| The ad challenges the statement, ‘Guns don’t kill people, people do’, and was made to present the argument, “A magazine that allows a gun to fire 32 shots in 16 seconds is only good for one thing, killing a lot of people – fast." Charged Studios’ team worked alongside the client to meet their deadline. |
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The commercial features a man firing a handgun with an extended clip down a firing range, but the generic target traditionally used has been replaced with silhouettes of a small girl, a college student, a postman and random bystander, all of whom are killed by guns each year. Its message calls upon President Obama to come out more forcefully in support of a ban on high-capacity ammunition clips. Appearances during broadcasts from national news outlets including CBS, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, ABC, MSNBC, CNN and Fox, have expanded its impact.
“Our biggest challenge was to create a dynamic spot centred on one simple message,” explained Charged Studios’ director and executive producer, Adam Pierce. “We needed to convey undertones of violence by depicting the extended clip as the villain.”
Charged worked with agency Fenton and copywriter Josh Gold on the project. “Bringing a full crew to a gun range on such short notice would have been problematic. Instead, we pulled details from real gun ranges and replicated the look in-house over two days, from the mechanism of the targets to the signage posted on the walls,” said Adam.
DP Paul Kloss shot the spot on Charged Studios’ Canon 5D, and in-house editor Andy Harmon, using Final Cut Pro and After Effects, then fine-tuned small details to increase the shoot’s intensity and impact. “The timing of the gun shots was critical to the spot. We got a few different angles of the gun firing and cut them together cleanly with rhythm. The muzzle flashes were all real and the falling shells were shot at a higher frame rate so we could slow it down,” he said. Daron Murphy composed the score, which he mixed with the voiceover, gunshots and ambient tone using Apple Logic Pro.
“The editing process benefitted from the communication between the client and our team,” Adam said. The ad needed to integrate into broadcast news media coverage to represent the core of the issue. The spot was made with the idea of it being picked up for planned news coverage, and a part of doing this was concentrating the message into a quick, concise visual that was factual and compelling. “Being that close to a gun firing long bursts of rounds from an extended clip makes it clear why they should be banned,” sums up Pierce. “We’re proud to have the opportunity to contribute to this cause.” www.charged.com
CREDITS:
Writer: Josh Gold
Production Company: Charged Studios/NY
Director: Adam Pierce
DP: Paul Kloss
Producer: Mike Landry
Art Director: Will Pike
Art Assistant: Peter Blank
Editor: Andy Harmon
Composer/Audio: Daron Murphy
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