NFL
INTRO
Being an athlete encourages us to maximize our potential.
Some pursue greatness for fame.
I pursued it to be part of something greater than myself.
That’s what drew me to this project.
The Super Bowl is a cultural monolith.
For the NFL to carve out time
To showcase the Cause of NFL Players giving back to the community
Will be highly impactful.
It’s a reminder that’s worth repeating for every viewer:
I AM SOMEBODY.
We all are.
TONE
We can send this powerful message at a time so many need to hear it.
Using the Reverend Jesse Jackson’s mantra was already a strong choice.
Using the version from Sesame Street in the 70s is inspired.
It strikes a hopeful tone, lifting up spirits in a collective voice
To remind every individual watching the Super Bowl that they matter.
By putting kids on the same level as NFL stars,
The message becomes unifying and inspiring.
It’s a true call to action…
To go out into the world and serve others.
The NFL even showcases organizations
Already hard at work
Like Big Brothers Big Sisters, Special Olympics, and InsideOut,
Giving viewers a starting point on their journey to make a difference.
And that difference is to validate a child’s self-worth with our presence and attention.
Watching these kids embrace this love is
Transformative.
Raw.
Emotional.
There’s a sense of authentic community in these organizations,
Showing off the benefits to mentors and mentees alike.
The mantra is sturdy enough to hold the attention of millions of viewers
As they are moved to be part of a cause larger than themselves.
The cause of a better future.
THE MANTRA
“I am somebody.”
Reverend Jackson’s mantra is the heart of the film.
The words bind us together as a true Voice of the People.
The original recording from SESAME STREET does two things.
One, it reminds you of how invisible you felt like when you were a kid.
And kids need to see themselves in order to be somebody.
It helps if you let them know you see them.
Two, it’s how you feel amongst a crowd at a football game,
chanting the same cheer
In pursuit of the same goal.
To be a part of the game
– is to be a part of something bigger than yourself.
Keeping Reverend Jackson’s original voice from the 1970s video recording
creates a timeless, nostalgic feel.
Recording the children’s voices on set makes it current.
We could even dub the production recordings to tape in post to seamlessly match
the technical quality of the fifty-year-old recording.
The mantra becomes a conversation that transcends time and space
The call and response nature of the delivery can be used to our advantage.
It’s not a dialogue driven performance.
It’s a statement.
A meditation.
A prayer.
It allows us to seamlessly transition between children
In an effortless edit through multiple locations.
Because there is an anticipation for who will respond to the call next.
As 2024 children appear on screen, we can layer their vocals.
Every time a new child, or NFL athlete, appears in the edit, we can foreground their vocals. Then as the film unfolds, the layers of children speaking pile up on top
of one another until they all blend together in the end –
and we hear all their voices equally in a collective chant.
Almost feeling like a stadium of voices coming together.
We can also film multiple versions of the kids’ repeating the mantra
In the event that we wish to make the scope of the finale moment feel larger
than when it’s actually on screen.
CAST
The cast reflects the audience.
An authentic cross-section of Super Bowl watchers,
Which means the general American populace.
Especially the parents, their children, and people who could be great mentors.
It speaks to the next generation eager for positive attention.
And reminders from adults in their life of their invaluable self-worth.
To assemble this cast, we will hire a Street Casting Director based out of New Orleans.
Someone who knows how to locate with talent unaccustomed to being on screen.
They will be encouraged to cast predominantly from real organizations
like Big Brothers Big Sisters.
We can round out the cast from local schools and even local youth football programs.
These kids should feel genuine to the organizations they represent,
But diverse enough to be any child in the USA.
The audience should see themselves, or a family member, in the characters we cast.
These are real kids of various personalities.
The outgoing, the reserved.
The confident, the shy.
Anyone watching this film should feel compelled to join in.
The words should resonate so much that they want to repeat alongside the kids.
For performance purposes, this is not about acting so much as it’s about being.
The kids are being themselves, expressing themselves on camera.
That’s what it means to be somebody.
NFL TALENT
The featured NFL Talent are tentpoles in our narrative.
