Powerful Animated Piece “Scarlett” Brings Awareness To #LimbLossAwarenessMonth
For children confronting cancer, amputation takes as much of an emotional toll as a physical one — a reality that is poignantly depicted in the powerfully moving animated short film created by the STUDIO, which dramatically tells the story of 6-year-old Scarlett Aida Rivero Osejo and her journey following the loss of her right leg due to Ewing Sarcoma, a bone cancer that affects mostly children. The 3-minute short, entitled simply “Scarlett,” is playing pivotal role in both helping raise awareness for both the Scarlett Contra el Cancer foundation and April’s Limb Loss Awareness Month.
The short is fast becoming a worldwide hit on social media, played over 70,000 times in over 150 countries in less than three days, with unsolicited media coverage from international press.
“It took the passion and commitment of everyone at the STUDIO to pull off a project of this scope,” Mary Nittolo, Chief Creative Officer/President of the STUDIO. “Every time someone had spare time, they worked on ‘Scarlett.’ We all felt very committed to it, and it’s one of those projects that renews my appreciation for the talented people I work with everyday.”
Visual Symbolism
Combining a 3D-animated Scarlett character with 2D backgrounds that feature hand-painted, watercolor textures, “Scarlett” — featuring an original song from bicoastal music house Hook+Line — opens on a shot of a conflicted Scarlett following her amputation.
Seemingly enveloped in a world of dark colors that visually symbolize her struggles to adapt to her new prosthetic, the film takes viewers through her journey from feeling at first overwhelmed and isolated by her new physical limitations, to overcoming them through her love of dance. The short ends with a final scene demonstrating Scarlett’s transformation by showing her empathy for a boy facing a similar struggle.
Running concurrently through Scarlett’s narrative, is a series of visuals depicting red shapes swirling in sea of blue while a tiny, clear orb bounces around the environment meant to symbolize Scarlett’s existential struggle and anxiety. At first overwhelmed by red, as Scarlett’s mood lifts the color shifts to a warmer blue.
Parallel Storylines
For Nittolo, the challenge was how to skillfully weave the two parallel storylines to create an emotionally inspiring crescendo.
“We wanted to translate her mental landscape into a dimension that amplified the drama,” Nittolo explains. “We didn’t want the metaphor to be so obtuse as to take the audience out of the equation. We wanted to make something between pictorial realism and complete abstraction and have the music bridge the gap. We were fortunate to find the right musical partners in this with Hook+Line.”
She adds, “Hopefully, we created an architecture of interior space that survives only in the mind through a visual vocabulary of abstraction. Artists like Rothko, who so successfully used color and texture to convey emotion, inspired us. Our true measure of success was Scarlett herself. She watched the video repeatedly and has never once asked what the red and the blue represent. For her, it’s clear.”
Currently the video has reached over 1.1 million people. The video received thousands of comments of gratitude and encouragement to keep making more content.
After the overwhelmingly positive reception after the launch of the video, the STUDIO shared a coloring book pages for the kids to continue Scarlett’s story on the video’s Facebook fanpage. Their hope is to create more content for children going through pediatric cancer and their specific stories.
About the STUDIO
In business for over 25 years, the STUDIO is a integrated production and animation company that unites the diverse talents of designers, artists, animators, directors and visual effects artisan to interpret projects for pages and screens everywhere. Involved in all aspects of the marketing and communication process from pre-production through production and post, the STUDIO supplies the images that brands need to reach their audiences. the STUDIO client roster includes major Ad Agencies, Fortune 100 companies, non-profits, cultural and educational institutions as well as entertainment and media companies.
For more information, visit www.studionyc.com, or follow the STUDIO on Facebook, Twitter (@TheSTUDIONYC), Instagram and LinkedIn.
Click here for more info about Scarlett Contra el Cancer: http://www.scarlettcontraelcancer.com/
Video Credits
Creative Credits:
Client: Scarlett Contra el Cancer
Project: “Scarlett” animated short
Production/Animation/Design: the STUDIO, New York
Director: Alison Abitbol
Creative Director/Executive Producer: Mary Nittolo
Producer: Jenna Gabriel
Art Direction: Alison Abitbol, John Holmes, Juan Mont
Early Concept Development: Mike Ocasio, John Holmes
Narrative: Paolo Cogliati, Alison Abitbol
Modeling: Juan Mont
Animation (Red and Blue World): Juan Mont, Adam Rozanski, Victor DeRespinis
Character Animation and Compositing: Juan Mont, Hee Jin Kim, Mike Sime, Ozan Basaldi, Jackie Garbuio, Eric Kilanski, Adam Rozanski, Victor DeRespinis
Matte Paintings: Alison Abitbol
Rigging: Malcolm Carrott
Lighting: Mirelle Underwood
Editing: Jackie Garbuio, Malcolm Carrott, Adam Rozanski
Character Development: Alison Abitbol, Mike Ocasio, John Holmes, Adrian Mateescu, Juan Mont
Special thanks to: Grace Ramirez, Antonio Navas, Solange Rivero and of course Scarlett.
Music: Hook+Line, New York/Los Angeles: Partner/Creative Director: Bryan Senti; Partner/Co-writer/Vocalist: Abby Diamond; Co-writer/Producer: Kyle Patrick
Contact:Media:
Right Word Media
Ray Ecke
p. 973.726.3797
f. 973.726.3798
c. 201.741.1092
Contact Ray via email
“Ǝvolution” Comes Full Circle At The Chelsea Film Festival
The Chelsea Film Festival, running from October 16th through October 20th, 2024, at Regal Cinemas here in Union Square, is set to host the East Coast premiere of Ǝvolution, a thought-provoking experimental micro-short film that proves big ideas can come in small packages and in perfect circles.
In just 1 minute 16 seconds, this cinematic gem by Award-Winning Director Romina Schwedler, with original music by Argentine Composer Ignacio Montoya Carlotto, explores a cycle as old as time: life leads to progress, progress leads to destruction, and destruction, well, leads back to life. But is this vicious circle unbreakable? Ǝvolution suggests the answer is yes, unless we decide to open our eyes.
Inspired by the overwhelming number of recent events that threaten human existence, Ǝvolution, possibly the shortest film in this 12th edition of the festival, plays out entirely through the symbolism of circles, cleverly illustrating —in the blink of an eye— the repeating patterns of history, and confronting viewers with the uncomfortable truth that our so-called “progress” may, in fact, be guiding us to our own ruin.Premiering at the Regal 14 Union Square, New York City, on October 18, 2024, at 11 a.m., Romina Schwedler's micro-short, featuring Leah Young with cinematography by Alan J. Carmona, will be sure to spark conversations longer than the film itself! Forcing viewers to reconsider the true meaning of evolution, not just as a biological process, but as a reflection of our collective journey as humans.
With a string of festival appearances across the globe, including CineGlobe at CERN (Switzerland/France), Oscar®... Read More