This spot fills the screen with the screen of a smart phone on which plays an exchange of text messages. A friend urges another to come to the movie theater. The text conversation starts with the recipient of the first message initially resisting, about to go to bed. Eventually she acquiesces and jumps in her car to hurry over to the theater. The texting continues with her behind the wheel.
Suddenly and sadly, the texting becomes one-sided, with no response from the teen driver.
A sobering text message then appears on screen from this spot’s sponsor: “Put it down. Save your Life. Project Yellow Light.”
Project Yellow Light is a film competition for the Hunter Garner Scholarship, which is awarded annually to the Virginia high school student who submits the most compelling save driving video. The scholarship was established by Julie Garner, a VP at The Martin Agency, Richmond, Va., who lost her 16-year-old son, Hunter, in a car accident in 2007. The goal of the video competition is to create videos that will influence teens to embrace safe driving habits.
“The Last Text” is one of two Project Yellow Light spots designed to spur high school students in Virginia to create and enter videos into the competition. These spots designed to spur action were produced by ONE at Optimus, the live-action production arm of post house Optimus, which joined forces with The Martin Agency on the project. These professional spots have been added to the Project Yellow Light website that also showcases teen videos created over the past few years.
“Car accidents are the number one killer of teens in the U.S., and more than 300,000 are seriously injured each year,” said Julie Garner. “We launched Project Yellow Light to keep our son Hunter’s name alive and to empower teens to create videos to spread the word about safe driving. After running the scholarship contest for four years, we asked ONE at Optimus to create professional yet accessible spots that would inspire teens to develop their own polished and savvy videos. The spots ONE created were perfect–they hit the message without being ‘preachy’–and really got the kids excited about taking it up a notch in their own videos.”
More than a dozen staffers at The Martin Agency have been involved in Project Yellow Light since its inception in 2007. Friends of Julie Garner at the agency have donated their time and talent to create the website, guide teens in video production and development, and even act as judges to choose the scholarship winners.
The two Project Yellow Light spots were directed and edited by Otto Arsenault of ONE at Optimus. The ensemble of talent from ONE at Optimus also included creative director/exec producer John Noble, writer Amanda Speva, producer Sarah Slevin and DP Mark Pallman. Audio engineer was Joel Anderson of Optimus.
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