Bringing child labor to the forefront through animation.
When social justice issues like child labor make their way into the mainstream conversation, how do you capture the gravity of the situation while ensuring that the message sticks? This was the challenge at hand when Pixel Bakery was tasked with creating an animated promo for a feature documentary about Nobel Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi. The film follows Nobel prize winner Kailash Satyarthi and his mission to free children forced into child labor.
Industry: Video Production Company
Process
Since the animation was a promotional item for a film, it had a tight timeline and a hard deadline. We were given about two weeks after receiving the script to have the finished video ready for publication. This meant the project would become a full-team effort, where we were storyboarding, designing, and animating – all at the same time.
We started by going over the script, and jotting down some visual notes. Because the turnaround time was so short, we created a written storyboard rather than a hand-drawn one like we normally do. We went through the script line by line and took notes about what we wanted that scene to look like and how we wanted it to move. Since all visual cues were written down, the language had to be extremely specific and concise.
We started designing the first scene we needed animated, and from there began designing and animating congruently. This helped us speed up the production since we had two designers and animating all together. After all animating was done, we sourced and added background music and sound effects to give the video a much more engaging and dramatic tone.
The Results: Beyond the Pixel
The end result was not just a promo piece, but a catalyst for conversation and change. The animation garnered significant attention, effectively driving viewers to the full-length documentary and ultimately, advancing the fight against child labor.
SEO Success:
We achieved high rankings in search results for keywords associated with the documentary and child labor advocacy, exceeding our KPIs for SEO ranking.
Brand Voice Consistency:
By meticulously following our brand voice guide, the animation seamlessly blended with the overarching themes of the documentary while keeping Pixel Bakery's unique tone intact.
Engagement:
The animation clocked impressive metrics in terms of views, shares, and comments, signifying a high level of audience engagement.
The Takeaway:
Pixel Bakery isn't just about putting pretty pixels on a screen. It’s about creating purposeful, powerful visual stories that reverberate through society. Through this project, we’ve proven that even under a crunch, quality and meaningful impact are not mutually exclusive.