NY-based Translation LLC and Cut + Run editor TG Herrington team up with <a href="http://www.sonicunion.com.“>Sonic Union mixer Michael Marinelli to impact high school kids to stay in school with Lebron James in the affecting :30 PSA “Wake Up” for State Farm Insurance. The spot, directed by Radical Media’s Dave Meyers, features a teenage boy’s nightmare of how his life might turn out if he drops out of school.
Marinelli worked closely with sound designer Brian Emrich to create the audio environment to startle the audience as effectively as the teenage boy in the spot. The 26 Seconds campaign, launched by State Farm and working in concert with U.S. Department of Education Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan, aims to help raise high school graduation rates, in hopes of strengthening neighborhoods across the country.
“Wake Up” opens on a shot of a teenage boy reaching over to shut off his alarm clock as we hear a female voice yell, “Wake up, time for school!” He is jolted awake as he suddenly is swallowed into the bed, cutting to a shot of the teenager falling onto the same bed, once again asleep, accompanied by Lebron James’ voiceover, “Every 26 seconds a kid drops out of high school.” He falls through the bed again, this time landing in a new shot as a middle-aged version of himself on a mattress outside on a city street. He looks around incredulously as the voiceover continues, “But without an education, you never know where you’re gonna land.” He disappears into the mattress once more before we cut to a shot him springing awake in the same bed, woken by a nightmare. We cut to the boy rushing to get to his class as James continues, “Wake up. Life is too short to sleep through it.” As the boy sits down at his desk, we see James standing at the back of the classroom. He turns to the camera and finishes, “The dreams start here.” The spot closes with a shot of James walking down the school hallway followed by the State Farm logo. A voiceover concludes, “State Farm is helping kids graduate. Get involved at 26 seconds on Facebook.”
Credits
Client: State Farm Insurance
Title: “Wake Up” :30
Agency: Translation LLC, New York
Creative Director: Seth Jacobs
Copywriter: Jamie Cohen
Art Director: Adrian Saker
Producer: Brian Schierman
Production Company: Radical Media, Santa Monica, CA
Director: Dave Meyers
DP: Eric Treml
Executive Producers: Frank Scherma, Jim Bouvet
Line Producer: Scott Cunningham
Editorial: Cut + Run, New York
Editor: TG Herrington
Assistant Editor: Sarah Harvey
Composite/Conform: Joseph Grosso
Editorial EP: Rana Martin
Editorial Producer: Ashley Carrier
Telecine: Company3, Santa Monica, CA
Colorist: Dave Hussey
VFX: BAKED FX, Los Angeles
VFX Supervisor: George A Loucas
VFX Coordinator: Jessie Mizrahi
VFX Compositors: Kyle Belko, Evan Ghigliotty, Nick Hamer, Ryan Egan, Nick Onstad
Titles: Dress Code, New York
Partners: Andre Andreev, G. Dan Convert
Audio Post: <a href="http://www.sonicunion.com.“>Sonic Union, New York
Engineer: Michael Marinelli
Producer: Justine Cortale
Music: Duotone Audio Group, New York
Composer: Jack Livesey
Sound Designer: Brian Emrich
About SONIC UNION
<a href="http://www.sonicunion.com.“>Sonic Union, New York was a concept born in 2008 between lauded mixers Michael Marinelli and Steve Rosen, and Managing Director Adam Barone. The team set out to create the finest audio shop in New York, while also maintaining a family-like feel in a location that reflected—and supported—client comfort, natural light and the artists’ unwavering love of the craft. Three years later, <a href="http://www.sonicunion.com.“>Sonic Union‘s work has won top awards, their employees and clients play together after work, and its architecturally significant space overlooking the trees of Union Square has become a home-away-from-home for everyone who mixes there.
<a href="http://www.sonicunion.com.“>Sonic Union‘s other disciplines are growing—the addition of veteran voiceover Casting Director Maria Pappalardo brings 15 years of agency experience to the group.
<a href="http://www.sonicunion.com.“>Sonic Union‘s flourishing Motion Graphics and VFX studio chases new ideas through design, animation and visual effects, delivering smart and fresh work for an array of creative clients. Pulling off the unexpected with unrivaled dedication, we infuse the process with equal parts love and magic. Come in and check out the state of our Union… www.sonicunion.com.
