A Brilliant Commercial - "Embrace Life"

I see a lot of PSA's out there, trying to get drivers to wear their seatbelts, stop texting while driving, or the classic, 'don't drink and drive' commercial. They typically feature emotional trauma, blood, bruises, horrific accidents, and guilt ridden drivers who caused deaths with their carelessness.

But I recently saw a commercial with a much more appealing and memorable approach to the topic. Check out the commercial below.

The breakdown of the commercial:

00:00 Key Turning.

00:04 Foot on the gas.

00:06 Family watches, entertained - trucking right.

00:10 Driving happily - push in.

00:14 Family laughter, mid shot - push in.

00:17 A happy father, - truck right.

00:20 Daughter laughing, - push in.

00:22 Fearful driver, mid-shot - push in.

00:28 Panicked daughter, close up - push in

00:31 Yanking the wheel, close up - push in

00:35 Family leaps into action - push in

00:36 Daughter at his side

00:43 Her Fingers interlock

00:46 Wife grabs him

00:48 Her Fingers interlock

00:50 Impact Close-up

00:50 Impact Wide

00:58 Glitter Falls

01:02 A Family Embrace

You might say, "That's 19 shots in an 88 second commercial. That's averaging a cut every 4.5 seconds... How is that economical?" Well, in this instance, we're going to examine the setups and angles, or shots and not the number of times a shot is edited in, or cuts. There is a lot we were able to learn in this very short period of time, and a lot of action taking place. Yet the reason we were able to remember it all so very clearly, is that we didn't cut to a new angle every time.

The setups are actually very simple throughout the short. Shots 1 and 2 are throwaway angles. That's why the content in the shot is very limited. A key turns, a foot presses the gas pedal. But even though they pass by in six seconds, we know he's starting a car. There is very little to see in the shot, other than the hand with the invisible key, and the foot on the invisible gas pedal. This way, all our attention is devoted to the actions, not the environment.

This is true with every shot in the film; the environments are simple and unassuming, familiar to the viewer, so that the characters become the focal point....

- You can read the entire article and commercial breakdown here.