The vignettes play out with an understated visual style that remind us of their commonplace occurrences: children working in a third-world sweatshop and in wheatfields, while others try to survive in squalor or scramble for cover as an open-air market is besieged by gunfire. A haunting instrumental version of “Happy Birthday” hovers over the montage. So begins “Save the Children 50 Years,” created by Made Group, produced by The Maestros, and directed by Sebastián Caporelli, who is represented in the U.S. by Easy Mondays. What follows is a literal uplift, as the children are drawn up and away from danger by the wish of a child blowing out the candle on a birthday cake. It is the same wish made for the past 50 years by the spot’s sponsor, Save the Children.
“I was drawn immediately by the story and the subject. It was super-meaningful to me and I felt I could bring something to the project,” said Caporelli. “We had to balance very sad and delicate universal realities with the ongoing efforts to secure a brighter future.”
CreditsClient Save the Children Agency Made Andres Restrepo, chief creative officer; Sergio Sharpe creative director; Fabiana Marin, Jr., producer. Production The Maestros Sebastián Caporelli (repped in the U.S. by Easy Mondays); Cesar Guardia, DP; Gerardo Salas, director of production; Antonio Acosta, exec producer; Amilcar Espadas, production designer. Postproduction Nathalia Rodriguez, post producer. Daniel Balleza, editor. Color Metropolitan. Audio Emmanuel Romero Original Music Jomi Delgado VFX Wolf
Top Spot of the Week: Nike, W+K Portland, Megaforce Take Us On A “Sunshine” Run
“Winning isn’t Comfortable” is the second chapter of Nike’s “Winning isn’t for Everyone,” extended through the lens of running. It is based on true insights and the realities that runner experience when they lace up their shoes.
It adds the perspective of how hard it can be to just get out the door and go for a run. The idea that if you don’t hate running a little, you don’t love running enough. It celebrates the need and opportunity to push outside a person’s comfort zone to discover what they can accomplish, emphasizing that true victory often requires pushing through uncomfortable moments.
Each film of the series builds on the tension that every runner faces--pushing through the morning dread, the elements outside, the pain of hitting a wall, or even walking down the stairs after a run or race--juxtaposed with the feeling of elation only runners know as they push themselves beyond what they thought possible.
The irreverence of the films--directed by Megaforce via production company Iconoclast for Wieden+Kennedy Portland--is in pairing visuals showing the mundanity of everyday struggles with music that brings to life a contradictory tension. This film, the first to be released, is titled “Sunshine” and shows the inclement weather and obstacles that runners encounter to the tune of “You Are My Sunshine.”
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