They’re woven into the fabric of the community,
Attracting attention as NFL players, but standing out as human beings.
We show that they are more than professional athletes.
They serve the community as another face in the crowd.
Albeit a more familiar one.
They’re not giving back, but paying forward.
They are more than role models on the field.
They’re mentors off of it.
Each featured NFL Player should have a unique bit of business,
specific to their identity as a football player and person beyond the game.
Whether it’s Demario Davis giving a kid a piggyback ride,
or Terry McLaurin racing them to the corner,
the NFL players will show off the ways
their service makes these kids feel like genuine somebodies.
Or a top shot showing Jalen Hurts surrounded by a group of kids they’re mentoring,
the NFL players should be hero’ed for making sure these children’s voices are heard.
I am accustomed to working limited hours with superstar athletes.
It’s a matter of empowering them to behave naturally onscreen,
Preparing ahead of time, and being flexible enough to be able to adapt to the circumstance.
I know from personal experience that seeing how much your presence means to a kid calls forth your best. Having the NFL stars work with kids will be easier to engage the players than endorsing a product.
VISUAL LANGUAGE
In keeping with the vintage audio of Reverend Jackson,
we should nod to the visual sensibilities of that era.
There’s a distinct vèritè look to the outside the studio moments on SESAME STREET.
It’s a warm, textured imagery that captures the wonder of childhood for kids
and reminds adults how fragile it can be.
Those are the kind of visuals I’m envisioning for this.
On every film, I immerse our visuals with cinematic realism.
Composed cinematic frames,
With graphic, warm, natural light
captured with subtle, observational camera movements.
The goal is for every frame to feel like a painting.
Every moment feels intentional,
Like a shareable piece of content in its own right.
As if you could see it on the cover of a magazine.
For every vignette, our camera movement
Should feel subtle, and never distracting.
The people in the frame are key here,
So we don’t want to take away from that.
My idea is to film predominantly static, handheld, or with subtle tracking shots.
This will also enable our small, nimble crew,
To move quickly in order to get as many vignettes as possible
Over the course of our 2 day shoot.
For the more poetic moments,
we could integrate higher frame rates and subtle zooms or push-ins
To make the everyday feel otherworldly.
To heighten the impact of “feeling like somebody”,
we film from the child’s perspective.
Colors are vibrant, rich and hopeful,
Camera lenses are wide-eyed, looking towards the future,
Perspective is from the kids eye level or below,
suggesting their heroism.
Oftentimes, we will leave adults out of the frame
to maintain a child’s view on the world.
Except for our NFL athletes, who will bring themselves to eye level with the kids,
showing them that they are a part of the community of children’s voices.
Either the athletes sit down,
or we see them lying in the grass,
Or the kids are raised onto their backs,
Or we film them together from the top down.
Let’s draw inspiration from strong narrative feature cinematography
in which children are the central focus:
LOCATION
If the goal is to make this film appear like it could be filmed in Anytown, USA,
then New Orleans is perfect.
New Orleans looks like a true cross-section of American life.
From the people to the architecture, New Orleans is diverse.
In a short geographic distance,
New Orleans offers rural, suburban, urban, old world, river, delta, or Gulf.
It’s easy to scout space in New Orleans to stand in for other parts of the US.
My idea is to find the places that intersect these different types of landscapes.
We want to where on one block you get rural, and on the next block you get suburban.
This will enable us to spend as much time as possible filming,
And less time spent in the back of a travel van.
We should find places with incredible natural light and color –
Like City Park with the sweeping willow trees creating dappled light
Or like an old community gymnasium (New Orleans Athletic Club) with beautiful window light.
Or outside between the colorful homes in the Esplanade neighborhood with sunset light.
Locations are key to making the cinematic realism seem effortless.
We could also utilize some of the locations where some of the real organizations work
Like the Big Brothers Big Sisters New Orleans working in a city park or whatever space hosts the Special Olympics.
If they have the look and feel we are going for, then the more authentic, the better.
MUSIC
The call and response of the script is melodic.
Rhythm drives the story, setting the pace.
