Floyd Russ is getting petty good at gun-control advertising. The Grey New York producer worked on the famous "Ed" spot for States United to Prevent Gun Violence, which won a silver Lion in Film at Cannes this summer. Now he has spearheaded the chilling new PSA below—a personal project involving four Grey staffers but not produced by the agency—that uses audio from 911 calls made on the night of Trayvon Martin's death to protest stand-your-ground self-defense laws in the wake of George Zimmerman's acquittal.
The spot features a reenactment of Zimmerman's pursuit of Martin, and then calls for viewers to take action to prevent similar tragedies in the future. Russ tells AdFreak that he got the idea for the spot on the night of the Zimmerman verdict. He got Grey creatives Marques Gartrell and Kim Nguyen and account director Cassie Novick on board, and they raised $5,000 in a week online to cover production costs. Final Cut agreed to cover the postproduction work. Russ and his team drew up a list of potential clients for the spot; The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence was the first to reply.
"Our laws should protect victims. Not create more," says the on-screen copy at the end. "Stand up to 'Stand Your Ground' laws in 26 states." The spot points to csgv.org, which features a petition through which Americans can call on their state legislators to "oppose this immoral legislation."
Full credits below.
CREDITS
Client: Coalition to Stop Gun Violence
Title: "Stand Up to 'Stand Your Ground' " PSA
Production Company: Narrow Margin Films
Director: Floyd Russ
Writers: Marques Gartrell, Kim Nguyen, Floyd Russ
Executive Producer: Adam Palmer
Associate Producers: Mike Lobikis, Keely Davenport, Emily Darby
Account Director/Art Department: Cassie Novick
Art Director: Marques Gartrell
Copywriter: Kim Nguyen
Director of Photography: Josh Fisher
Steadicam: Billy Green
Assistant Director: Adam Murphy
Postproduction: Final Cut
President: Stephanie Apt
Executive Producer: Lauren Bleiweiss
Editor: Sonejuhi Sinha
Assistant Editor: Dan Berk
Senior Producer: Viet-An Nguyen
Finishing Producer: Alek Rost
Online Visual Effects: Cecil Hooker
Graphics: Phil Brooks
Sound Design, Mixing: T. Terressa Tate
Color: Color Collective @ Final Cut
Colorist: Alex Bickel
Music: Future Perfect Music
Composer: Victor Magro