PR / News

Bunny Lake Films Creates Winning PSA for 'Wear a Mask NY' Contest
Voted on by New Yorkers

30 June 2020
Bunny Lake Films, a female-founded NY production company, teamed with directors Celine Danhier and Aliya Naumoff received the most votes. The winning video “We Love NY” was chosen to be used as a public service announcement explaining why it’s important to wear a mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic.  LIA recently interviewed Celine on why they entered the contest and their new twist on the very old “I Love NY” slogan.  
 
What motivated you to enter the NYS Governor Cuomo’s contest to promote wearing a mask during this global COVID-19 pandemic?
The first two months of the pandemic were such an incredibly emotionally draining and challenging time. We were all touched personally or by friends and family who either became sick or unemployed. And there was such a daunting loss of life so quickly. The bravery and heroism of the essential workers provided the greatest silver lining. Yet, it was still hard to be creative or inspired because of all the despair.
 
When Cuomo initially announced the ad contest, it was soon after the curve started to flatten and finally a sense of optimism was starting to return. I reached out to Aliya Naumoff, who I had collaborated with previously, to co-direct this video to help get the important message out - that wearing a mask reduces the spread of coronavirus and saves lives.
 
We knew we didn't want to do a standard PSA but something different. Something that reflected this sense of optimism and also the idea of New Yorkers coming together. We also wanted to inspire everybody to wear masks, and knew we needed to capture the diversity of New York on-screen to do this.
 
The concept evolved quickly into a treatment and script and we only had 10 days to create the video after Governor Cuomo announced the contest. We reached out to our friends and community to find collaborators.  At Bunny Lake Films, we always strive for diversity behind the camera as well as in front of the camera. So, even when reaching out to co-conspirators, that was an important part of the process.
 
We worked with two great cinematographers, Dave Givens and Kazu Okuda. We wanted to create movement with the camera as well as with the people on the screen. Also, I've been a big fan of Mike Perry's animation for a long time which I knew from watching "Broad City". We were really excited to collaborate with Mike as his animation captures the energy and optimism of New York so well. The music by Siba Giba also echoes this sentiment. After so much heartbreak, we really hoped our ad would capture a sense of community and that New York spirit.
 
The winning ad is a new twist on the very old “I Love NY” state ad campaign, launched in July 1977. What made you use the iconic slogan?

This logo created by Milton Glaser is so iconic and uplifting. When it was created in 1977, New York City was plunged into darkness and Milton Glaser was able to capture and convey a unifying spirit. This is also one of my favorite periods in New York City's cultural history, as there was really an amazing movement going on in film, music and art amidst a very broken time. The first feature documentary I directed, "Blank City" captures this era, and includes interviews with Debbie Harry, Jim Jarmusch, Steve Buscemi, Fab 5 Freddy, and others. And I began to think this moment of creativity that came out of such a dark time could possibly be replicated even now.
 
So for this PSA, it became very important for us to incorporate the logo - but with a new spin. Our video opens with the logo - but it's animated by Mike Perry ("Broad City") and includes a beating heart, which refers to the health of all New Yorkers and also to the pulse and energy of the city itself. The script also plays with the logo by saying - "I love New York. We love New York" - which references the sense of community in New York. "We love New York" also became the title for our PSA. The We - became so important for our message. We are New Yorkers, we are tough, but most importantly we will get through this pandemic together because we care. New Yorkers did it after 9/11 and after Hurricane Sandy, and so we can all come together and do it again to keep one another safe.
 
What was the biggest challenge in creating the "We Heart New York" ad while being socially distanced? 

There were many challenges in creating the PSA related to social distancing. It's hard to pick just one.
 
Filming was a very unique challenge compared to what I had ever experienced before. We all practiced social distancing techniques wore masks and followed other CDC and state recommended guidelines. We kept a very minimal crew and we were able to shoot the video safely.
 
