I do a lot of public service announcements (PSAs.) I love making them. I usually get to be creative and the organizations are all non-profits that are championing a good cause. I get to help them and that's just good for the soul. Recently I've been doing a lot of stop motion animation. Below is a PSA I made for the Asheville Humane Society for a fundraising event they're having.
I've been doing PSAs for Homeward Bound for years now and soon I'll be releasing their 3rd PSA. I'm very excited to share this one that focuses on veteran homelessness. I got to work with Greg Hudgins as Cinematographer. He was so great to work with and the footage looks amazing! Brian Alexander was invaluable on set, as always. Our actors were all top notch, but I have to give special thanks to our lead Allen T. Law who not only turned in brilliant performances, but he did them in freezing rain and through some pretty adverse conditions.
We couldn't afford to shoot at the airport. It was $3000 just to have the insurance we would need for 1 hour! So we used a blue screen in my living room coupled with some stock footage.
Brian and I got to play doctors! FYI: Stethoscopes are fun to play with and the human body makes a bunch of strange noises.
The war scene shots were the most complex and expensive. I didn't keep the gas mask shot in the PSA because it didn't work in end. It was hard to let it go because it took so much to make it happen, but that's the nature of storytelling through film. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work.
We shot in a torrent of rain from a hurricane. Yes, a hurricane. Everyone was soaked to the bone and shaking with cold. I think it gave us all a new perspective on what people who don't have a home and shelter have to go through.
