Psyop produced this “Four for the Holidays” animated/live-action short for Cricket Wireless and San Francisco-based ad agency ARGONAUT. The piece features four friends with holiday plans that take them separately across the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. They text, post, and share joyous holiday moments but as time goes on, they realize they’re missing each other most of all.
At the end of the film, the four animated characters reunite and discover that in a season of sharing, the best holiday plans are the ones that bring us together.
Credits
Client Cricket Wireless Agency ARGONAUT, San Francisco Hunter Hindman, chief creative officer; Shravan Hegde, Kamil Kowalczyk, associate creative directors; Brittany Rivera, sr. art director; Jacque Vavroch, sr. copywriter; Austin White, copywriter; Mica Dieterich, jr. art director; Shireen Beygui, jr. copywriter; Erin Fox, executive producer; Dan Watson, executive broadcast producer; Justin Visser, executive digital producer; Ben Waller, Vertel Jackson, jr. producers. Production Psyop Marco Spier, Jack Anderson, directors; Justin Booth-Clibborn, chief executive producer; Neysa Horsburgh, managing director; Noah Goldsmith, exec producer; Tom Martin, line producer; David Franco, DP; Robert Campbell, 1st assistant camera; Jeff Mann, production designer; Gaston Langer, art director; Mike Curtis, 1st assistant director. Visual Effects/Animation Psyop, bicoastal Chris Sage, 3D lead; Lane Jolly, 2D lead; Adriane Scott-Kemp, producer; Calvin Chin, associate producer; Brandon Sanders, Flame artist; Paul Yacono, colorist; Jaemin Lee, You Tengari, Ryan Kirkwood, Nitesh Nagda, lighting & rendering artists; Danny Song, Tingting Li, Carl Mok, comp artists; James Atkinson, Nico Sugleris, Mat Rotman, Houdini; Stephen Mann, Zed Bennett, John Bloch, tech animators. Little Zoo Studio, Falmouth, Maine Jason Taylor, animation director; George Schermer, animation supervisor; Todd Wilbur, Manu Menendez, Andrzej Ellert, Andrew Conroy, John Turello, Matt Walker, Mariano Lopez Dau, Kevin Hoa Nguyen, Adam Strick, animators (Toolbox: Maya, Arnold, Houdini, Nuke, Photoshop, Flame) Editorial Exile Paul Kumpata, editor. Sound Barking Owl Morgan Johnson, sound designer; AJ Murillo, mixer. Music Barking Owl Jacob Plasse, composer; Kelly Bayett, creative director; Ashley Benton, producer.
After losing part of his right leg due to cancer, Terry Fox campaigned to raise national awareness and funding for cancer research by running his Marathon of Hope, a cross-Canada 42-km daily run, on his prosthetic leg. Fox, who died in 1981, is a national hero. His image will be on Canada’s new $5 bill.
In this two-minute video titled “Finish It,” the Marathon of Hope is recreated. It’s all done in one take, and it features an actor/marathon runner who uses a prosthesis on the same leg as Fox. CGI was deployed to make him look more like Fox. To further ensure the actor represented Fox accurately, not only did the actor and team watch and study many videos of Terry, but Terry’s brothers, Fred and Darrel, coached the actor on Terry’s running style and mannerisms. They also created a copy of Terry’s prosthesis for the actor to use for the shoot.
The message is clear. As the Marathon of Hope now marks its 45th anniversary, we now have the opportunity to “Finish It” for Fox, raising money and awareness to get a cure for cancer over the finish line, completing the work that Fox started. The public service film starts with Fox on the marathon run, eventually joined by a crowd of other dedicated runners from all walks of life who take over the race.
Mark Zibert directed via production company Scouts Honour for Toronto agency Diamond. The video features a never-before-heard version of the song “Courage” from Canadian band The Tragically Hip.
“We wanted to create a campaign that captures the magnitude of Terry Fox’s legacy while driving meaningful action,” said Peter Ignazi, chief creative officer at Diamond. “By revisiting the Marathon of Hope with such care and reverence, we aimed to reignite Terry’s mission and... Read More
