Description

New York: Charged Studios, the award-winning production company, met the challenge of creating an attention-getting national TV spot for MoveOn.org, and turning it around in time to make waves in the middle of a current national political debate.
Their team took the live-action national commercial, 'We Won't Go Back,' from script through the design, set construction and production in 36 hours, accommodating the limited availability of star talent with a shoot in LA the next day. Then the one-stop New York-based company edited, color corrected, created original music for the spot and delivered it the next day - allowing national media outlets - including MSNBC, Huffington Post, and The Examiner - to integrate the commercial into their coverage of the issue, further maximizing the impact of its message.

Lisa Edelstein, (Dr. Cuddy on the Emmy Award winning series, “House,”) has strong personal opinions about the current Republican congressional campaign to redefine the legal definition of rape, which would lead to the de-funding of Planned Parenthood and pave the way for women loosing the right to choose. So when MoveOn.org creative director, Laura Dawn, asked Edelstein to lend her talent to a spot dedicated to raising awareness of this issue, the actress was immediately aboard.

However, the issue would be going before congress in less than a week, and Edelstein’s work schedule left her with only the following day free to shoot spot in Los Angeles.

Charged Studio’s lead producer Mike Landry took the reins of the project in NYC, and focused on tackling the biggest challenge it presented, which was creating the 1950’s set that would best serve the script. During the flight from New York to LA he kept in touch with the crew as they were building a mid-century style hallway with an ominous door at the end of it.

MoveOn’s Laura Dawn took the lead on scripting the spot, and then ideas began to fly back and forth between her and Charged Studios’ executive producer/director of production, Adam Pierce.

“We focused on creating a look that was simplistic, yet artful and beautiful,” noted Landry. “The message in the script was compelling and the visuals were designed to serve as a way to reinforce it, without distracting from it or overpowering it.”

The spot opens with Edelstein’s back to the camera, wearing a spot-on 50’s cocktail dress, as the camera tracks her as she slowly walks the length of the hallway towards a door.

Her voiceover brings home the spot’s message: “Only decades ago women suffered through horrifying back-alley abortions or used dangerous methods when they had no other recourse. So when the Republican Party launched an all-out assault on women’s heath pushing bills to limit access to vital services we had to ask….” As Edelstein poses the question: “Why is the GOP trying to send women back to the back alley?” she opens the door, revealing a dark void and a single, stark, hanger.

Daron Murphy o struck the perfect chord with his original music and sound design. Andy Harmon honed in the color correction to create a stylized color pallet.

“MoveOn.org is a political action committee and they need to respond quickly and we are always up for the challenge of a quick turnaround” notes Pierce, owner of the 10-year old creative, production, and animation studio.

“Over the years, Charged has developed a strong relationship with clients like MoveOn, that allows us to jump in and bring your creative to life quickly and without compromising style or quality” adds Pierce.

Charged Studios brings its wit, originality and punch to the art of visual storytelling, through a mix of creative disciplines - from animation and puppetry to live-action production and visual effects. Its editorial, design, music and sound suites, production studio and fabrication and set design and construction capabilities provide clients with a full service creative center driven by a collaborative team of artist dedicated to the craft of creating fresh, compelling spots, shorts and long-form programming and films.
Their credits include national TV series featuring puppets and stop motion, animated spots for Subway and Howard Johnson, promos for Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, and award-winning documentaries. McCann-Erickson recently called upon Charged to write, produce, design, shoot animate and post 'Vertigo Egg,' a short film created for the Ad Council’s Annual Service Awards' animated intro segment.

Credits

CREDITS:
Category: National Television Spot /Live-Action
Title + Length: “We Won’t Go Back” Length: 30-seconds
Link to Spot: http://www.charged.com/featured/moveon

Client: MoveOn:
Creative Director/Writer: Laura Dawn

Production Company: Charged Studios (www.charged.com)
Executive Producer: Adam Pierce
Producer: Mike Landry
Director: Yaniv Raz
Director of Photography: Pierluigi Malavasi
Associate Producer: Andy Harmon
Color Correction: Andy Harmon
Editor: Steve Centrachio

Music + Sound Company: Gowanus Sound Initiative
Composer: Daron Murphy
Sound Stage: Drop Shop/LA
Art Dept: Pablo Sison, Philip Godwin

Technical Information

The spot was shot on the Panasonic AF100 HD camera mounted on a Steadicam to create the flowing continuous shot that follows the talent down the length of the set. It was edited on Final Cut Pro, Color Corrected on After Effects in Final Cut and the audio mixing and recording was completed on Logic Pro.

Tags

Charged Studios, Adam Pierce, Yaniv Raz, Mike Landry, Andy Harmon, Daron Murphy, Steve Centrachio, We Won't Go Back, Charged/New York