Connecting emotionally with viewers is important for all brands but especially for charities, a mission that gets harder every year as the rising tempest of modern media pounds our senses with horrors and half-truths.

One approach to the problem is to command a larger swath of media space by extending the length of your film from 30 or 60 seconds to say… four minutes, the length of this piece for UK domestic violence charity Refuge.

Directed by Ralph Karam at Le Cube in Buenos Aires through Not To Scale for London agency BBH, the ambitious 2D and stop-motion piece took six months to complete and also serves as the official music video for the track “Grow” by English singer/songwriter Frances.

The backgrounds and background characters were printed out and tracked past camera in cycles over a 10 day shoot while the main characters of Melanie, Refuge and Frances were animated in 2D at both Not To Scale and Le Cube studios.

Watch the making of:

Client: Refuge

Agency: BBH
Creative Team: Joe Seller and Lance Boreham
Creative Directors: Jack Smedley and George Hackforth-Jones
Executive Producers: Natalie Parish, George Hackforth-Jones
Creative Consultant: Clay Kaytis
Producer: Sarah Finnigan-Wals

Production Company: Not To Scale
Director: Ralph Karam – Le Cube
EP: Dan O’Rourke, Gustavo Karam, Juan Manuel Freire
Producers: Francesca Di Muro, Mechi Serrano, Fernanda Soma
Animation Director: Sergio Slepczuk
Stop motion animation director: Pablo Kondratas
Art director: Ralph Karam
Backgrounds design: Franco Vecchi, Juan Barabani, Martin Lara, Vanina Sáez
Character design: Franco Vecchi, Martin Vinograd, Matheus Muniz
Layouts: Sergio Slepczuk
2D Animation: Maki Yoshikura, Geoff McDowall, Robert Milne, Stephen Vuillemin, Kehinde Omisore, Cintia
Czeszczewik, Martin Lara, Sergio Slepczuk, Pablo Rago, Guadalupe Vyleta, Adriano Nízzoli
Clean up: Julieta Culaciati, Juliana Gorgati, Julieta Soloaga, Yas Hanna, Eugenia Casal, Patricio Rey, Valentina Candia
3D Animation: Christian Rey Willis
Construction chief: Marilina Martignone
Constructors: Carolina Mena, Carolina Stefanini
Stop motion animators: Pablo Kondratas, Gabino Calónico
DoP: Juan Maglione
Electrician: Geronimo Gassmann
Post production: Sergio Pickelny

Music Sync: TMS Black Sheep Music
Music: Frances “Grow”