Our film is shown from the perspective of Sam, a child who should have been supervised near a pool. Sam’s parents bring their family to a pool party, but Sam wanders off while they are catching up with friends. Party goers greet Sam but everyone makes the same mistake: assuming someone else is watching. Sam moves through the house and out towards the pool, unnoticed, and finds a bright orange ball. Sam reaches for the ball and falls into the pool, sinking down, showing the terrifying viewpoint of drowning. The audience is left with a question they’re not sure they can bear: will Sam be okay? A horrible question they can only be free of by visiting our online destination.

The audience will notice that although the film is from Sam’s perspective, we never actually show Sam. We did this so the audience would not know if Sam was male or female, nor of any particular race. That way, the viewer never gets the comfort of dissociating their own child or a child they knew from the possibility of such tragedy. Sam could be anyone’s child. Sam could be your child.

We first created a 30-second version for Facebook that features the uncomfortable cliffhanger ending and a longer version at redcross.ca/watersafety that offers the full story. We knew that the uncertainty of Sam’s fate from the 0:30 would lead viewers to seek the rest of the video for reassurance and there, we drove them to sign up for First Aid and educated them on important facts regarding drowning and water safety.