ABOUT

THE BRIEF:
Nearly 20 million people in the U.S. live with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a serious eye disease that causes vision loss and can lead to blindness. It mostly impacts older adults, many of whom are desperate to preserve their vision in their golden years. In a category that is saturated by clinical content to communicate with patients and doctors the objective was to raise the importance of our vision with Vabysmo through emotional, highly crafted storytelling to elevate a unique brand claim: 95% of retina specialists would trust Vabysmo to treat their loved ones with vision loss. Elevating the importance of our vision by playing to our hearts.

MEDIUMS:
The film was shared through digital channels online (website, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn), and screened in a live showing.

CONCEPT:
Our mothers shape our vision for the world, so naturally when their vision is at risk, we must do everything we can to care for them. The film is animated from the perspective of a son as his mother guides his vision for life. Ultimately as time passes her vision worsens, he becomes a doctor, and their roles become flipped.

The film was launched leading up to Mother’s Day and developed for all audiences in the vision loss community: Patients, their loved ones, and doctors.

EXECUTION:
Multiple craft elements capture the beauty of our sight and the importance of preserving it.

The mother character was developed to keep her relatable and recognizable as time passes by through design details including ageing, hair and wardrobe. Facial capture technology was used with real actors to enhance the expressiveness of the characters to better resonate with the audience.

The production design and art direction was a significant undertaking to capture the beauty of our vision and make it relatable to an audience not used to animation. By using vibrant colors, differentiated textures, highly detailed scenes, and realistic lighting we helped showcase how beautiful our vision can be and how important it is to protect it. Each environment was finely crafted with details that helped enhance relatability with our audiences, intrigue them, and showcase the shifting eras that were depicted (from the 1980s to the present day).

The directing was done with precise attention to detail to elevate the emotional impact of the story, cue vision, and the importance of caring for it. The director used lens distortions and camera movements that mimic human eyesight. Through the use of first-person perspective, seamless and creative scene transitions, highly detailed facial expressions using facial mapping of real actors, and engaging camera movements we were able to achieve a film that captivates an audience and never loses sight of the theme of the beauty of our sight, and the importance of protecting it.

The music composition was critical to elevate the emotion, warmth, and nostalgia that drives the film. The film spans many touching moments between mother and son, with highs and lows over the course of 40 years – having a film composition that can work with each moment was critical. The score used childlike instrumentation to drive many competing emotions portrayed in the film while maintaining the energy. The sound design was instrumental in elevating the action in each scene with over 100 sound effects seamlessly integrated and mixed.

RESULTS:
While still in its infancy the initiative has earned millions of earned media impressions and thousands of views, and an overwhelmingly positive reception from the vision loss community.

NOTES:
It’s worth noting this film was developed and succeeded despite very stringent marketing regulations mandated by the FDA. A rare creative accomplishment in this highly regulated, and risk averse space.