The iconic “I Love New York” campaign took on a new wrinkle with the unveiling of four short films created by students to promote tourism for New York State. From this mix, earning inclusion in our “The Best Work You May Never See” gallery is Crush, a short centered on a young girl’s family vacation to such stops as Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Versailles, NY.
Highlighting the Greater Niagara and Chautauqua-Allegheny regions of New York State, Crush was directed and written by Gabrielle Demeestere and Sasie Sealy, students at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts Graduate School of Film.
The short depicts a chance meeting between the young girl and a lad who’s on vacation with his family. She first sees him during a break from her family road trip as she is drinking an Orange Crush soda, an apropos prelude to a crush of another kind. It’s seemingly an attraction at first sight but they don’t meet and talk to one another until several travel stops later when he seeks her out at Niagara Falls. Both are wearing slickers and getting drenched.
Nate and Sarah then keep in touch via text messaging on their cellphones, her telling text being “I” followed by a heart sign (fashioned from a couple of well placed keystrokes–“<3”) “NY”–the “NY being left to some interpretation as it could be an abbreviation for New York and/or the boy whose full name is Nate Young.
This charming short lives on www.iloveny.com and can also be seen on I Love New York’s Facebook and Youtube pages. As part of a partnership between JetBlue and the State of New York, this and the other student films are being shown on JetBlue’s in-flight seatback program. Additionally there could be some free public screenings at local art institutions statewide, and film festivals. Also under consideration is entering the films into the student category at upcoming film fests for 2011.
Teamwork
The overall campaign initiative had teams of students–culled from hundreds of candidates–tasked with creating short films that entertained the viewer and highlighted New York State’s various assets. The initiative sprung out of the ProMotion Pictures NYU program that taps into its MBAs as well as graduate students in its film school to create and produce minimovies for marketers. The project had two prime goals: to support the arts in N.Y. in recognition of the 50th anniversary of state funding for the arts; and to create unique branded entertainment for New York State tourism.
“I Love New York wanted to give creative license to the students to create films that capture and help define New York State’s personality differently than a traditional tourism commercial might,” explained Maha Eltobgy, VP of marketing strategy for Empire State Development, which administers the “I Love New York” campaign.
Providing students with resources and support were such entities as Empire State Development, ProMotion Pictures, Moxie Pictures, and Company 3.
Professionals at commercial production and branded content house Moxie were brought on as advisors and exec producers, mentoring one of the student filmmaking teams–Demeestere and Sealy–on not only Crush but a series of minute-long NY love story pieces. While I Love New York offered students the chance to work with a real-world client, Moxie provided them a glimpse of how a real-world production company works in conjunction with a client.
Company 3 color corrected all the final films. Justin Quagliata served as editor on Crush.
Tourism, production
Pat Swinney Kaufman, executive director of the N.Y. Governor’s Office for Motion Picture & Television department, said, “This was a terrific opportunity to combine forces and build on the strength of both industries [film and tourism].”
This campaign follows the August unveiling of pro-bono, star-studded TV commercials promoting New York State travel, directed by Bob Giraldi of Giraldi Media and featuring Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey, Rachael Ray and NY Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez.
The new student shorts and longer form spots serve as unconventional, supplementary branding for younger online audiences.
