Sarah
- Studio
- Z Animation
Synopsis
This public service announcement tells the life story of a young girl, Sarah, and marks off the milestones of her growth in divisions of time. "Her baptism, 14 minutes and ten seconds," "...her first bicycle trip around the block took 47 minutes." Then comes the shocker. "While searching for some change in her parents' bedroom, it took her 14 seconds to find... a loaded handgun.... It took the bullet eight milliseconds to reach the end of the gun's barrel..." There then is a reveal of the endgunviolence.com Web site.
Characters
Sarah
Credits
Directing
- Director
- Caroline Attia
Writing
- Writer
- Jake Lancaster
Editing
- On-Line Editor
- Steve Medin, Volt, Minneapolis
Sound
- Sound Design
- Elijah Torn, Massive Music, New York
- Sound Mix Engineered By
- Carl White, Brahmstead White Noise, Minneapolis
Production notes
French director Caroline Attia's first commercial for Z animation.
A public service spot for Citizens for a Safer Minnesota and agency Martin|Williams Advertising in Minneapolis.
"Sarah" was conceived and produced originally as a radio commercial, created by Martin/Williams copywriter Jake Lancaster.
When the Martin/Williams team of writer Lancaster, vice-president/director of production Stan Prinsen and vice-president/group creative director Randy Tatum decided to adapt the radio spot for TV, they were drawn to Attia, whose humorous, playful fashionista style would be a perfect counterpoint for the horrifying, surprise ending. "We didn't want to lead anyone on, but at the same time, we wanted to present this girl's journey as a happy story, and Caroline's style lent itself to that," Prinsen explained. "She is so talented and collaborative, and just hit it coming out of the gate."
Attia designed and animated the entire spot in traditional 2D from her Paris studio (with color done in Photoshop CS3 and compositing/editing in After Effects CS3), using a largely limited palette, with a loose and very active line style for the animation. Final assembly, music mix and other post-production took place in Minneapolis and New York.
"I had to take a very difficult subject, the loss of a young life, and bring it to life in an inventive and engaging way," said Attia. "I felt that it was really important to get to know Sarah and become involved with all these moments in her short life. She is a child that could belong to anyone; and because of the flow we created in the images, you don't expect her to die."
Attia also came up the idea of using clocks as a background motif throughout the spot. "I wanted the spot to show not just what she was doing; the clocks added a flow to the spot that pointed out just how important time really is."
A public service spot for Citizens for a Safer Minnesota and agency Martin|Williams Advertising in Minneapolis.
"Sarah" was conceived and produced originally as a radio commercial, created by Martin/Williams copywriter Jake Lancaster.
When the Martin/Williams team of writer Lancaster, vice-president/director of production Stan Prinsen and vice-president/group creative director Randy Tatum decided to adapt the radio spot for TV, they were drawn to Attia, whose humorous, playful fashionista style would be a perfect counterpoint for the horrifying, surprise ending. "We didn't want to lead anyone on, but at the same time, we wanted to present this girl's journey as a happy story, and Caroline's style lent itself to that," Prinsen explained. "She is so talented and collaborative, and just hit it coming out of the gate."
Attia designed and animated the entire spot in traditional 2D from her Paris studio (with color done in Photoshop CS3 and compositing/editing in After Effects CS3), using a largely limited palette, with a loose and very active line style for the animation. Final assembly, music mix and other post-production took place in Minneapolis and New York.
"I had to take a very difficult subject, the loss of a young life, and bring it to life in an inventive and engaging way," said Attia. "I felt that it was really important to get to know Sarah and become involved with all these moments in her short life. She is a child that could belong to anyone; and because of the flow we created in the images, you don't expect her to die."
Attia also came up the idea of using clocks as a background motif throughout the spot. "I wanted the spot to show not just what she was doing; the clocks added a flow to the spot that pointed out just how important time really is."
Awards
Nominee, Annie Award, Best Animated Television Commercial, 2009