ANIMATED VIDEOS TO PROTECT OUR FORESTS
FCDS Case
The Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Developmen (Fundación para la Conservación y el Desarrollo Sostenible ) produced the collection of animated videos “We Are All Forest!” as part of the “United for the forests” (Unidos por los Bosques) project, aiming to help the audience easily understand the urgent need to know, value, and, above all, protect our forests from their main threat: deforestation.
The challenges of producing environmental content for a general audience.
One of the main challenges of this content was to bring specialized topics, which are broad and deep, into simple and easy-to-understand language for the general audience while optimizing costs and production time. Animation, in particular, can be costly and time-consuming to produce.
HOW WAS THE CONTENT APPROACHED?
It was necessary to ensure the success of the message that the entire concept and scripts were developed by experts in these topics.
Five main topics were addressed:
1
The importance of monitoring Colombian forests.
2
Forests as an opportunity for economic development without logging.
3
The impacts of deforestation.
4
The relationship between forests and the water that sustains our lives.
5
The impact of deforestation on ancestral communities that have chosen to live isolated in the forests.
Then, to give greater credibility and visibility to the content, the FCDS chose five voices of respected Colombian environmentalists for the narrations:
Brigitte Baptiste
Ecologist and rector of EAN University.
Rodrigo Botero
FCDS Director
Wayu Matapi
Thinker for the well-being of the territory. Upichia from the Nonuya Indigenous Reserve of Villazul.
Ruby Marcela Pérez
Unidos por los Bosques. Director
Daniel Aristizabal
Coordinator of the PIACI project and the Lower Amazon region of Amazon Conservation Team.
Simultaneously, to showcase diversity in animation styles in line with the biodiversity in Colombia and to work concurrently to meet the time goals, five independent Colombian studios and animators were chosen to animate these stories.
Doinmedia, our studio, participated in this call and was selected to tell the story of the isolated indigenous communities. It was a fascinating topic that surprised us and sparked our greatest curiosity.
HOW DID WE TEAM UP WITH FCDS?
The FCDS team provided us with the necessary inputs: the voiceover script, original aerial and field photographs, and research information. Through constant dialogue, we proposed a story that respectfully and coherently incorporated the unique elements and characteristics of the territories. We aimed to create a version of events that brought the characters to life and visually complemented Daniel Aristizabal’s narration.
Illustration and character design were handled by Wilmer Bayona, with conceptual support from Carolina Guerrero and Dennis Quiñones.
Afterwards, we breathed movement and life into the characters and animals, added sound effects, and composed music.
THE RESULT
The collection of animated videos “We Are All Forest!” was launched during the Forest Week at EAN University, attended by donors, media outlets, and renowned environmentalists.
The aim of this video collection is to “bring the reality of these ecosystems closer to citizens, enabling them to understand the significant dependence that cities have on forests, such as the water and air quality that millions of people consume daily.”
Through these animated videos, the goal is to raise awareness among the general public about the vital role that forests play in supporting and sustaining our cities. By highlighting the interconnection between forests and essential resources like water and air quality, the collection aims to foster a sense of responsibility and encourage actions to protect and preserve our forests for future generations.
Learned Lessons
To create impactful content that is respectful of the theme it represents, it is necessary to engage in interdisciplinary work where dialogue among all parties is fluid and clear.
To produce a story, it is necessary to have a deep understanding of it.
When a client actively participates as a team member in each phase of a project’s production, better results are achieved.
A passionate and kind team like FCDS, who does things well, can inspire others with their enthusiasm and desire to achieve goals together.
Our forests are in danger, and every action we take to protect them counts.
We invite you to watch the complete collection of animated videos "We Are All Forest!"
It is important to highlight the overall coherence of this project. Not only in terms of the FCDS’s advocacy and work for the forests, which is a real and crucial cause, but also in terms of the human team that is always open to dialogue and facilitates the various creative processes. There is conceptual coherence, artistic integrity, and a well-aligned strategy for disseminating and communicating the content.