Greenpeace has teamed up with Photoplay director Dropbear to release an animated campaign that spreads awareness about Australia’s hidden deforestation crisis, and pulls on the heartstrings of Australians who care about native animals and the environment.
The Fight For Our Forests campaign draws attention to the millions of native animals that are killed each year as a result of forest and bushland being bulldozed in Australia. It centres on a koala and its joey, illustrating the direct impact of land clearing on their home.
Dropbear used 3D-printed, hand-crafted, stop-motion animation to draw attention to the plight of the native animals.
The film begins with an introduction to the koalas’ bush teeming with life, before portraying the intrusion of bulldozers and the ruthless methods employed to fell trees. Finally, the film depicts the brutal aftermath of this destruction.
To create the animation within a short production schedule, a replacement animation technique was adopted. This involved Dropbear working with 3D animator Duncan MacDonald, who modelled and built the animal characters using CGI.
Once the animated sequences were approved, each frame was 3D printed and hand painted – there were 77 individual 3D printed models used in the production. Each 3D printed model represented an individual frame of animation that was then shot on set using stop motion animation.
All the sets were hand crafted using traditional model making techniques and then brought to life using different lighting states and special effects such as haze. Cinematographer Ceaser Salmeron shot the spot with a probe lens to lend a sense of real-world scale to the models and sets.
According to Dropbear, the decision to use miniatures gave the film a tangible, hand-crafted quality, fostering a deeper emotional connection with audiences. It also allowed for shots and sequences that would be otherwise unattainable in a live-action format.
“For a craft director, this project ticked many boxes and I’m very proud of the visuals that were created in such a short amount of time. The production values of this film are extremely high and I’m so thankful for all the crafts people and artists who contributed to the production to make my vision a reality.
“I’m also very grateful to the team at Greenpeace for trusting me with their campaign and giving me the creative freedom to make something that I hope motivates and engages audiences to take action to protect our natural heritage.”
Recent work involving Photoplay includes Thinkerbell’s second instalment of ‘I Saw it on BINGE’ and Revlon’s festive campaign via Emotive.
Credits:
Client: Greenpeace
Creative Producer (Greenpeace): Bianca Vitale
Production Company: Photoplay
Executive Producer: Oliver Lawrance
Director: Dropbear
Cinematographer: Ceasar Salmeron
Music & Sound Post: Sonar Music
Original Composition: Jackson Milas
Sound Design: Andy Stewart
Additional SFX Editing: Joel Dias
3D Animator: Duncan Macdonald
3D Printer: Bob K Shea
Set Builders: Seamus Spilsbury & Peter Hanrahan
Model Painters: Peter Hanrahan & Jonathan Chong
Stop Motion Animation: Jonathan Chong & Cesar Salmeron
Post Production: Dropbear Digital