THROMBOLYTIC THERAPY - CASE STUDY

This film illustrates the mechanism of action of a thrombolytic drug, showing how it breaks down a blood clot in the brain to restore the circulation and limit neurological damage in an ischaemic stroke. The drug targets the fibrin strands which hold the blood clot together, activating an enzyme which breaks down the fibrin.

The client was looking for a short film made on a limited budget but with a highend look and feel. The initial meeting with the agency was highly productive. We quickly established a visual direction for the film by running through a selection of references. We also identified areas where unnecessary complexity could be avoided. This ensured the available budget wasn’t being spread too thinly. The agency had their own in-house art director and were keen for him to do the storyboarding, however it quickly emerged that he was a very busy man. With the deadline looming Plastic Milk took on the storyboarding process, running everything past the art director to make sure he was happy with the quality.

While the storyboard was being reviewed by the client, Plastic Milk were busy building models, surfacing and lighting them and creating environments. Using Pixar’s rendering engine and a 32 bit linear workflow throughout the rendering and compositing process helped to achieve the high end look the client was after, without blowing the budget. Static style frames were approved and Plastic Milk quickly moved on to animating the film. A low resolution version of the film was created for initial review, and the agency had some great ideas on how to improve some of the fine details. Once these were implemented the revised low res went off to the end client and was almost instantly approved. The final rendering was completed in record time thanks to a cloud based rendering system that increased our rendering capacity by a factor of 50.

A short but effective film that concentrates the audience’s attention on the key points, clearly explaining the mechanisms involved and showing the importance of acting quickly to minimise damage to the brain. The agency and the end client were very happy with the final film.