Crash & Sue's Teams Up with Echo Boys to Provide Post Production & Original Music for Coca Cola PSA For The Ronald McDonald House

Minneapolis, MN, June 06, 2007 --(PR.com)-- Crash & Sue’s, the Minneapolis-based post facility, recently joined forces with its sister company, Echo Boys, the full-service music house, to bring their color correction, editorial and musical talents to a public service announcement directed by Marco Baca of Orange Filmworks, heralding Coca Cola’s Pop Tab Collection Program for the Ronald McDonald House.

Created by Riley Hayes Advertising, the 30-second spot features a dozen of highly enthused kids on a quest that sends them through diverse locations within their town. Driving home the message that supporting a worthy cause can be fun, they scour the city to collect pop-tabs for the Ronald McDonald House, a charity providing comfortable homes for families with critically ill children, enabling them to be near their loved ones during hospital stays.

The spot begins with a boy and girl walking down a tree-lined street. The familiar ‘pop’ sound is heard as the boy opens a can of Coca Cola and the tab falls to the ground. The girl picks it up, and slowly they smile at each other, simultaneously realizing that gathering pop-tabs would be a great way to spend this beautiful summer day.

The pair takes off running as kids from the neighborhood – on skateboards, rollerblades, and with basketballs and book bags in tow - join them on their mission. The group of energetic kids comes together with a single purpose – to collect the recyclables for this noble cause and have fun in the process. After their search takes them to numerous locations, they gather together in front of a McDonalds restaurant to take stock of their haul and deposit the donation in a giant mock up of a Coca Cola can, designed for just that purpose.

“The challenge was to focus the kid's energy into real moments of fun and excitement that we could capture on film. We wanted that energy to play off of the rough, gritty feel of inner-city locations and hopefully inspire all kinds of kids” noted director Marco Baca. “This fun group of spirited kids, from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, shows how a little spark of an idea can ignite a mini-movement."

Baca, who recently worked with Crash & Sue’s and Echo Boys on a series a humorous vignettes he directed for ADFED’s award ceremony, ‘The Show,” notes, "Whenever possible, I like to stay with a project from concept through completion - and color correction, off-line editing and music are a big part of that process. Crash & Sue’s and Echo Boys share a great, can-do attitude and bring a lot to the table.”

Crash & Sue’s colorist Josh Allard transferred and color corrected the 35mm footage on their Cintel C-Reality film scanner and da Vinci 2K Plus™ color enhancement system. The camera caught the sun at different points and angles as the day progressed, requiring extensive color correction on the footage in order to maintain the same look and feeling throughout the spot.

“The footage was shot on a sunny day and had a lot of energy,” notes Allard. “I built upon that positive feeling by pushing the highlights and creating a brighter, beauty look.” Allard also met the challenge presented by the final scene, which was filmed through the bottom of a giant Coca Cola can as the children dropped their donations into it.

Echo Boys music and sound design play key roles in the Ronald McDonald House spot. Alex Berglund composed the original score for the PSA, while engineer Ross Nelson created the sound design and provided the final mix.

As composer, Berglund’s goal was to create music that conveyed the youthful vigor of this group of kids and relate that same level of energy to the pop tab concept. “Originally we were just going to do sound design for the job,” explains Berglund. “But the addition of the music track really helps propel the spot forward and gives it more energy and edge.”

The music sets a playful and fun pace for the action and graduates into an upbeat guitar riff. More guitars are added, building excitement and bringing a rich texture to the sound. Finally the drums come in with a rock beat that conveys the bouncy, full of life tempo of the spot. “The first order of business was to create a cool track that brought home the spots message that participating in this program is cool,” notes Berglund. “It also had to set the pace and move along at a clip.”

Sound engineer Ross Nelson created the ‘pop’ sound of the tabs and then used a megaphone effect to produce a mix of shouts that convey a party atmosphere.

Online editor Derek Johnson finished the spot on Crash & Sue’s Discreet Smoke, sitting with director Marco Baca to recreate the speed changes and time warps necessary to maintain the high energy and pacing.

The McDonald House Pop Tab Collection Program was established in Minneapolis/St. Paul in 1987. During the last 20 years over 400 million pure aluminum pop tabs have been collected and donated, generating more than $4 million for the program.

Crash & Sue’s is an award-winning post-production house specializing in the seamless integration of CG, visual FX, animation, color correction, creative editing, finishing and audio services. For further information contact Donna Drewick at 612.338.7947.
www.crashandsues.com.
www.echoboys.com

Project: Coca-Cola/Ronald McDonald House PSA. Title: “Pop Tab“ Length: 30-seconds
Agency: Riley Hayes | Minneapolis - Creative Director: Kerry Krepps, Copywriter: Tom Hayes. Production Co: Orange Filmworks, Inc/Minneaqpolis. - Director: Marco Baca, DP: Jeff Stonehouse, Producer: Stuart Mager. Music & Sound Design Co: Echo Boys | Minneapolis - Composer: Alex Berglund, Sound Engineer: Ross Nelson. Editorial House: Shanahan House; Offline Editor: Carrie Shanahan. Post & Transfer House: Crash & Sue's | Minneapolis - Colorist: Josh Allard, Online Editor: Derek Johnson, Exec. Producer: Donna Drewick.

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