Press Release from Fury
NEW YORK September 17, 2009: New York City-based motion design agency Fury (www.furynyc.com [1]) recently completed work on a series of self-motivated pieces that take an atypical approach to promoting world peace.
Even with four spots in the can and five more in the works, the idea continues to evolve; today Fury unveiled a Peace Rant Project website where motion designers can create their own versions of the stylized peace message.
"The website will allow other designers to get to know about this project and get involved," says Sawaf. "Initially, we will provide our footage so designers can add motion design, post production effects, editing, etc, and then upload their own versions. This participation from the design community will allow the site to grow, and eventually we¹ll be able to open access to anyone anywhere in the world to post their own peace rant, as we all strive for peace. I mean: If not now, then when?"
What began a simple idea on which to test the RED ONE camera soon evolved into a multinational, multilingual, multifarious campaign of spots featuring some very angry actors and dramatic motion graphics. The result is "The Peace Rant Project," a series of spots featuring different people expressing their frustrations with the so-called peace process in no uncertain terms.
"This project began as something much more modest in size," says Khal Sawaf, Creative Director at Fury. "We¹d initially planned to do a single 30 second video about peace; something to do with the 50th anniversary of the peace sign. It quickly transformed into nine spots and a lot more work, but we couldn¹t be happier."
Put simply, the spots each feature an emotional live-action actor angrily asking people to stand up for peace. So far, spots have been completed with the actors ranting in French, Italian, and Patwa-inflected English. Eschewing subtitles, the spots concentrate on the strong emotions of the speakers, emotions that are further emphasized by the deeply affecting motion graphics created by Fury. As each spot draws to a close, a somewhat battered metal peace sign swings into the center of the screen.
"These spots are really the first of their kind," says Sawaf. "These are ads with peace as their brand; it¹s for a concept, an idea for a better world, not for a corporation or a consumer product. To do something of this scope, in so many languages, and without the need for subtitles is really unprecedented."
The search for acting talent was also very modest at the outset of the project. The Fury team talked to friends active in the New York City theater scene and also posted on the popular site craigslist. The idea soon caught fire:
"We were initially looking for one actor for one spot, but this turned into a big casting job," says Sawaf. "Since the people responding to the casting call were of all backgrounds and ethnicities, we ended up providing a microphone to all these actors and asking them to speak strongly to their countrymen, wherever they may be. We got so many great performances that we knew we needed to do more than one spot. What is amazing about these spots is that they were so limited in terms of shooting style and equipment, and yet each is so different from the others. We are very proud of that unified diversity."
About Fury
Fury is a design and production agency working with clients to define and build creative and strategic communications across many media platforms. Their broadcast branding and motion design work in the U.S. and internationally has won them numerous global awards that are as diverse as their clients.
CREDITS Yun Wang, senior designer and animator, William Huang, designer, Olga Povarchuk, animator, Chase Bowman, DP, Anna Merz, producer, Andy Millar, Executive producer, Khal Sawaf, Director
Actors appearing in these first peace rants are: from Italy: Emanuele Nigro, From France: French Chris Peuler and Jennifer Tchiakpe, From The United States: Gayle DeCosta
Links:
[1] http://www.furynyc.com