Want a reason to stop texting and driving? M&C Saatchi and Mad Ruffian have given you one for Christmas. A film you won’t forget for a very long time.
Bing Crosby’s 1943 hit, I’ll Be Home for Christmas, always had a touch of sadness. As the underscore for M&C Saatchi and Mad Ruffian’s film about texting and driving, it’s filled with tragedy.
The video with its unique film qualities created by Mad Ruffian (Christopher Watson-Wood and Amanda Jones) for the FIA Foundation and AA Charitable Trust, has an even more powerful foundation.
Reality. The director lost his childhood friend. The film’s lead actor nearly lost his brother. The creative director, who commutes to work on a scooter, is almost daily knocked off by drivers looking at their phones.
Saul Billingsley, FIA Foundation executive director, noted, “Every day around the world 3,500 people don’t make it home to their families, because they’ve been killed in a car crash. Increasingly, driver distraction is a factor. So, the FIA Foundation is pleased to support this hard-hitting, life-saving, message. Make it home this Christmas, don’t text and drive.”
Edmund King OBE, chairman of the AA Trust and AA president, added, “We know that Christmas should be a happy family time and we want to keep it that way. The Make it home for Christmas message is hard‐hitting but so are the consequences of text driving.
“Having campaigned with Kate Goldsmith, whose 11-year-old daughter was killed by a driver looking at his phone, we have no qualms about putting across a strong message at Christmas. Drink drive campaigns are common at this time of year and yet you are twice as likely to crash text driving as drink driving. Neither texting nor drinking should be mixed with driving if you want to make it home for Christmas.”
To show the connection in time between the dad and the daughter, the actors were filmed on a rotating platform using a motion control rig to film them seamlessly from scene to scene. The actors are the only live action element of the film and were shot on green screen. The rest of the film was shot entirely in CGI – the bedroom, the car with the trees zooming by in the background and the rain hitting the window, the glow in the dark night sky, the forest with every individual tree, rock and snowflake, the pavement and flashing lights, illuminating the roadside memorial.
Amanda Jones and Christopher Watson-Wood, Directors and founders of Mad Ruffian, explained, “Every step of the way, we attempted to be true to the heart (and pain / sorrow / loss / love) that comes with the tragedy of a driving accident. Texting and driving is a real problem and many of us are guilty of it. Drivers using their phones, whether handheld or hands-free, are four times more likely to crash, potentially injuring or killing themselves or other people. And so, if even one person thinks about this film while reaching for his/her phone to respond to a loved one – and then doesn’t – we have put our abilities (and hearts) to good use and possibly made the one difference that truly counts.”
Credits
Agency: M&C Saatchi
Creative Directors: Matt Collier & Wayne Robinson
Production Company: Mad Ruffian
Directors: Mad Ruffian (Christopher Watson-Wood and Amanda Jones)
Post Production: Ruffian Post
Head of VFX: Christopher Watson-Wood
Post Production Producer: Amanda Jones
Lead CG Artist (Houdini): Toby Williams-Ellis
DOP: James Medcraft
Cast: Darcey Brown & Rob Mitchell-James
Casting: Plaster Cast London
Music Clearance: Gillian Miller @ Music Business Affairs
Song: I’ll be Home for Christmas
Artist: Bing Crosby
Publishing: Universal Music Enterprises
