Sound Lounge helped capture the horror of gun violence for the video The Most Vicious Cycle produced by the student organization March for Our Lives and New York ad agency McCann. The studio, aided by a Foley team from Alchemy Post Sound, created a dense and intricately choreographed soundscape for the film, which presents the all-too-familiar images of a school shooting and its predictable aftermath of anguished families, protests and empty promises from politicians. The video urges young people to break the cycle by turning out to vote.
Set to the song Safe by Keisha, her brother Sage and rapper Chika, the video opens with slow motion images of a shooter firing a semi-automatic rifle in a school hallway. That sets off a Rube Goldberg-like chain of events as protest posters drop from the ceiling and cause a skateboard carrying a bubble machine and books labeled “thoughts and prayers” to trundling down a ramp. It, in turn, sends a bocce ball rolling by tributes to victims. To underscore the point about the endless succession of such tragedies, the shooting sequence plays three times with slight, but telling, changes in its details.
SPW Credits
Client: March For Our Lives. Sarah Chadwick, Sofie Whitney, project strategists & coordinators; Ryan Deitsch, content creator; Jackie Corin, national outreach director; Matt Deitsch, chief strategist.
Agency: McCann New York. Andre De Castro, Nick Larson, creatives; Gaby Levy, producer; Sean Bryan, Tom Murphy, chief creative officers; Joyce King Thomas, creative advisor; Nathy Aviram, chief production officer; Rob Reilly, global creative chairman; Susan Young, Daniela Vojta, executive creative directors.
Production: Mill+. Ben Smith, director; Ian Bearce, Christina Thompson, exec producers; Tia Perkins, producer; Andrew Hollingsworth, Danika Casas, production coordinators; Kyle Cody, shoot supervisor.
Editorial: The Mill. Ryan McKenna, editor; Matthew Campbell, edit assist.
VFX: The Mill. Christina Thompson, exec producer; Grace Tober, producer; Roshni Kakas, line producer; Umesh Chand, production coordinator; Angus Kneale, chief creative officer; Ben Smith, creative director; Kyle Cody, shoot supervisor, 2D lead artist; Venuprasath D, 2D lead artist; Christian Nielsen, 3D lead artist; Molly Intersimone, Badarinath Chinimilli, Prasanna Bhatt, Rajeshkumar K, 2D artists; Tim Kim, Ryan Federman, Todd Akita, Tighe Rzankowski, Dave Barosin, Weicheih Yu, Sudakshina Sridharan, Vittal Kuntla, Fazal Khan, Giri Prasath S, Raj Kumar M, Sunil MM, Sendil Kumar J, 3D artists; Scott McGinley, Alex Allain, John Wilson, animation; Clemens den Exter, design; Laura Nash and Wendy Eduarte, motion graphics; Anish Mohan, asset supervisor; Senthil Murugan Balasundaram, tracking supervisor; Mikey Rossiter, colorist.
Foley: Alchemy Post Sound. Leslie Bloome, Foley artist; Ryan Collison, Foley mixer.
Music: Supervised by Rob Kaplan and Aaron Mercer from Wool & Tusk; “Safe”
Track: Produced and Engineered by Drew Pearson; Mixed by Jon Castelli; Engineer for Mix by Ingmar Carlson; Mastered by Emily Lazar at The Lodge, NY; Assisted by Chris Allgood; Written by Kesha, Sage, Chika, Pebe Sebert, and Drew Pearson; Chika vocals recorded by Mitch Davis at Pull Music; Executive produced by Lagan Sebert and Hampton Howerton for Vector Management; Digital marketing, Jon Romero for Vector Management; Kesha appears courtesy of Kemosabe Records/RCA Records
Creative Growth, the first organization dedicated to supporting artists with developmental disabilities, has teamed up with creative marketing company, John McNeil Studio to unveil its new brand. Representing 50 years of elevating the work of artists with disabilities within the arts community, Creative Growth’s new brand campaign includes a new identity and logo, new positioning, brand film and a redefined strategy centering on the ‘undeniable voice of art.’
Creative Growth’s evolved brand is at the forefront of a shift towards art that stands for the inherent reveal — the power of artistic expression to bring understanding and connection to us all. The brand’s new expression includes unobtrusive color and design choices that purposely don’t compete with the voice of the artist and instead, serve as a container for the art to have a voice of its own.
Executive Creative Director, Gerald Lewis of John McNeil Studio explains “We needed to create a powerful, distinctive voice for the brand. But, it couldn’t compete with the voice of the artists because in the end, the art has to speak. It had to be simple, honest and genuine, in line with the mission of Creative Growth. Artists will spend 30 years making work, honing their craft and following their voice inside this space. We wanted to celebrate that. So, while the mark, the brand, is simple and honest, it’s also expansive and energetic.”
Kicking off the new brand campaign is a short film capturing the voice of artist William Scott as he walks through downtown Oakland and enters... Read More
