Photoplay.
The latest campaign from Greenpeace and Photoplay’s Dropbear, ‘Ocean's’ uses illustrated animation to raise awareness on long-line fishing.
The story was pitched to Photoplay’s Jonathan Chong (Dropbear) and managing director Oliver Lawrance after the ‘Fight for Our Forests’ campaign last year.
“Greenpeace came to us with a clear set of like deliverables of what they want to achieve with the film,” Chong said.
“They have a specific kind of audience they want to reach, and specific targets for petitions they want signatures for.
"They also require it to be emotional and expose the environmental issues that a lot of the Australian public don't know is happening.”
The ‘Ocean's’ campaign aimed at getting more signatures for the Ocean treaty, a legally binding pact to protect 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030.
When the brief came to Photoplay, Chong and Lawrance created the story of a baby blue shark caught in the crossfire of industrial exploitation.
Sonar music's Jackson Milas worked on the score and sound design.
The use of animation allowed Photoplay to develop a story with graphic imagery without being too confronting for an audience.
“Animation is interesting for an environmental organisation like Greenpeace. It allows people to think about issues without having graphic footage in your face,” Lawrance said.
“It can get through censorship and is a clever way of telling stories and having an impact without using actual footage.”
Animation has been the key to creating impact in Greenpeace’s campaigns, where animal cruelty and violence may cause audiences to resist engagement.
“It separates you from the visceral reality of koalas getting killed and crushed by trees and bulldozers, and in ‘Ocean’s’ case, millions of animals and sharks getting killed,” Lawrance said.
“It makes it easier for them to receive that information without being freaked out or turned off by the graphic nature.”
Using animation can help prevent any logistical challenges to filming, which can be timely and costly.
“We can show things happening without having to go out and film," Chong said.
“Imagine having to try and travel out to Queensland and get footage of bulldozers killing koalas, It would be prohibitive”
Animation can also help engage a range of audiences, including children.
“Both campaigns are successful because of that feeling of getting up in the morning and watching a Saturday morning cartoon," Chong said.
"It can connect you to the issue as well."
While Photoplay managed their production in a 5-week turnaround, Chong said that animation can be time consuming.
“Stop motion and 3D both have different requirements.
“The forest campaign was a lot of production. We quickly animated all the sets and models, which required craft, pre-production prep and animating.
"We used 3D printing placement animation which enabled us to do it quickly and get a nice result at the same time."
Lawrance said that everything in the 'Fight for Our Forests' campaign was a physical object that needed to be 3D printed, which is then swapped to animation.
“The Ocean's film used 2D animation with illustrated designs that are animated frame by frame, so 12 images for every second of movement.
“It is then drawn on the computer using different materials for each background and brought to life through After Effects."
“The longer the campaign duration, the more time it's going to take.”
The success of the Forest campaign led to a reach of 50,000 petition signatures, Chong said.
“We reached over half a million organic views across socials, and it fed into their petition.
“It also fed into their campaign to pressure Coles, McDonald's and Woolworths to source their beef from deforestation free sources, because the main source of deforestation in Queensland is beef production.
“Woolworths has now committed to deforestation free beef from 2026, and McDonald's by 2030.”
Greenpeace's contribution to climate harm reduction aligned with Photoplay's commitment to supporting environmental change each year.
“Photoplay represents 20 different film directors and producers, and 16 photographers,” Lawrance said.
“We obviously want to make great work and make an income, but we also want to contribute to positive change.
“Every year, we get involved in several campaigns to do with social or environmental issues.
"It's a commitment that we do those projects every year as our contribution.
Another Greenpeace campaign with Photoplay will appear in the coming months, using miniature models as a medium.
“Greenpeace are really supportive of the creative process, and there's quite a bit of trust built around what we offer and our expertise," Chong said.
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