This spot opens on a basic GPS map, outlining a suburban town. As the camera zooms in, an automated voice directs us to the next moves on our route, and a blue arrow guides us down streets that become increasingly more detailed on the map. The graphics progress from flat, one-dimensional buildings, to 3D representations that grow progressively more realistic as we speed closer to our destination.
The arrow then unnervingly goes off course, no longer on streets but instead zipping through residential backyards, maneuvering over fences and twisting itself to slide through fences and gates. The arrow makes its way into a residential backyard, and smashes into the house of an innocent victim: a small girl, playing quietly. The arrow-bullet shatters the window in slow motion, and shards of glass frame the girl as a target, freezing on her unprotected face. An explosive crash and sudden jolt of red signal despair as the scene cuts to a graphically beating heart, then silence. The voiceover continues, “you have reached your destination,” and the tag appears, “Stray bullets find people.” A black screen with the website endgunviolence.com closes out the spot.
The animated :30 PSA was produced by bicoastal design/production studio Blind for agency Martin Williams, Minneapolis. Blind’s art director Sakona Kong oversaw the project as creative director while also serving as a designer and 3D animator.
“The misdirection of the bullet posed the greatest challenge,” related Kong. “There needed to be a seamless transition from the familiar, mechanical GPS display and arrow to something that, while unclear, conveys an ominous event.” Kong and his animation team found solutions by moving into and through the 2D display and having a dimensional world evolve around the viewer. An additional element the team had to work with was taking a benign GPS arrow on a straightforward path, and turn it into something dangerous and menacing. For this, Kong altered the movement of the arrow, giving it an arbitrary yet violent characteristic. Utilizing various tools including Cinema 4D, Maya and AfterEffects, the result is a seamless transition and narrative that is surprising, shocking and effective.
The Martin Williams creative ensemble included creative director Randy Tatum, art director Toby Balai, copywriter Steve Casey, exec producer Stan Prinsen and senior producer Jennifer Cadwell.
Chris Oneil and Josh Childers joined Kong as 3D animators on the job for Blind. And Kong, Kenny Kegley, Paul Kim and Stef Roberts were Blind’s designers. Producer was Dana Vaden.
Disney Pledges $15 million In L.A. Fire Aid As More Celebs Learn They’ve Lost Their Homes
The Pacific Palisades wildfires torched the home of "This Is Us" star Milo Ventimiglia, perhaps most poignantly destroying the father-to-be's newly installed crib.
CBS cameras caught the actor walking through his charred house for the first time, standing in what was once his kitchen and looking at a neighborhood in ruin. "Your heart just breaks."
He and his pregnant wife, Jarah Mariano, evacuated Tuesday with their dog and they watched on security cameras as the flames ripped through the house, destroying everything, including a new crib.
"There's a kind of shock moment where you're going, 'Oh, this is real. This is happening.' What good is it to continue watching?' And then at a certain point we just turned it off, like 'What good is it to continue watching?'"
Firefighters sought to make gains Friday during a respite in the heavy winds that fanned the flames as numerous groups pledged aid to help victims and rebuild, including a $15 million donation pledge from the Walt Disney Co.
More stars learn their homes are gone
While seeing the remains of his home, Ventimiglia was struck by a connection to his "This Is Us" character, Jack Pearson, who died after inhaling smoke in a house fire. "It's not lost on me life imitating art."
Mandy Moore, who played Ventimiglia's wife on "This Is Us," nearly lost her home in the Eaton fire, which scorched large areas of the Altadena neighborhood. She said Thursday that part of her house is standing but is unlivable, and her husband lost his music studio and all his instruments.
Mel Gibson's home is "completely gone," his publicist Alan Nierob confirmed Friday. The Oscar winner revealed the loss of his home earlier Friday while appearing on Joe Rogan's... Read More