An Animated Series

Responsibility.org approached us with an idea for a video series that would inform pre-teens about the risks of underage alcohol use. The strategy was to clearly convey the scientific facts, showing students exactly how alcohol could affect them, and helping them to reach their own conclusions.

Script & Concept Development

During our initial meeting with Responsibility.org, we discussed our goals, target audience and content logistics. The series would feature 7 episodes: an overview, and 6 sub-chapters dedicated to specific parts of the brain, covering how the brain works, how alcohol affects the brain, and how that, in turn, affects behavior and health.

To drive immediate identification with our audience, we decided that the series would feature and be narrated by two middle-school aged kids. We also decided to use an abstract non-human character to represent both alcohol, and a person affected by alcohol. This allowed us to illustrate the effects of alcohol in a clear, engaging way, without suggesting judgement or fear around adult drinkers (who might resemble someone the viewers would know), or showing our kid heroes engaging in questionable behavior.

In addition to materials provided by Resonsibility.org, we studied library and Internet sources as we prepared to write the scripts. (The team members were all brain experts by the end of the project!) We aimed for clarity, humor, and consistency in voice/structure to strengthen the consistency and identity of the series.

Character & Design Development

We explored a number of different approaches for the heroes before we found the right balance of fun and friendly. The alcohol character had an even broader range of early possibilities.

Once we had solid concepts for all the main characters, we fine-tuned and fully realized the designs. Simultaneously, we developed the basic style guide for the series – establishing a color palette, font choice, and design conventions for the other foreground and background elements.