This spot thrusts us into murky water, literally, as a male voiceover relates, “There are places where children don’t fear imaginary monsters lurking in shadows or under their beds–for they fear real ones lurking in the water.”
As we see indiscernible microorganisms floating about, the voiceover describes these real monsters as “too small to be seen” yet they leave behind death and disease.
A message appears on screen which reads, “Unsafe drinking water kills 5,000 children every day.”
Slowly we see one of the hard to identify objects in the water only too clear. It’s a child’s teddy bear which looks like a floating corpse.
A female voice intervenes, “There is hope at tapproject.org/boston.”
The spot is tagged with the Tap Project logo and website address.
The Tap Project is a nationwide effort by restaurants to raise money for UNICEF’s global clean water programs. The “Monsters” :30 is running in the Boston market.
“Monsters” was directed by Laurence Dunmore of bicoastal/international RSA Films for Hill Holliday, Boston. Fran McGivern executive produced for RSA with Michelle Abbott serving as producer. The DP was Salvatore Totino.
The Hill Holliday team included chief creative officer Kevin Moehlenkamp, creative director Ernie Schenck, associate creative director/art director Mike Shaughnessy, associate creative director/copywriter Jeff Baxter, executive producer Scott Hainline and assistant producer Carissa Marlowe.
Editor was Marc Langley of The Whitehouse, which has bases in Santa Monica, San Francisco, Chicago, New York and London. Colorist was Tim Masick at Company 3, New York. Brickyard VFX, Boston, handled visual effects. Soundtrack, Boston was the audio post house. Voiceover casting was done by Just Voices.
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More