons shot the balls into the air, while earth moving equipment poured thousands down the street. Not that you'd know it from the finished product, but these balls can do some damage, so all the cars were props and crew members went so far as to having protective shields and crash helmets.
Pretty cool stuff.
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