Sad to say but it is all too easy to tune out most messages geared at teaching us about workplace safety–they’re generally either lame or laughable. But not “Shopgirl,” which is one of three commercials DraftFCB, Toronto, created for Ontario’s WS&IB (Workplace Safety & Insurance Board). Part of a larger, integrated campaign, the spots were directed by Happy (the directing duo comprising Richard Farmer and Guy Shelmerdine), which is represented by bicoastal Smuggler in the United States and Soft Citizen, Toronto, in Canada.
The :30 “Shopgirl” opens with a heart-stopping mishap that finds a young woman (Hayley Andoff) who works in a hip clothing store falling off a ladder while trying to hang a banner, crashing through a glass display case below. A stunned co-worker (Sarah Bolstridge) rushes to her aid, screaming, “There’s been an accident! Somebody help!”
To her surprise, the bloody victim stands up and immediately launches into a diatribe. “Accident? This is no accident!” the victim says. “The company should have replaced that ladder years ago. I knew I shouldn’t have reached over like that. And why isn’t there a strict policy about two people doing a job like this?”
The spot concludes with the tagline, “There really are no accidents,” and viewers are directed to Prevent-it.ca. for more information.
Even after multiple viewings of the spot, the girl’s horrific fall stuns, and it’s this unvarnished realism that shocks one into actually taking note of what she has to say about workplace accidents.
As indicated in the tagline, the spot aims to drive home the message that there really are no accidents, said DraftFCB group creative director/art director Joe Piccolo, who conceptualized “Shopgirl” and the other spots in the campaign with associate creative director/copywriter Chris Taciuk.
Based on information and statistics provided by WS&IB, the agency learned “that there is always a sequence of events leading up to these ‘accidents,’ ” Piccolo explained. “From there we thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if the person who is probably dead or near dead were to get up and explain that there are no accidents?'”
Hoping to reach different groups of workers, Piccolo and Taciuk crafted the retail-set “Shopgirl” for younger white collar workers. Another spot called “Factory” targets blue collar workers. A third spot titled “Funeral” portrays a worker who sits up in his coffin to lament the fact that he lost his battle with high voltage wires while on the job.
The agency knew it had great scripts on its hands, Piccolo said. But the client, a government agency, only had so much money to spend on directing talent. Undaunted, DraftFCB decided to go after A-listers. “We thought, ‘No harm, no foul. Why don’t we write up a description of the ideas and why we feel this is a powerful message that needs to be shared and what we’re trying to do and send out a letter to some of the directors that we really admire?’ ” Piccolo shared.
The feedback? “We were absolutely floored at the response. We thought maybe if we get lucky, we get one director interested. But we had many directors wanting to do this,” Piccolo revealed. The Happy duo was chosen based on its reel and enthusiasm for the project.
The job certainly presented a challenge for Happy in that two of the spots required the creation of rather violent accidents. “There is so much comedy with accidents in commercials. The audience’s knee-jerk reaction is to laugh,” Farmer remarked. “So there was this whole fine line of really trying to make sure that the instant they saw [the accidents], there’s not a laugh, there’s shock.”
“I think the thing we had to focus on mostly with them was how to handle the gore aspect,” Shelmerdine added.
For all the spots, including “Shopgirl,” Happy did a great deal of research to find out exactly what would happen in terms of injury in the accidents shown. Besides consulting with medical experts, the directing duo hired famed special effects makeup artist Gordon Smith, whose credits include Oliver Stone films such as Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July.
As for the stunt itself depicted in “Shopgirl,” Happy captured it for real. The first take was a keeper and the stuntwoman was just fine. “Originally, we thought we were going to do it with plates and special effects, but we did it all in-camera,” Shelmerdine said, noting that Framestore CFC, New York, did a bit of clean-up work.
Johnny Devries of School Edit, Toronto, cut “Shopgirl.” “We told him we didn’t want the audience to see the accident coming,” Piccolo said.
Devries chose to show the accident unfold in a simple, straightforward way. “Sometimes when you want to get a great idea across the hardest thing to do is to take away–full kudos to Johnny for having that discipline,” Piccolo praised. “There were all of these great shots. We had stuff where the girl is walking up to the ladder and all that, and Johnny just stripped everything away. We thought he did an amazing job.”
Review: Director Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked”
It's the ultimate celebrity redemption tour, two decades in the making. In the annals of pop culture, few characters have undergone an image makeover quite like the Wicked Witch of the West.
Oh, she may have been vengeful and scary in "The Wizard of Oz." But something changed — like, REALLY changed — on the way from the yellow brick road to the Great White Way. Since 2003, crowds have packed nightly into "Wicked" at Broadway's Gershwin Theatre to cheer as the green-skinned, misunderstood Elphaba rises up on her broomstick to belt "Defying Gravity," that enduring girl-power anthem.
How many people have seen "Wicked"? Rudimentary math suggests more than 15 million on Broadway alone. And now we have "Wicked" the movie, director Jon M. Chu's lavish, faithful, impeccably crafted (and nearly three-hour) ode to this origin story of Elphaba and her (eventual) bestie — Glinda, the very good and very blonde. Welcome to Hollywood, ladies.
Before we get to what this movie does well (Those big numbers! Those costumes!), just a couple thornier issues to ponder. Will this "Wicked," powered by a soulful Cynthia Erivo (owner of one of the best singing voices on the planet) and a sprightly, comedic, hair-tossing Ariana Grande, turn even musical theater haters into lovers?
Tricky question. Some people just don't buy into the musical thing, and they should be allowed to live freely amongst us. But if people breaking into song delights rather than flummoxes you, if elaborate dance numbers in village squares and fantastical nightclubs and emerald-hued cities make perfect sense to you, and especially if you already love "Wicked," well then, you will likely love this film. If it feels like they made the best "Wicked" movie money could buy — well, it's... Read More