It offers us an opportunity to use the music subtly.
We use music to accent voices.
How? By utilizing a lone instrument, building from a single note before evolving to a beautiful chord. I could imagine a string instrument building to a group of strings,
Or a single piano note, building to a beautiful arrangement of notes together.
Just as we start on a lone voice answering “I am somebody”, but build to every kid in the film, the music will keep building, growing to a crescendo
That sweeps us up in the power of our message.
We could commission an incredible musician to compose the score. The mantra is an anthem, in and of itself. The music need only accompany and support it.
SCRIPT
Open in New Orleans’ 9th Ward. A door swings open, and a boy of 11 steps into frame, walking down the steep porch of his home. We track with him as he heads to a green strip in the middle of an avenue. We hear the vintage recording of Reverend Jackson from the 70s.
REV. JACKSON: Ready on the stump? Ok, here we go. I am somebody.
In the quiet hum of morning, we cut close on the boy’s face as he humbly repeats, “I am somebody.”
Cut to a front yard where Demario Davis hangs with a dozen kids mentored through Big Brothers Big Sisters. The kids are excited to see Demario, familiar as an NFL star, but beloved for his work with BBBS. They’re even more excited that Demario is listening to them, offering advice. One kid sneaks up behind him, jumping on his back. They laugh. A few more kids hop on his back, in a semi-tackle/hug, showing their appreciation for him.
REV. JACKSON: I may be young, but I am somebody
Cut to Demario and the whole group sitting together on a stoop. The kids surround him. A few sit on his lap, as warm morning light bounces off the window behind them. We cut in on select portraits of the kids. One kid wears an oversized Saints jersey with Demario’s number 56. It’s so big we wonder if Demario gifted him a game-used jersey. Another kid has massive football gloves on his hands that clearly belong to Demario. Speaking directly to camera, Demario leads the kids in repeating after the Reverend: “I may be young, but I am somebody.”
Cut to a city street. The camera tilts up to reveal Terry McLaurin gathering up a diverse group of kids on an old high school blacktop yard. He looks up to the sky. Following their mentor’s lead, all the kids look up.
We hear REV. JACKSON: I may be small, but I am somebody.
We cut to a top down, wide shot of Terry and the kids looking up to the sky. All of them declare together, with smiles across their faces, “I may be small, but I am somebody.”
Cut to a dozen kids lined up across a suburban sidewalk (or this could be inside a school gym), their shadows elongated against the concrete, making them larger than life. They are in front of houses where a couple American flags wave from the porches. No two kids are the same. Their wardrobe reflects different backgrounds and social strata. Each kid represents a unique shade of American. The camera dollies (or pans) down the sidewalk. Filmed in a higher frame rate, we cut wide to see the long shadows they’re casting on the road.
The Reverend’s VO echoes, “My clothes are different.”
We hear the kids respond, “My clothes are different.”
The Reverend’s voice echoes again, “My face is different.” Cut to three quick cuts of kids with memorable faces. In the wide shot, all the kids proudly agree, “My face is different.”
Cut to the 11-year-old boy as he passes a stranger on the green strip in the center of a street like the Esplanade in New Orleans. They nod and smile, pleasantly.
Cut to the boy’s POV as he notices a house he passes. There, on the porch, a Mom braids her young daughter’s hair. The girl’s siblings play tag in the foreground. The Reverend’s words rise, “My hair is different.”
The young daughter waves to the boy as he passes and tells the world, “My hair is different.”
Cut to chalk dust flying in backlight. An InsideOut program’s leader erases a phrase on a chalkboard of a middle class middle school classroom. The Reverend’s voice calls it aloud: “But I am somebody.” We cut to a wide to reveal an after school group huddled around the chalkboard. A shy kid’s eyes dart as he reacts to hearing the Reverend’s words. The mentor puts his hand on his shoulder. A glint of confidence appears in the kids’ eye now as he whispers…”I am somebody.” At the chalkboard, the shy kid holds the eraser in one hand and the chalk in another. The film plays in reverse as his arm wipes across the frame unerasing the phrase chalked on the board: I AM SOMEBODY.
