WE CREATED an animation for the World Wildlife Fund to explain the different kinds of life that make up biodiversity, its importance, and what’s causing its decline. This mix of animation and live-action footage tells the story of how different animals, plants, fungi, bacteria, and genetic material coexist and depend on each other to build our communities, ecologies, and the natural world. All of which are needed to maintain balance and support life.
We used a bright and dynamic color palette that reflects the range of colorful, unique, and diverse life forms across the globe.
OUR GOAL was to create an explainer video that could accompany WWF Wild Classroom’s biodiversity educational toolkit, an engaging resource to be used by teachers across the United States. It also needed to be content-rich enough to stand on its own, granting access to those outside of an academic environment and reaching a larger audience.
The content is in accordance with the Next Generation Science Standards for middle school grades six to eight. As an added challenge, it also needed to captivate the attention of both older and younger students.
OUR PROCESS included working with the Wild Classroom team on both script and design to find the balance needed to engage older and younger students, both in and outside the classroom. We were able to accomplish this by using a poppy animation style, bright colors, and energetic live-action footage. With this combination, we covered the impact and benefits of biodiversity on health across ecosystems, threats to biodiversity, and what students can do to protect it.
To connect the topic of biodiversity to the animation, each frame wipes, ripples, flows, and morphs into the next, reflecting the intricate web of food chains and energy flows.
The music and voice-over express an evolving tone throughout the video, being fun and light when exploring the beauty and importance of biodiversity while becoming more earnest when discussing its threats.
WE SCRIPTED AND DESIGNED the animation using Adobe Illustrator and After Effects. We worked with technical animator Dave Leonard to give the designs fluid movement.
COLLABORATORS Dave Leonard for animation