When you can use your particular skill set as a tool to promote change and betterment, it’s an incredible feeling. We were awarded that honour when our friends at Pilot Communications approached us to help produce a campaign highlighting the current state of nursing in New Brunswick. Tasked with video production, photography, and printing for the job, we needed to demonstrate the very real struggles nurses in New Brunswick are facing today. We were up for the challenge, but didn’t realize how affected we would all be by hearing the stories of these health professionals.
The creative direction from Pilot Communications and the New Brunswick Nurses Union sought to tell the story of a system that was quite literally torn to pieces. We set out to do so by showing an actual torn photo of a nurse on shift, being taped together by our hero health professionals (see video below). There were of course multiple challenging elements to accomplishing this. First, we had 3 days to produce all asks. This meant day one had to be environment and portrait photography so that we would have that evening to print the photos to be used in our video components over the next two days. Day two would be interview portions and b-roll footage, while day three would be reserved for capturing our :30 second HERO spot, both of which would use photos printed from day one.
To make sure this happened seamlessly, we relied on prep work, and testing. Knowing the shoot would be in Moncton, we gathered as much info prior to leaving from Halifax as possible. This meant collecting photos of the shoot location to flag any obstacles ahead of time, and also creating call sheets that were efficient and manageable- after all, we were working with REAL nurses who were amazing enough to agree to shoot on their days off. Once those logistics were in place, we had to make sure our plan would work. This meant extensive testing to ensure we would be able to print quality photos on the spot to be used next day. We also had to experiment with tearing the photos, and taping them together to create the proper visual. Thanks to this preparation, we knew there would be no surprises - we even brought an extra printer with us for the road trip just incase! Lucky for us - everything went smoothly, making the job that much more enjoyable.
What we didn’t factor in was how incredibly moving and emotional this experience would be for our team. Meeting these nurses and health professionals and hearing their stories affected us deeply. The health care system in New Brunswick is in bad shape, and nurses are taking on the brunt of the load. Listening to their stories about how difficult their profession has become was absolutely heart wrenching. We hope that we have made a campaign that will help the public understand this struggle in the same way that our eyes were opened while producing it.
The campaign is now live, and we’re incredibly proud of the final product. This is the magic that comes from all encompassing prep work, big hearts, and an incredible team chemistry. Working with Pilot and NBNU was an absolute dream. We were all on the same page, and we believe we came our with something truly impactful. Check out the different elements of the campaign here and let us know what you think…