The creation of 3D animation is commonly associated only with entertainment. It is such a pleasure when an animated project, has a further reach and touches people in a different way. Often through the emotional end and sometimes through the physical. As creatives, we strive in finding projects that have that deeper impact and is a true pleasure when we find them.
Acorda therapeutics asked me to design and pitch a fresh approach on how to create an IFU (instructions for use) video for their new product called “INBRIJA”, an inhaler of levodopa which is a medicine that helps to control the symptoms of the OFF periods in patients with Parkinson disease. During the process of understanding the project a bit better, I had to understand the symptoms and characteristics of the Parkinson disease and how this treatment would help, I immediately knew it was the right project for me.
Along with the creative team from Acorda, I focused in pitching an approachable character in his 50s-60s “Peter” that is, as well, a patient of Parkinson but lives his life to its maximum.
I decided to create a look similar to what you see in kids modern movies to utilize the simplicity in the expressiveness of such characters. This character design style allows to modify the physical features of the character to highlight aspects of his personality, for example, Peter’s eyes are clearly bigger than normal to generate a warm a friendly look as well as his face structure.
I also concentrated in generating a wise and mature look without scarifying his jovial and energetic spirit. The main concept was to picture a confident man that, from his corner of relatable experience, can very clearly explain how to handle and use the inhaler.
The IFU video has a duration of almost 6 minutes fully 3d animated, the were 2 main versions developed: one in English and one in Spanish. For the Spanish version the lipsync of the character was fully reanimated to the Spanish language, it was important to Acorda that every consumer could very clearly understand the process of how to use the inhaler.
We (KeexFrame) developed the entire production of the video from storyboarding and script translation to voice over and full animation
There were two environments designed and created in 3D for this spot, a kitchen and a living room.
There are many close shots of the hands performing actions, so we had to make sure that the hands could handle a close-up, there was a lot of work in the texturing and modeling of the hands.
The beard end up being an important piece of the animation as well since it gave the right personality to the character.
There were many on-screen graphics that would support the actions that needed to be performed during the IFU.
