Antarctic Krill

There are some very small, but very important creatures in the ocean that are helping in the fight against climate change. The way they’re making a difference - their poop!

This story highlights krill’s significant roll in helping move carbon to the ocean floor through a unique animation style.

Credits :

Creative Development : Duke & Duck

Client : The Pew Charitable Trusts

Producer : Tarisa Poirier-Shelton

Art Direction : Hannah Churn

Animation : Dave Ellington, Victor Verdugo

We pitched three styles to Pew, two that were in line with a traditional explainer design style, and one that was a bit outside the box. I was inspired by Lucas Zanotto’s work - specifically his Autonomy piece. The use of realistic elements, blended with animation created a piece that felt very unique.

Filming the real elements that were used in the final animation was so much fun. It was great to work with something tangible and see how it could blend with the digital world. For this scene we used a real ice block and melted it. In our tiny office space it was quite the setup (and so hot from the heater) but it was worth it in the end. Plastic wrap was placed over a dark poster board and lightly moved to create to look and feel of water. The plastic wrap did need a couple takes as the office dog’s hair had started to cling - not really the look we wanted.

For the early style frames I used texture of real elements to help blend the scene. From plastic wrap, to sequence beads - these elements crafted a distinctive look.

The simplified blocks came together after I was trying to find a simple and scientific way to symbolize krill poop. Simplifying it to a colored block felt like the right direction and helped pave the style for the creatures and objects in the video.