A teenage girl remembers the day she visited Children’s Memorial Hospital (CMH) for a brain tumor. “It kept coming back,” she said of the recurring tumor, relating that a CMH doctor wanted to “try something new.”
That “something” was a state-of-the-art treatment, a process that is reflected around her visually like electrons circling a nucleus. Scenes of the youngster being in a wheelchair and laying flat on a CT scan table give way to her today looking well. Seated in a library, the girl notes that thanks to that one fateful day at CMH, she has since enjoyed 1,427 more–and counting.
A voiceover informs us that nearly 70 percent of Chicago-area children diagnosed with brain tumors are treated at CMH. Supered messages read, “New treatments, new cures, new hope for the future,” accompanied by the CMH logo and slogan, “Where kids come first.”
Titled “One Day,” this PSA is part of a two-spot campaign based on true stories and directed by Steve Beck of Rhythm + Hues Commercial Studios, Los Angeles, for agency Element 79 Partners, Chicago. The other PSA is titled “5 Candles” and tells the story of an infant who was brought into the hospital with respiratory problems. He is rushed into a treatment room and his life is saved. Now he is celebrating his fifth birthday.
The Element 79 creative team consisted of group creative director Susan Bertocchi, art director David Boensch, copywriter Greg Oreskovich and freelance producer Lisa Von Drehle.
This agency ensemble saw its CMH campaign win Element 79’s annual internal creative department competition. To their peers at the shop, different Element 79 creatives make a presentation about their favorite work of the past year. The three highest scoring presenters then make the finals. Agency artisans voted to give the top honor, this year’s Alchemy Award (for creating gold), to the creatives on the CMH work, which earns them a trip to the Cannes International Advertising Festival in June.
Beck’s support team at Rhythm+Hues included executive producer Paul Babb and producer Joel Zimmerman. The DP was David Kessler. Production designer was Jeff Dombro.
Rhythm+Hues also handled editorial, 2D effects and Flame work. Editor was Jay Lizarraga, with additional cutting by Steve Wellington. The latter also served as online editor. Visual effects supervisor/lead Flame artist was John Heller. Flame artists were Yukiko Ishiwata and Eric DeHaven. Roto artist as Sheri Cruz. Lisa White is head of production, commercial digital, while Ken Roupenian is director, digital production, and Stacy Burstin is executive director, design division. Anjelica Casillas is manager, track, rig and animation; Jay Miya is manager, light, FX, pipeline; Jenny Groener is manager of compositing and rotoscoping; and Thom Burkhart is 2D operations manager.
Colorist was Stefan Sonnenfeld of Company 3, Santa Monica. Missy Papageorge produced for Company 3. Additional telecine was done at Spy Post, San Francisco, with Gary Coates and Lori Joseph serving as colorist and producer, respectively. Audio mixer/sound designer was John Binder of Another Country, Chicago. Michelle Hofbauer produced for Another Country.
Bicoastal Elias Arts turned out the music. The Elias coterie of talent was comprised of creative director David Gold, composers Jonathan Elias and Chip Jenkins, and head of production/producer Dayna Turcotte. Elias was the composer on “One Day” and Jenkins on “5 Candles.”
The cast of “One Day” consisted of Stephanie Flood who was the healthy girl today, Sarah Saltiel who played the patient when she was younger, Cathleen Coyle who portrayed the girl’s mother, and Dr. Goldman as the doctor.
Oscar Nominees Delve Into The Art Of Editing At ACE Session
You couldn’t miss Sean Baker at this past Sunday’s Oscar ceremony where he won for Best Picture, Directing, Original Screenplay and Editing on the strength of Anora. However, earlier that weekend he was in transit from the Cesar Awards in Paris and thus couldn’t attend the American Cinema Editors (ACE) 25th annual panel of Academy Award-nominated film editors held at the Regal LA Live Auditorium on Saturday (3/1) in Los Angeles. While the eventual Oscar winner in the editing category was missed by those who turned out for the ACE “Invisible Art, Visible Artists” session, three of Baker’s fellow nominees were on hand--Dávid Jancsó, HSE for The Brutalist; Nick Emerson for Conclave; and Myron Kerstein, ACE for Wicked. Additionally, Juliette Welfling, who couldn’t appear in person due to the Cesar Awards, was present via an earlier recorded video interview to discuss her work on Emilia Pérez. The interview was conducted by ACE president and editor Sabrina Plisco, ACE who also moderated the live panel discussion. Kerstein said that he was the beneficiary of brilliant and generous collaborators, citing, among others, director Jon M. Chu, cinematographer Alice Brooks, and visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman. The editor added it always helps to have stellar acting performances, noting that hearing Cynthia Erivo, for example, sing live was a revelation. Kerstein recalled meeting Chu some eight years ago on a “blind Skype date” and it was an instant “bromance”--which began on Crazy Rich Asians, and then continued on such projects as the streaming series Home Before Dark and the feature In The Heights. Kerstein observed that Chu is expert in providing collaborators with... Read More