the STUDIO teams up with amfAR to launch World AIDS Day campaign
amfAR, The American Foundation for AIDS Research, has teamed up with the STUDIO to launch a multi-platform series of films for the HIV CURE Summit in San Francisco on World AIDS Day.
Kevin Frost, amfAR President, unveiled them this December 1st. The five films create a single piece of communication that speaks to multiple audiences; donors, educators, policy-makers, advocators, and the scientific community.
The collaboration between amfAR and the STUDIO began this year when the STUDIO created a widely acclaimed short film for amfAR’s Galas. The partnership with amfAR continues the STUDIO’s commitment to purpose-driven work that compels audiences to engage in social impact.
AIDS prevention and awareness initiatives have always been a part of the company’s history. Mary Nittolo, Founder of the STUDIO, comments:
The opportunity to be involved in a project where a CURE (Charting, Understanding, Recording and Eliminating) is a possibility was an enormous privilege and opportunity. We’re honoured to be a part of bringing that message – which is a paradigm shift from prevention and treatment to CURE – to a wider audience.
Scientific and healthcare communications are often cold and clinical. They can feel synthetic, dark, and alien. We wanted to opt for something inspirational that offers hope and gives notice to a momentous medical breakthrough that is finally within our reach. At the same time, the science needed to be accurately communicated to a variety of audiences from scientific and medical to academic and donor communities. We needed to depict the science proposed to cure AIDS in a human way that was both artful and visually engaging.
David Grad, EP/Head of Integrated Production at the STUDIO:
The challenge was translating complex scientific language into a compelling narrative. With beautiful imagery we simplified highly technical information into something that could be clearly understood by even non-medically trained audiences.
the STUDIO stylized and simplified the visual language of cellular structures by adding textures and soft edges. Based on research found in a Siggraph white paper, CG lead Eric Kilanski adapted a technique utilizing sub-frame motion blur to cells that were created in Maya.
Each frame was designed to look like a painting.
Nittolo:
Very fortunately, the amfAR brand gradients gave the rich palette that we needed to create a visual language that spoke to both disease and hope.
The team also utilized a variety of different fluid and dynamic simulations and other post-production techniques to create the organic feel of living cells inside the body. The final output required over 10,000 rendering hours in V-Ray.
the STUDIO partnered with partnered with Hook+Line to create a score that compliments the emotion and gravitas that should accompany the promise of a cure.
Nittolo:
AmfAR was an incredible client. Their research team, Rowena Johnston and Marcella Flores were enormously patient and generous in educating us about the complex science. Kevin Robert Frost, AnnMari Shannahan and Andrew McInnes took an incredible leap of faith trusting our visual approach which was quite different from the traditional scientific communications pieces they originally referenced.
The films were first presented at the 2016 World AIDS Day Forum on December 1st 2016.
Commenting on the reception to the films, Nittolo says: “After screening the videos at the HIV CURE Summit for an auditorium full of researchers and scientists, AnnMari Shannahan called to let us know they were collectively astonished by the unique beauty of the animation and our ability to accurately represent the science.”
Credits
Client: amfAR
Creative Agency: the STUDIO
Agency Producer: David Grad (Head of Integrated Production)
Production Company: the STUDIO
Director: Mary Nittolo
Producer: Tao Garcia
Executive Producer: David Grad
Lead Post-Production: Eric Kilanski
2D: Alison Abitbol (style), John Holmes and Mike Ocasio (story)
3D: Malcolm Carrott, Jackie Garbuio, Andrew Wilson, Victor DeRespinis
Colourist: Eric Kilanski
Music: Hook + Line
The STUDIO is a digital production company that delivers complete service from pre-production – storyboards and animatics – to production and post. For 25 years, we have been devoted to the growth of our clients’ businesses by bringing strategic vision, imagination, artfulness, delight, and clarity to the world of communication. We have artists, editors, programmers, 2d and 3d designers and artisans collaborating in one location, so a highly-trained multidisciplinary team of artists is available at all times to fuse creativity, brand narrative and brilliant design solutions. As a staff based company, production is not outsourced, giving our clients the benefit of being up and running immediately with a staff familiar with our pipeline, our clients’ expectations and our company culture.