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.”
AICP’s Matt Miller Looks To Build Support For Production In L.A. After Devastating Wildfires
Editor’s note: AICP president and CEO Matt Miller issued the following statement addressing the wildfires in Los Angeles and how the industry can help this key production market--a hub of major resources essential to the health of the overall commercialmaking industry:
Who Needs Los Angeles? We Do.
By Matt Miller, AICP president and CEO
One doesn’t have to be a statistician to know that there are fewer commercials being shot in the U.S. today for the American market than ever before, and a dramatic decrease in L.A. in particular. In the last five years, as reported by FilmLA (the office tasked with issuing permits), L.A. commercial production has dipped 31 percent.
But here’s the thing: This doesn’t mean that L.A. has lost its importance as the production center of the world. Production in L.A. is vital. It is the go-to. It’s where you can count on access to exemplary crews, a support infrastructure second to none, varied location and backlot options, a large population of on-screen talent and (fairly) predictable weather.
The fact is, with overall decline and now the devastation of the fires, we’re on the brink of losing this mainstay resource. Without employment opportunities and now many without homes, talented and trained crew are bound to leave either the industry or the L.A. area for other opportunities, unless there are enough job opportunities to sustain a solid living.
Now is the time when we ALL must support and bolster this community.
Production is needed in L.A., now!
Of course, advertising is a business, and marketers’ money should be spent as efficiently as possible, BUT we have to think beyond each production and know that if we lose the... Read More