One day in 2007, Macy's corporate announced a contest to produce a one-minute video on safety. The winning entry would be used in all the stores in the company to promote safety. There would also be a cash prize for the winner. Our store manager knew I had theatrical experience, so she asked me to write a script and film it. I had a camcorder.
I wrote a story about a couple of customers who bought some comforters and headed to the escalator. The comforters were so big that they caused the two to lose their balance and fall on the escalator. A sales associate would scream out for "Super Macy" who would show up and save the day. I cast two associates in the Bedding Dept. to play the two customers. An associate from Housewares played the screaming associate, and "Super Macy" was played by the head of our security office.
We had to film the video before the store opened, so we wouldn't have any distractions. The first shot was the two customers paying for their items and dragging them to the escalator. I followed them with the camera. I had never shot video like this before, but I just channeled the times I had done film work to do the directing and technical end. We went through several takes of them walking down the aisle. The shooting also went on for a few days. It had to be perfect. Each night, I would take home the video I shot and put into my VCR to edit. I noticed that the audio wasn't coming through, and a weird noise replaced the sound. I came back into the store the next day and asked around if anyone else had a camcorder. An associate in Furniture let me borrow hers.
I started back from scratch. Over two days, I was able to shoot everything. When we got to the scene where the customers fall on the escalator, we had to do that a few times to get the fall right. The first woman had to lean back and fall into the second woman behind her who was supposed to grab the rail and fall down. On one take, one of the women fell on the escalator step and cut her leg. After we patched it up, we went back to filming. She was a trooper. Then came the scene for "Super Macy" to arrive at the top of the escalator. She was wear a tight body leotard with an "SM" on her chest and a cape behind her. She came down the steps and helped the two fallen women. Her line was something like "take the elevator with heavy items like these". The women said they would. The End.
I took the video home and edited it down to a minute. I brought the dvd into the store for the management to see it. They loved it and sent it into corporate. The requirements included creativity and getting the safety message out. I thought I had accomplished both criteria. So, when it came time for the decision, we lost. I think we might have come in third. I never saw the winning entry, but they kept our video, so maybe they used in in some of their stores. At least, I was able to put on my resume director and cinematographer of a video.
