Always Stop on Red

NHTSA - National Broadcast Commercial - 1:00

NHTSA or the National Highway Transportation safety Administration is tasked with many campaigns around public safety in cars. This spot originally ran as an audio optional commercial on Atmosphere TV and was then picked up for their national broadcast campaign.

I love working with children! This shoot had 50 kiddos and Vivian, our principal actress. For most of the extras it was their first time being on set so I asked that all crew members wear a name tag for inquisitive kiddos. We knew we needed to pick a handful of featured extras that represented a diverse age and demographic spectrum. I also knew I wanted kids who could really connect with the audience. When the onslaught of kiddos arrived that morning I was kneeling at the entrance of the holding area on the floor with a sticker book and name tags. Every kid got a name tag so that I could call them by name (removed right before shooting and then put right back on) and I sat with each one and we picked out a few stickers for them to put on their name tag. This was an organic way to get each kid familiar with me and give them a little mini audition without them knowing! Hopefully the stickers had an added benefit of bribing them to like me!

There was no script for this spot when approved by the client, just a general concept that we would see children on a bus with titles that said, “Stop so that ___________” and then have some sort of visual cue to the thing that was spoken to. This was something that could have skewed pretty corny, so it was exciting for me to work with our props department to come up with all those iconic school projects that had an air of nostalgia and authenticity. It all started with an idea I had to give a tiny kid a giant paper mache volcano, the quintessential school project! Unfortunately when we got it on the bus it was too big to fit on a bus seat and still read well with the aforementioned tiny child! But the volcano idea spurred on the art department to take the ball and run with the idea of a science fair happening that day which gave us all those iconic visuals from the solar system to the potato in the styrofoam cup with toothpicks.

The original concept didn’t have a through line, so I knew I wanted to have one child get on the bus and walk to the back to meet her friends. This would give us the opportunity to put the safety message at the top of the spot as well as the end. This also gave us motivation to move through the bus and land on each child. I love creating the visual payoff of a sweet little girl walking into the big road and then the reveal of the school bus.

With 50 kid extras shooting in 100° Texas heat things could have gone sideways, fast. We had a PA dedicated to hype music in the bus and during camera resets we did Q&As with me and other crew members. I deliberately dressed in girly attire and even swapped my laptop case for my daughter’s sparkly doughnut backpack. It was important for me that all of the kids see a fun, funny lady in charge. I made them all promise to say that I was their favorite director from then on out.

I am happy to report that the day was a smashing success. The joy of a crew and cast having fun and making a meaningful commercial made this shoot, the best ever.