Big Red Button on Drowsy Driving & Comic Timing

Johnny Burns and Pier van Tijn, aka Big Red Button

What was your reaction on receiving the script?

We liked the script right away.  It felt smart and weird and funny and visual.  All things that it's easy to get excited about. 

Road safety PSAs often aim for shock/horror value to get the message across, why do you think the comedic tone works here?

It feels like it's helpful to use a number of different approaches to address different issues.  If it's all shocking and horrible people are more likely to tune out or to distance themselves from the situation being depicted.  Driving when you're tired is something almost everyone has done at some time, it feels like something it's easy to do without realising how dangerous it actually is.  Using comedy seemed like a good way to get people to put themselves in the driver's position and to see how serious this can actually be without being too preachy from the off.  We feel like people are more likely to listen to you if you can make the viewing experience at least a little enjoyable.

"We were a little worried about doing [the final scene] at the end of a long stressful shoot – it wouldn't go down well if we ended up with a tiredness-related accident while shooting an ad about the topic."

That said, the film still has a sting in it.  We tried to be as careful as we could to make sure that the comedy wasn't too flippant or glib, we wanted to make sure that this film didn't feel like it was making light of the issue.

Did you look at any other road safety ads for inspiration or research?

No, we just tried to do what felt right for the script.  We did watch National Lampoon's Vacation though.  Classic. 

Tell us about the production process. What sort of budget/timeframe were you working to?

The budget was tight and shooting in cars can be pretty tricky if you don't have much money – we couldn't afford to shut down streets or to hire a low loader for example.  We decided early on to shoot a static car for most of the interiors and comp in the passing scenery in post.  We managed to find a studio with an adjacent driving track which allowed us to shoot the more realistic exteriors that bookend the film.  In the end, the controlled studio environment helped add to the spot's dreamy quality. 

"It took some effort to make sure that we got the balance right between how odd and funny the first part of the film felt and how harsh the reveal was." 

The last shot of the day was the scene where the car drifts towards an oncoming truck.  We were a little worried about doing this at the end of a long stressful shoot – it wouldn't go down well if we ended up with a tiredness-related accident while shooting an ad about the topic.  Luckily the drivers didn't crash.  That would have been pretty awful. 

What was the most challenging aspect of the process? And the most rewarding?

 The biggest challenge was just getting the tone right.  The structure of the edit came together very quickly but we spent quite a long time just swapping different takes in and out and trying slightly different approaches with the audio.  We wanted it to lull people into a fun, dreamy state just like our driver and then surprise them with the cut to reality.  It took some effort to make sure that we got the balance right between how odd and funny the first part of the film felt and how harsh the reveal was.  That was probably the thing we debated the most. 

The most rewarding part of the process was the casting.  Up until then we'd been excited about it in an abstract kind of way, we knew the idea was good but it was only when we assembled our cast that we actually got a sense of how it would all fit together.  The guy in the front seat with the incense still cracks us up.

Overall it was a surprisingly smooth project.  Both adam&eveDDB and the AA were really great to work with and everyone involved was really invested in making it as good as it could be.