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FOX50 & WRAL-TV Producers Win NCAB Awards |
FOX50 Producer Scott Reid |
WRAL-TV Producer
Dan Oliver |
Two award-winning CBC television producers have each garnered another trophy for their bookcases. FOX50 Producer Scott Reid won the “Best of the Best” award from the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters for the fourth time this year. He created the winning commercial, a Durham Bulls Mini-Ticket Plan spot. WRAL Producer Dan Oliver won another “Best of the Best’ award for his “Syphilis Elimination” Public Service Announcement (PSA). Oliver received accolades for creating a very effective spot for a sensitive subject.
Both awards were presented at the NCAB annual meeting in Wrightsville Beach on Monday, July 14, 2003.
Reid produces most of the Durham Bulls television spots seen on WRAL-TV, FOX50 and Time Warner Cable channels, along with Bulls Multimedia Director Aaron Bare.
“The spot was a team effort between FOX 50 and the Bulls,” said Reid. “I just tried to edit lots of family and baseball images together to the beat of the music I selected. Combine that with some graphics using the ‘trail’ or ‘decay’ effect and voila! We had a spot. It was fun to put together.”
“Scott effectively blends the energy of baseball with the enthusiasm of our fans,” said Bulls Vice President George Habel. “It’s gratifying for the Bulls to star in one of his award-winning commercials. Scott and his crew have hit another home run for creativity.”
FOX50 and Scott Reid won this NCAB Best of the Best Award previously in 1999, 2000 and 2001.
Oliver created his award-winning PSA in response to a request from the Syphilis Elimination Project. The organization had started a poster campaign to raise awareness of the existence of syphilis and encourage people to be tested for it. They wanted a TV campaign to work in concert with the posters.
“Now I have to be honest,” said Oliver. “When she [WRAL’s Phyllis Parish] told me I was doing a spot to encourage people to be tested for syphilis, I was not thrilled. The first thing that came to mind was one of those horrible Health Class films from the old days, something like ‘Syphilis: The Silent Killer.’ Well, I sure didn’t want to do that.”
Oliver said that he spent time studying the posters and divining how to translate them from stills to moving pictures. He decided to use the vignettes as the basis of the ads and brought in actors to shoot the mini-scenes.
“I put the spot together in the Avid, using a mixture of color, black-and-white, and desaturated spots, with jump cuts to give it some dynamic energy and an arresting look,” he explained.
“This spot is so well-executed, especially given the difficult subject,” said WRAL-TV Creative Services Director Cindy Sink. “The script is relavant and believable, the acting is honest and real, and the videography enhances the message without being predictable or maudlin. It’s easy to see why it would be honored, and Dan should be proud of this one. “
