Smiles for Jake
Brand Video
Smiles for Jake is a suicide prevention movement that spreads positivity through life-affirming actions, listening ears, and the message that everyone should have hope. Born in and spreading from a community that experienced the suicide of a beloved son, their goal is to reduce the suicide rate.
Smiles for Jake needed a brand video that encourages and uplifts despite the heaviness of their message. In order to showcase the nebulous mix of emotions, I went with wavy, watery textures and transitions, blending topics together as if someone were jumping from thought to thought… thinking through the next steps.
2022
Animated and composited in After Effects
Additional art and design by Brandon Waybright
Script by Andy Peterson
Pre-Production
As the first step, I developed the story visually to make sure my interpretation of the script was delivering the gravity and impact that the client
was envisioning.
After thumbnailing out the emotional beats, I made an animatic to see if it aligned with the client’s expectations. We got a great response and felt excited going forward with the rest of pre-production.
After the story was approved, I took the story beats and did rough color keys to map out the emotional beats. I primarily used blue, not only because it's their brand color, but because it made a good visual metaphor for how depression puts an overlay over someone’s life. Full color is happiness and provides a full spectrum of information to make clear decisions.
I only had the final scene in full color, to showcase the impact someone’s kindness can have on another person.