FAMILIES TOGETHER - CASE STUDY

A very powerful and moving film telling the true story of the Pearcey family. The film was developed for Princess Alice Hospice in response to a comprehensive brief with specific aims and KPIs. The script was adapted from a case study written by the father of the family. It highlights the importance of the charity’s innovative and pioneering work with young people and families.

The film was devised and developed by Plastic Milk. Illustration by Thomas Pullin. Music by Rob Lewis. Sound design by Tom Drew.

The client came to us looking for a statistics based infographic film about their future strategy. Following an extensive briefing process that included touring the hospice and meeting staff, it emerged that the film they were asking for might not deliver well against their key performance indicators (KPIs). We put forward a proposal for an alternative film based on one of their deeply moving testimonials. We felt it would be much more effective in achieving their goals and they agreed.

The original testimonial was around 3,000 words. It needed to be edited down to fewer than 500 to make a 3 minute film. Not wanting to dilute its emotional impact, we took great care in identifying the key story points to ensure nothing vital was lost.

The team at Princess Alice reviewed every stage of production to ensure they were happy with the direction it was going in. This enabled us to take on board their input throughout and avoided any costly revisions further down the line. We created a pencil sketch storyboard, which we shared with illustrator Thomas Pullin. He contributed his own ideas and added a unique sense of style and composition to the designs.

The sketch storyboard frames were then translated into a rough edit of the film known as an animatic. We tweaked and refined the animatic through several iterations until we were happy with the pacing and flow of the story.

Once the animatic was approved, Thomas created fully realised artwork, which was then brought to life by the animation team at Plastic Milk. Finally, we recorded a professional voiceover and added original music composed by cellist Rob Lewis and sound effects designed by Tom Drew.

The film has been received extremely positively, both online and at events. It has been successful in helping the hospice raise funds, gain new followers, extend their reach and promote their organisation. It has also been shortlisted for the 2019 Charity Film Awards.