This spot presents a series of flashbacks, showing scenes from a meth addict’s life and the venues in which they took place. First we see dramatic glimpses of a man going into convulsions on a couch. As we see the couch–now sans the man–a female voiceover relates that this is where he went into convulsions.
Next we’re taken to a hospital emergency room where the addict nearly died–and then to an alley adjacent to what appears to be a junkyard. The young female voiceover continues, telling us that this is where he began smoking again right after he got out of the hospital.
And then we see a dark, secluded basement/supply room which is where, the woman says, he hung himself because he couldn’t quit meth.
Finally we see the woman who is speaking to us. She continues, “And this is what I said when he told me he was going to try meth.” What follows is a silence as we see anguish across her face.
An end tag carries the slogan, “Meth. Not Even One,” accompanied by the Montana Meth website address, MontanaMeth.org.
“Ben” is one of four TV spots telling stories based on composites of real testimony from addicts and those close to them across the State of Montana. The campaign tells the heartbreaking stories of kids who saw their friends consumed by addiction–and who recall with guilt and sadness not having said anything when informed that their friends were going to try meth for the first time.
Wally Pfister of Independent Media directed and shot the spots for Venables Bell & Partners, San Francisco. Pfister is a three-time Academy Award-nominated cinematographer (most recently for The Dark Knight), and has successfully nestled in the commercial director’s chair at Independent Media.
The Venables Bell & Partners’ team consisted of creative director Paul Venables, associate creative director James Robinson, art director Keith Scott, copywriter Paul Johnson, executive agency producer Craig Allen and producer Nicolette Guidotti.
Editor was Paul Martinez of Arcade Edit.
“A Complete Unknown,” “Wicked,” “Sing Sing,” “Baby Reindeer” Among Guild of Music Supervisors Award Winners
The Guild of Music Supervisors held its 15th annual awards ceremony on Sunday night (2/23) at the Wiltern Theatre in L.A., honoring the best achievements in music supervision and songwriting with feature category winners including “Wicked,” “A Complete Unknown,” “I Saw the TV Glow” and “Sing Sing.” Among the TV category winners were “Baby Reindeer,” “English Teacher” and “Agatha All Along.”
Stephen Schwartz was awarded the Icon Award to celebrate his contributions to the music and film industry. Schwartz performed his song “Beautiful City” on stage from his musical “Godspell.” Music producer and supervisor Bonnie Greenberg took to the stage to accept the Legacy Award for her outstanding career in music supervision. Music supervisor and executive at EA Games Steve Schnur won the most awards for the evening with two wins for his work on video games EA Sports FC 25 and Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
Keeping their promise of live performances from Best Song nominees, Oscar-nominees Abraham Alexander & Adrian Quesada performed their nominated song “Like a Bird” from “Sing Sing,” which took the prize for Best Song Written and/or Recorded for a Film. Danielle Ponder performed her nominated song “Egún” from Apple TV’s “Manhunt,” and the artist Role Model gave a rousing performance of their song “Sally, When The Wine Runs Out” as the Spotlight artist of the evening.
The complete winners list for the 15th Annual Guild of Music Supervisors Awards is as follows.
FILM
Best Music Supervision in Major Budget Films
Maggie Rodford - “Wicked”
Best Music Supervision in Mid-Level Budget Films
Steven Gizicki - “A... Read More