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June 2, 2022

Behind the Scenes: Live Action Productions

  • Posted By : Joshua Gunn/
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While animation is our bread and butter at Planet Nutshell, we have done a number of live action projects over the past few years. Often, these productions combine film with animation in interesting ways, as well.

We have been lucky enough to collaborate with some fabulous live-action producers, including the very talented folks at True Life Media. Meanwhile, our producer, Sam, gets to employ his deep background in live action production; one of his rare talents is creating detailed call sheets so that our shoot days stay on track.


Smooooth sailing: A call sheet for one of our recent shoot days.

Shoot days are a flurry of activity: Setting up locations and lighting, filming b-roll footage, filming interviews, and more. They are carefully scheduled so we can maximize our time and get as much quality footage as possible for a given budget, as we did at a recent shoot at Brigham & Women’s Hospital.

Meanwhile, our internal team is often hard at work on storyboarding and designing all the animated sequences for our hybrid live action/animation projects. Here’s a glimpse into the editing process, combining the animation and live-action for a recent project for Health Leads.

Bringing live action and animation clips together is the final step.

We’ve had a blast creating live action productions for our clients. Here’s a look at just a few of our favorites so far:

Health Leads: Community Referral Networks

(Live action footage by True Life Media)

LightForce Orthodontics

(Live action footage by Bagamor Media)

Alloy Therapeutics: Hello World

(Live action footage by Bagamor Media)

March 10, 2022

War in Ukraine: Here’s How to Help

  • Posted By : Joshua Gunn/
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The PN team is shocked, angry, and saddened by the senseless violence in Ukraine. If you feel like we do, and have been searching for a way to help, here are some credible relief organizations that are making a meaningful impact. Consider giving them your support.

UNICEF

“As needs in Ukraine escalate in line with the conflict, UNICEF is rapidly stepping up emergency response efforts throughout the country, providing critical supplies, access to safe water, child protection and more. Your support can make a difference.”

Donate Now

Médecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders

“As the war in Ukraine escalates, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is mobilizing to set up emergency response activities. We now have teams in Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, Hungary, Slovakia, Russia, and Belarus. MSF is an independent and impartial organization committed to providing medical humanitarian assistance to people affected by the war no matter who they are or where they are.”

Donate Now

Voices of Children

“The Voices of Children Foundation has been helping children affected by the war since 2015. Thanks to you, we provide psychological and psychosocial support to children. It helps them overcome the consequences of armed conflict and develop. Today, during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, we are providing non-stop assistance to affected children and families from all over the country, providing emergency psychological assistance, and assisting in the evacuation process.”

Donate Now

International Committee of the Red Cross

“The ICRC has been working in Ukraine since 2014. Our operations in the country are among the ten largest ICRC operations worldwide with a team of over 600 staff members. Working closely with the Ukrainian Red Cross Society, we are increasing our response to the humanitarian needs in Ukraine. Our support to people includes emergency assistance such as food, water, and other essential items. We also support hospitals and primary healthcare facilities with medical equipment and emergency preparedness. We repair water stations and support households to rehabilitate their damaged homes. We also help families separated by the conflict reconnect.”

Donate Now

Save the Children

“Two million refugees have now fled Ukraine, including at least one million children. Children on the move are at risk of hunger, illness, trafficking and abuse. Your donation today to the Children’s Emergency Fund can help provide children and families at risk in Ukraine and around the world with immediate aid, such as food, water, hygiene kits, psychosocial support and cash assistance. Together, we can protect children in crisis.”

Donate Now

UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)

“Millions of people — mostly women and children — have been forced to flee Ukraine. They are sheltering in underground train stations, walking hundreds of miles and leaving behind everything they’ve ever known. UNHCR is on the ground scaling its response to provide assistance and ensure those displaced find safety in welcoming arms in this moment of crisis.”

Donate Now

CARE

“A humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in Ukraine as attacks of war put millions of lives at risk. Innocent families, women and girls, and the elderly will suffer most. CARE’s immediate crisis response aims to reach 4 million with your help. Your emergency gift supports CARE’s Ukraine Crisis Fund to reach 4 million with immediate aid and recovery, food, water, hygiene kits, psychosocial support, and cash assistance — prioritizing women and girls, families, and the elderly.”

Donate Now

International Medical Corps

“The war in Ukraine is creating an increasingly desperate humanitarian crisis. International Medical Corps’ teams inside Ukraine and in the surrounding region are responding to the conflict by expanding access to medical and mental health services for those living in affected communities, and working to help refugees. Your gift today can help more people receive the lifesaving care they deserve.”

Donate Now

Source: NPR


December 13, 2021

2021 Year in Review

  • Posted By : Joshua Gunn/
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We’ve taken yet another trip around our bright star, and we have lots of work to show for it. While the total number of projects we completed was certainly fewer than in 2019, which was the busiest year in our history, the work we did this year was distinctive in terms of production values and complexity. In 2021, despite the headwinds of the pandemic, we managed to push ourselves and step out of our collective comfort zone, delivering some of our best work yet.

Here are some highlights from a super strong 2021.

WholeSchool Mindfulness

We could all use a little more mindfulness in our lives, especially after this past year, which is why we’re proud to have been able to partner with Whole School Mindfulness. If you are a teacher or administrator, check out the great work they’re doing at wholeschoolmindfulness.org.

