Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), a UK charity which raises awareness about sudden cardiac deaths in your people resulting from undiagnosed heart conditions, has launched its first ever advertising campaign, the centerpiece being “Beaten,” a film that follows a teenage boy in fierce competition on the rugby field in the moments leading up to his sudden collapse in front of teammates and supporters.
Tragically, this mirrors the experience of many bereaved parents who approach CRY for support – and often, seeking answers – in the aftermath of their devastating loss.
The campaign aims to emphasise the importance of cardiac screening among young people and the need for unexplained symptoms to be explored appropriately and not dismissed. Every week in the UK, 12 apparently fit and healthy young people die suddenly from a previously undiagnosed heart condition. In around 80 to 90 percent of cases, there will have been no signs, symptoms or warnings–underlining the vital role of screening.
The film was made by David Lynch, an assistant producer at BBH London, who was awarded £10k (British Pound Sterling, which amounts to around $16,000) to produce the film through BBH’s charitable grants program.
Lynch related, “We know the ad is very high impact but we felt we had a responsibility to make it as ‘realistic’ as possible to ensure CRY’s messages were delivered powerfully and effectively. Sudden cardiac deaths happen so fast and come from nowhere. This film is less of a ‘tug at your heartstrings’ and more of a ‘smack in the face,’ which works given the nature of the undiagnosed illness.”
The idea for the film had been percolating for some time before Lynch saw a fateful email a little more than a year ago that put the wheels in motion. Lynch recalled, “I knew about CRY through a friend who was helped by them in the past. I wrote a script and showed it to my then producer, Ruben Mercadal [now sr. film content producer at Ogilvy NY]. He said I should run with it. As I’m an assistant TV producer and not a creative, I sought help from two of BBH’s best creative directors, Nick Kidney and Kevin Stark. To my surprise they were of the same opinion as Ruben and said if I ever get the chance to make it, they would love to mentor me through it.”
On November 11, 2013, Lynch saw an email titled “Black Sheep Charity Grants–REMINDER.” Said Lynch, “I hadn’t seen the initial ‘Black Sheep Charity Grants’ email so I read through this as fast as I could. It explained that BBH employees could apply for a charitable grant for a charity of their choice and that the winning applications would be awarded between £5K – £15K. In the application you needed to submit where the money would go and how you would personally contribute to the charity in 2014. I said I would use the money as a production budget, and that I would contribute my blood, sweat and tears to the charity in 2014 to make them a film. Winners were announced at the BBH Christmas company meeting last year and I was awarded £10K. I couldn’t speak for about five minutes after!
“Some people asked whether I was going to direct the advert myself, but I felt being the creative and producer was enough and that I needed to put this film in the hands of a professional. I had worked with Park Pictures that year and their executive producer, Stephen Brierley, liked the script and suggested the incredibly talented AG Rojas as a director. I couldn’t believe someone of his caliber would be interested, but the script really appealed to him. He has a rare ability to create a sports film that conveys a very real, raw and emotive narrative.”
Rojas recruited DP Mattias Rudh and sports choreographer Eddie McClements. “The trio really were a force to be reckoned with on our one day shoot at the London Scottish Rugby Grounds,” noted Lynch whose grant money only covered the shoot so he needed to ask for some donated help with the back end of the job. I owe a massive thank you to the following people. Steve Lane was our sound engineer from Grand Central Recording Studio and he produced the backbone of the film; the sound was so important and he created a mix that exceeded expectation. Dominic Leung at Trim Editing had worked with AG before and is a huge supporter of CRY UK–he did a fantastic job in the edit suite. Brad Wood at The Mill was over the postproduction and he labored for hours cleaning up shots and inputting crowd where needed. Finally a massive thank you to the legend that is Pete Raeburn and Soundtree Music for composing a beautiful track that heightened our sound design perfectly.”
Grand Central’s Lane worked closely with Lynch in creating the sound design. “The sound challenge for me was creating a heartbeat that was both loud and realistic–something that’s not that easy,” said Lane. “There are a number of big climaxes to the spot and it was important for the sound to work with the visuals to create tension at each of them.”
The ad campaign had its formal launch in late November during a Parliamentary reception at the House of Commons.
