Leo’s FishHeads (March 2020) FishHeads is a 26 x 11 science adventure series for kids that explores what is going on under the waves and around the shorelines as our hosts discover the aquatic world of Ontario, the rest of Canada and beyond. The series brings us up-close and personal with the creatures that live in, under and around the water. (fifthground.com) We had the unique and exciting opportunity to …
Animation
Borealis (February 2020) Borealis is a 90-minute documentary about the global boreal forest, also known as the taiga in Russia and Snow Forest in Europe. The film tells the story of how the forest rebuilds itself after a fire. It is a process that biologists call “succession”, in which progressive waves of plants and animals take over the landscape, constantly changing it until the forest reaches a climax and must …
Moonwalk (November 2019) “Moonwalk” is a modern day fairytale about a “burner boy” in Ghana who is confronted by a strange kind of spirit animal as he harvests copper from electronic waste. (@theartofmypetskeleton) This tour de force short film serves as a music video for Hand of the Tribe, a Boston-based metal band who wanted to ask some deep questions about the West’s relationship to e-waste and our attitude …
She Walks With Apes (August 2019) Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey and Birute Galdikas, known as the ‘Trimates’, set out into the jungle to study our closest relatives – the great apes. Now, three women are following in the footsteps of these three great scientists. (cbc.ca) We were tapped to design a graphic language that would help support the extraordinary stories of two generations of scientist explorers who have immersed …
Fields (July 2019) Working with our friends at Show Communications, we helped develop a handful of animations to help visualize what are known in quantum physics as fields. Points in space-time that can be quantified and measured. What?! This series of videos for Perimeter Institute was a challenging opportunity to wrap our heads around a scientific area that at once seems almost self-evident, but at the same time pretty …
Warigami (April 2019) Wendy Ohata has just made three startling realizations: One, she has a twin brother named Vincent. Two, she’s a kami-jin – a descendent of an ancient Japanese people who can turn paper into deadly weapons. And three, there’s a kami-jin warrior named Sadako hunting her down for reasons she doesn’t understand. (official synopsis) We were commissioned to create an animated sequence that would tell the contradictory …
A Short Essay on Men (April 2019) The role of men has become uncertain in contemporary Western society. With the digital, #metoo age upon us, the same characteristics that once defined a man, can cripple him. How do we raise boys to be good men in the face of these obstacles? (storyhive.com) Our direction was for the title sequence was to be inspired by the look of classic James …
The Nature of Invention (Jan 2019) Behind every invention is an inventor with a fascinating story. Broadcaster and author Britt Wray has spent years in the lab studying synthetic biology and now wants to meet inventors to find out what inspires them, and what makes them tick. (cbc.ca) We designed a visual language that would evoke the feeling of a flurry of inspiration for the film. Imagining an inventor …
Food For Thought (Dec 2018) Food for Thought takes us on a journey into the fascinating world of dietary science, revealing the answers to intriguing questions like: What’s in an apple? Why are supermarket tomatoes so tasteless? And just how fattening is that takeout you ordered last night? From a street market in Brazil to a doughnut shop in Boston, a greenhouse in Florida to a campus kitchen in Vancouver, the film …
Smart Drugs (Oct 2018) Across the globe, university students, lawyers, doctors and entrepreneurs are taking drugs to sharpen their focus and help them work longer. In this cinematic one-off POV documentary, we follow Nik Badminton on a journey down the rabbit hole into the world of smart drugs and cognitive enhancement techniques as he tries to better his career, his productivity, and ultimately himself. Are there real drawbacks to …
Animation Archives - Electric Square