Cut to a group of Special Olympians and volunteers supporting them, lining up in the lanes of a high school track. A group surrounds Jalen Hurts, who has just dropped by for a special appearance to help mentor in the Special Olympics. Athletes step aside to reveal Jalen. He looks at one of the kids and winks. He steps into one of the lanes and shows the athletes how to properly start a race. He looks at one of the kids and winks cues the Reverend’s voiceover, “I must be respected, protected, never rejected.”
Cut to the full group standing in the bleachers like a team photo. Olympians and volunteers alike stand. Jalen Hurts stands in the back row, the lone person in that space. He literally has their back. They respond along with Jalen, “I must be respected.” The camera slides across the row of kids as they continue their mantra, “Protected”…. “Never rejected.”
The motion continues after the cut, as we see the boy from the opening image stepping from the neighborhood in the 9th to his destination: The Big Brothers Big Sisters game in a green space of a city park. The classic neighborhood green space offers the perfect playing surface for their pickup game. All the kids stand, forming a semi-circle around Demario Davis as he kneels before them, offering advice. He notices the boy and waves him over like “Where you been? We’ve been waiting” For the first time all film, we see our hero boy smile. The Reverend’s voice drives the point home emphatically, “I am somebody.”
Feeling the welcome, the boy tucks the football and sprints to Demario. Demario stands up, hugging the boy and slinging him on his back for a piggy back ride. And in that moment, the answer comes not just from our kids in the Big Brothers Big Sisters pickup game, but from every kid who has graced our frame. They declare in unison, “I am somebody.”
A dolly shot (or long pan shot) on a long lens rolls over the various groups as they chant “I am somebody”. We revisit our NFL Players and their mentees building fellowship and community.
Demario with the hero boy on his back, peering over his shoulder at the lens: “I am somebody.”
The dolly continues, cutting to Terry on the blacktop with his group, “I am somebody.”
The dolly continues to Jalen in the bleachers with his gathering of Special Olympics athletes and volunteers, “I am somebody.”
Across the land, we hear every kid shout: “I AM SOMEBODY”
As the super appears: EVERY KID CAN BE A SOMEBODY IF THEY HAVE SOMEBODY TO SHOW THEM THE WAY
Mantra complete, Reverend Jackson finishes with, “Give yourself a big hand.”
With that, the group of kids applaud their volunteers and the organizations supporting them. And that applause reverberates.
As we close on a graphic wide revealing the city of New Orleans at dusk. The Superdome dominates the landscape. A super burns in: THIS YEAR, THE NFL FAMILY HAS SUPPORTED MORE THAN XX YOUTH SERVING ORGANIZATIONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY
SUPER: NFL IT TAKES ALL OF US
EDIT
The challenge of making this a 30 is that the full mantra runs around 60 seconds. We will shoot enough material to easily fill a :60 that could play on the web. But for the Super Bowl broadcast, we will cut down for 30 seconds.
How to make a 30 second version work? Focus on the recording with little context around it. After the boy starts walking through New Orleans, we simply cut through to the various causes and NFL players as their groups declare: I am somebody. These moments happen quicker. We see a quick glimpse of the players mentoring, followed by direct to camera statements to keep the story moving. Once we establish the call and response pattern, we can reduce the amount of times we repeat “I am somebody”. We could just play the call or the response.
We can tell the story faster by flicking through each group, and say the mantra once. Since everyone is saying the same line, we can overlap and blend each word, so that each person in close-up finishes the next part of the sentence. That should cut the run time of that sequence down by half.
That approach shifts the focus to Reverend Jackson’s mantra, the kids and NFL Players repeating after him, and the good these orgs are putting into the world.
THANK YOU
This project’s potential resonates with me. Coaching taught me helping others made me feel fulfilled. I pursued filmmaking because I could reach more people and remind them they are somebody.
“I am somebody” is a message worth sending to the world right now. It will inspire positivity. And with a messenger like the NFL, it’s going to be heard.
I would be honored to bring this film to life with you.
Thank you for thinking of me.
Patrick McConville 