Editing remotely and also in a very short period of time was definitely challenging. We had 10 days to shoot and edit the video after the contest was announced. We also had several days of rain which meant we had even less days to edit than we hoped as we had to adjust our shooting schedule. But we adapted with the tools that were available to us. Often we'd share a screen with our editor via Zoom to make some of the finer cuts. Or otherwise, our editor sent us links of the rough cuts for our notes which also made editing a much slower process than usual because we were unable to work together in person. Ultimately it all came together in the end.
 
Another challenge was the contest itself - since people had to vote for us to win. You couldn't just see friends or family and tell them in person. Instead, we had to turn to our social media networks to really spread the word. I think we were lucky because our ad caught the attention of a lot of celebrities and fashion designers who shared our video, including Hugh Jackman, Rachel Brosnahan, Jena Malone, Zac Posen, and Karen O. Although it felt frustrating not to tell people in person about the contest, in the end, I think online platforms and social media really helped us win the contest. Over 180,000 people voted for the contest and I think that social media was probably the only way to reach that many people.
 
We keep seeing the term 'new normal’ with regards to the way that we work as an industry. How do you see that new normal?

In New York City, it's still a bit early to predict the new normal. We will have to manage practicing social distancing everywhere and it's so much harder in a city where public transportation is relied upon on a daily basis. Also open office plans are great for creative collaboration, but suddenly are no longer ideal. I think pre-production work and teams involved with post-production will probably work remotely from home studios much more often in the future. And crews will have to be more limited in size, which may change the content of many ads or films.
 
But if we are all wearing masks and practicing social distancing whenever possible, following CDC and city/state guidelines, it definitely seems possible to resume production in the very near future.
 
Do you find there are many challenges (obstacles) being a women-run production company in New York?

Over the past few years, I've noticed increased opportunities for women within our industry. There are now even websites that focus on job opportunities specifically for women. But this ultimately only happened after vocal and public criticism on this issue of gender discrimination. Although I have to admit, it's still rather shocking to have so few female directors. Hopefully things will continue to change on that front.
 
For Bunny Lake Films, I've found that most the obstacles we face are generally self-imposed rather than directly being tied to our gender. Although perhaps our gender experience creates these impositions? For instance, we always try to be as collaborative as possible with whomever we work with -- but this can lead to butting heads as we challenge one another creatively and practically speaking. But I think that charged dynamic often brings something new and different that nobody expected when everybody is heard. As I mentioned before, we are always trying to bring diversity behind the camera as well as in front of the camera. So it can be a challenge to always be on the look out for new and talented crew members who can bring a unique perspective to a project. But that's really how you can create something new and different which is what Bunny Lake is really all about.
 
You have worked on a number of PSAs in the past, is there one piece of work or project that you’re most proud of? 

I really loved working on the "We Love NY" PSA. Shortly after our PSA was announced as the winner of the ad contest, protests began in Minneapolis, New York and all over the world to promote racial equality and that black lives matter as we mourned the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and too many others. I've been protesting quite a bit since this began and it was amazing to see almost everyone wearing masks - although ironically not the police. But I was so glad that the message we tried to convey about wearing a mask to reduce the spread of coronavirus became part of this very crucial movement.
 
One of my favorite PSAs I worked on in the past I also co-directed with Aliya Naumoff. A couple years ago, we created a video campaign for SWING LEFT to inspire people to volunteer and get others to vote during the last weekend before the 2018-midterm elections. Voter turnout was higher nationwide than it had been in a long time so I think that PSA worked. The video was completely different than the PSA we just directed, as it was all shot in a studio and included politicians and celebrities such as Elizabeth Warren, Hillary Rhodam Clinton, Deray McKesson, Kerry Washington, Lena Dunham, and Tracee Ellis Ross. The video also went viral and was written up in Vogue, Washington Post, In Style and others.
 
Bunny Lake is already brainstorming about videos for the upcoming election in November to help make sure people have access to voting during this pandemic to elect those officials, from the top to the bottom, who will truly combat systemic discrimination - whether related to race, national origin, or sex. In this day and age, I think it's important that progressive personal values of a company's founders are truly reflected in a company's mission and the work created. And that's what Bunny Lake aims to do.