MultiVu Creative Submits PSA for New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Wear a Mask Contest

Watch, like, and share the 30-second video created remotely by the MultiVu Creative team

I, like many New Yorkers, have found myself looking forward to the Governor's daily press conferences. They give me a sense of calm and routine in this new, bizarre world…that and the grilled cheese I'm usually eating while I watch.

If you tune in, you'll notice that the Governor's made consistent pleas to the public to wear protective face coverings, yet many are still ignoring it.

Last week, Cuomo, with the help of his daughter Mariah, announced they were starting a contest. They made a call for a video exemplifying why people should wear a face mask in public amid the coronavirus pandemic. Cuomo hopes that, since many people aren't listening to his mask wearing recommendation, perhaps they'll listen to a video PSA instead.

After seeing the call for submissions, our MultiVu Creative team jumped into action, beginning with a virtual brainstorming session. MultiVu is a global company; however, our video production headquarters is in Brookfield Place in Manhattan, and many of us are sheltering in place and working remotely throughout the state of NY.

“We are visual communicators, but we are New Yorkers first. All of us take great pride in our city and want to see its businesses reopen. To do that means taking personal responsibility for our actions and for those around us. Face coverings are a big part of that. It's only natural we would throw our hats into the ring,” said MultiVu's Vice President of Production and Creative Larry Cardarelli.

This new landscape brings its own challenges into every step of the creative process. Not only does the idea have to resonate with its audience, it must also be sensitive to what's going on all around us. Beyond that, it also must be produced without any of us leaving our homes. We could create an animation, but that's a tall order on a one-week deadline. And we can't go out and film actual New Yorkers without putting ourselves and others at risk. So, we landed on the idea of producing a stop motion animated video utilizing the apple, the Big Apple's state fruit.

Stop motion allowed us to produce the video safely and within social distancing parameters. MultiVu worked with Brooklyn director and DP Robert Kolodny, who is seen in the video wearing an American Mask Project mask. He was able to shoot the stop motion directly in his kitchen, and we relied on essential messenger services as well as file sharing accounts to send props and files between my apartment and his. The voice over artist, Jennifer Goldsmith, donated her time and New York-raised voice through Voice123. Our editor, Ryan Coutu, was able to bring all the pieces together remotely from his own home, also in Brooklyn.

The five best videos will be published online sometime within the next month, and then New Yorkers will be able to view finalists and vote for their favorite. The winning video will be broadcast as a public service announcement (PSA).

Contest Info:

Once the Governor narrows down the submissions, voting will take place here: WearAMask.ny.gov

For now, please like and share our PSA using these tags and channels:

#NewYorkTough
Twitter @nygovcuomo
Instagram @nygovcuomo
Facebook @GovernorAndrewCuomo

Protect yourself and others: AmericanMaskProject.com

ABOUT THE EXPERT: Jillian Breslin

Jillian has been a MultiVu creative producer for seven years. She graduated with a B.A. in Journalism from Fordham University and has been with MultiVu ever since. She oversees and produces most of MultiVu's animated videos and leads the team's ideation sessions and workflow strategies.

Jillian has won a dozen video productions and storytelling awards including AVA Digital Awards, Bulldog, PR Daily, Content Marketing and Hermes. Additionally, she has produced a wide array of live action videos, PSAs, and animations for a variety of clients including Jelly Belly, Pepsi, LG, Pfizer, LEGO, Cotton Inc. and Walmart.