Kids compare action figures during kindergarten playtime. The first lad holds Viking Man who has a magic helmet. Another touts the super human abilities of his Robo Droid from outer space.
But a third boy eclipses them both. “They are no match for Renewable Energy Man,” declares the youngster. “He uses sun-water-wind power.”
The boy, with Renewable Energy Man in hand, then runs circles, literally, around his two playmates, repeatedly chanting his “Sun-Water-Wind” mantra.
The kindergarten teacher intervenes, “Billy, your mom’s here.” We then see that the mother is wearing a Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) shirt. In reference to Billy’s behavior, the teacher says to the mom, “Looks like you’ve been taking your work home.”
Billy jumps into the arms of his mommy who carries him away over her shoulder. As we see his two playmates look up at him, Billy affirms to them in battle cry fashion, “The future is clean energy.”
A female voiceover then notes that sun, water, wind and other renewables make up 30 percent of the energy PG&E delivers. The future is renewable energy.”
Titled “Action Figure,” the spot is one of four in a PG&E campaign directed by Alison Maclean of Park Pictures, New York, for Venables, Bell & Partners, San Francisco.
The agency team on “Action Figure” consisted of creative directors Paul Venables and Greg Bell, copywriter Chip Waters, art director Will Dean and producer Stacy Higgins.
Jackie Kelman Bisbee executive produced for Park Pictures, with Mary Ann Marino serving as producer. The DP was Rodrigo Prieto.
Bob Frisk of Phoenix Edit, Effects & Design, San Francisco, edited the campaign. Other Phoenix contributors were motion graphics designer Bobby Van Dyke, visual effects artist Matt Silverman, online editors John Crossley and Treena Loria, executive producer Jonathan Hinman and producer Lisa Houck. Colorist was Stefan Sonnenfeld of Company 3, Santa Monica. Audio mixer was Mark Pitchford of M Squared Productions, San Francisco. Music composer on “Action Figure” was Jason Johnson of stimmung, Santa Monica.
Review: Director/Co-Writer Kyle Hausmann-Stokes’ “My Dead Friend Zoe”
Even for a film titled "My Dead Friend Zoe," the opening scenes of Kyle Hausmann-Stokes' movie have a startling rhythm. First, two female American soldiers are riding in a Humvee in Afghanistan 2016 blasting Rihanna's "Umbrella." They are clearly friends, and more concerned with the music coming through loudly than enemy fire. Zoe (Natalie Morales) tells Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green) tells that if they ever set foot in "some dopy group therapy," to please kill her. Cut to years later, they're sitting in a counseling meeting for veterans and Morales' character has a sour look at her face. She turns to her friend: "Did we survive the dumbest war of all time just to sit here all broken and kumbaya and ouchie-my-feelings?" But after this rush of cavalier soldiering and bitter sarcasm comes a sobering moment. Merit blinks her eyes and is instead staring at an empty chair. Zoe isn't there at all. "My Dead Friend Zoe," co-starring Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris, confronts a dark reality of post-combat struggle with as much humor and playfulness as it does trauma and sorrow. It comes from a real place, and you can tell. Hausmann-Stoke is himself a veteran and "My Dead Friend Zoe" is dedicated to a pair of his platoon mates who killed themselves. The opening titles note the film was "inspired by a true story." Audience disinterest has characterized many, though not all, of the films about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and the output has pretty much dried up over the years. "My Dead Friend Zoe" feels like it was made with an awareness of that trend and as a rebuke to it. This is an often breezy and funny movie for what, on paper, is a difficult and dark story. But the comic tone of "My Dead Friend Zoe" is, itself, a spirited rejection to not just the heaviness... Read More