MA Dept. of Public Health/MORE Advertising

We worked with the folks at MORE Advertising on behalf of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to create a series of spots about PrEP. For a deeper dive into the production process, and to see all the spots, be sure to check out our project breakdown. And to get more info about the PrEP campaign, visit carethatfitsyou.org.

Kentucky Educational Television: Artsville

Our long-running series for KET, a PBS affiliate station, continued in 2021. My personal favorite from this year is the episode above, which teaches the basics of musical notes using a video game called “Cello Champ.” If you want to catch up on all the Artsville fun, the full series is available in the PBS LearningMedia Library.

Kentucky Educational Television: Let’s Learn Kentucky

We worked with KET again this year to help spread the word about early childhood education and the importance of turning everyday life into learning opportunities to read, talk, count, play, move and connect. This video was part of a package that included digital still assets for a major launch of the Let’s Learn Kentucky initiative. For more info, visit letslearnky.org.

Azúcar


2021 was the year that we finished, yes FINISHED, our narrative short film, Azúcar. As we close out the year, we’re patiently awaiting word from film festivals about where it will premiere. In the meantime, if you’ve read this far, you’re in for a treat. The trailer above features final shots from the film that we’ve never shown before. Stay tuned for more news about Azúcar in 2022 and be sure to bookmark azucarfilm.com for the latest updates. And check out our detailed project breakdown if you want to go behind the scenes.

Utah Education Network Holiday Spot

No Year in Review is complete without a holiday spot for our dear friends at Utah Education Network. This year’s theme was “emergence,” coming out of our warrens, our separated lives, and simply enjoying something together. Here’s hoping we can all do more of that in 2022.

As we close out the year, I want to give a huge thanks to the internal team who worked on these projects: Jen Sanchez, Songyi Park, Mollie Davis, and Sam Berliner. Also, thanks to Jody Snider for helping us to take our work in interesting new directions this year.

And none of these projects would have come together without the contributions of our freelance team. My appreciation goes out to Liz Breen, Natalia De Souza Brondani, Taiko Sound, Hannah O’Neil, Rosi Amador, Brian Amador, Kim Hui, Kyle Arrington, Robb Moreira, Joy Arcolano, Taryn Johnson, Holly Hillman, Alisa Amador, Anoosha Syed, Ethan Barnowsky, Christoph Gelfand, Camille Vincent, Rachel Howell, Jessica Mao, and Andrew Lander.

Our 2021 Clients:

  • George Bard
  • Brigham & Women’s Hospital
  • Kentucky Educational Television
  • Utah Education & Telehealth Network
  • MORE Advertising/MA Dept. of Public Health
  • Pierre Valette/Covetrus
  • Cult Health/Servier Pharmaceuticals
  • WholeSchool Mindfulness
  • Banner Health
  • Brookline Community Foundation

November 8, 2021

Project Breakdown: Let’s Learn Kentucky

  • Posted By : Joshua Gunn/
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Did you know that children’s early experiences, from birth to age 5, are critical to their brain development and lifelong learning? This means that there are a ton of opportunities for parents and caregivers to engage with young children to help them be successful in school and down the road.

We worked with our friends at Kentucky Educational Television, a PBS affiliate, to create a short animation, as well as illustrations for a major new web site. The goal of the initiative is to help spread the word about early childhood literacy and help caregivers discover easy ways to engage with kids, turning everyday life into learning opportunities to read, talk, count, play, move and connect.

To learn more about the program, visit letslearnky.org.

Storyboard

Style Frames

Animation


November 2, 2021

Project Breakdown: “Care That Fits” You Campaign Videos

  • Posted By : Joshua Gunn/
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We’re thrilled to announce the release of a series of four spots for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Care that Fits You campaign. Produced in collaboration with the wonderful folks at MORE Advertising, these spots use a storytelling approach to promote overall wellness in the gay community, as well as the use of the PrEP, an HIV prophylactic medication. The key goal of the campaign was to normalize the experience of talking about sexual health and encourage viewers to seek out care that fits their individual needs.

Here’s a closer look at the production process for Episode One:

Research

The campaign is meant to reach audiences across Massachusetts, but the key target audience is in Greater Boston, so we did a bunch of research of our hometown to get the right kind of scenery and backgrounds.

Storyboard

Here are some storyboard frames from the project, emphasizing lots of movement in a bustling city on a busy day and the normalcy of video chatting with a friend in the middle of it all.

Animatic

With more complex projects like these, it is helpful to create an animatic with scratch audio to show the overall timing of the video and to make sure that the storyboard images work when put into a time framework.

Character & Background Designs

Next it was time to design the two main characters. Jen put together this lineup for the client to choose from:

Meanwhile, Songyi worked on the backgrounds, which she produced as flat artwork, meaning they did not have textures or lighting applied:

Animation & Sound Design

Once all the backgrounds and characters were created, Jen and Mollie tackled the animation and final compositing of lighting and texture. Here’s the final product, complete with sound design by Taiko Sound.

Episode 1: Talk To Your Doctor About PrEP

Episode 2: Get The Facts About PrEP

Episode 3: Find The Care That Fits You

Episode 4: Care That Fits You – Telehealth


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