Directed by Jason Fialkov of Egg Films for the Western Cape Government and agency Y&R Cape Town, this PSA titled “First Kiss” tells the story of a young couple at a party, who spend their night trying to kiss but keep being interrupted. The final interruption turns a straightforward love story into a shocking road safety ad.
The Safely Home campaign by Y&R Cape Town has sparked heated discussions across traditional media and social networks about both the importance of wearing your seatbelt and the power of shock advertising.
Y&R created a locally relevant story inspired by an Irish strategy, which was credited as having brought about a 100% increase in backseat seatbelt wearing and 50% increase in front-seat wearing rates in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The spot was shot in studio and on location in Woodstock and the Bo-Kaap in Cape Town. For the final crash scene, Jason worked closely with DOP Willie Nel, stunt coordinator Gideon van Schoor, and the post-production combination of Upstairs Ludus and Wicked Pixels, with Gravitron’s Kobus Verhoef building a gimbal rig to tip the car 90 degrees in both directions to keep the cast’s movements realistic and capture the sense of loss of gravity.
