YMCA’s one-take wonder

Conceived by director Edward Andrews of Toronto-based production company Skin & Bones and creative director Jonathan Guy, the moving film depicts two outcomes for a family, revealing what a difference having the support of bodies like the YMCA can make. 

Titled, A World Without Y, the spot follows a family happily awaiting the return of their daughter from a YMCA camp, while outside is a picture of sunny suburban bliss. The story is then repeated, with, literally, a darker tone, as this time the family is distraught over their missing child and the neighbourhood is troubled.

“We wanted to develop an idea that enables the viewer to really feel what it's like to live in a community that has support and one that doesn't,” Andrews said. "Filming it as a one-take was the only way to do it; we didn’t want to do a spot full of vignettes,” Guy says. “It allowed us to take you on a journey with our mother and feel everything she feels but also reveal how each of her two worlds are affected.”

The project relied on a skilful edit from Warren Goodwin of The Assembly, who admits to one covert cut: “This project was a special challenge,” Goodwin says, “it looks like a single shot but we hid an edit halfway through the cut, meaning the crew had to flawlessly replicate every move and every cue exactly in order to build that seamless transition. Edward [Andrews] and I laboured over each of the 24 takes until we found two that were as close to perfection as possible and then with the help of the VFX team at Alter Ego, seamlessly stitched them together.”