Following the success of last year’s Playland spots, which earned Bessies gold in the campaign and singles categories, Palmer Jarvis ddb and Apple Box Productions, Vancouver, have delivered another humorous look at the amusement park, this time focusing on the importance of roller-coaster safety.

Instead of showing people on the ride at the park, director/cameraman Cliff Skelton shot the spot at a nearby house where a park goer drops in on the unsuspecting tenants.

As the spot begins, a dull-looking older woman prepares a snack in the kitchen, while her fat, lazy, Cliff Claven-type son (who is presumably too old to still live with his mother) lazes in front of the tube watching a documentary on roller coasters.

Just as the tv flashes a warning sign saying ‘Be sure lap bar is in locked position during ride,’ a roller-coaster rider comes crashing through the living room window, a stunt perfected by Lauro Chartrand in just two shots.

Skelton wanted to capture the stuntman flying through the candy glass window head-first and backwards from above, so Chartrand set up a ramp and took a running leap, which unfortunately landed him too far into the room.

On his second attempt, he was tossed from a fast-moving wheelbarrow through the window, which gave the director exactly the I-was-just-flung-off a-ride look he was going for.

The tv spot is basically a live-action version of a billboard campaign currently running in Vancouver – plain white signs with safety warnings and 3D dummies pasted on as if they were flung off a ride and stuck to the boards.

Palmer Jarvis group creative director Ian Grais says they have been working on Playland for five years and the biggest challenge they are confronted with year after year is coming up with fresh ways to show the thrill of the park.

Although Skelton did stay close to the original storyboards, he added his own flavor when it came to the little details. If you watch the spot carefully and pay close attention you’ll see a bunch of small disasters waiting to happen.

When the guy comes crashing through the window he breaks a table where an urn containing a relative’s ashes and picture have been placed; when the mother exits the kitchen, she leaves a paper towel hanging out of the toaster oven; and when she travels into the tv room we see, for a brief second, an overloaded electrical outlet with frayed wires being licked by a dog.

Christie Barnard was the project manager for Palmer Jarvis, Chris Staples was creative director, Alan Russell was associate creative director and writer, and Terry Green and Leslie Collie were producers.

Leslie Thomas produced for Apple Box, Ian Jenkins edited at Coast Mountain, and Wave Productions handled the audio.