Through the Dark tells the story of a father and his son’s battle with leukemia. The interactive film is told in two halves, the Dark and the Light, with matching imagery revealed by rotating your mobile. For example, black footsteps in white snow become white roots in black soil.

We see father and son in a series of situations, together and apart: walking through the snow, in hospital, under a streetlight, inside an MRI scanner, under the stars.

Reflecting the intense emotions that a battle with cancer can bring, powerful imagery features throughout.

A black wolf. Black crows. In one climactic scene, the son’s boat plummets into the Dark and he swirls underwater, until later swimming back towards the Light.

Father and son face danger and isolation, turmoil and calm, until finally walking side-by-side through the snow again. The son now takes his own path, leaving his father behind.

Google Play Music needed to stand out in Australia’s crowded streaming landscape, where similar song catalogues and comparable pricing means there’s little differentiating one service from another in the eyes of users.

Our objective was to set Google Play Music apart, increase brand awareness and position it as an innovator in the music space and a contributor to the local industry.

So we collaborated with one of Australia’s best-known and most loved music acts: Hilltop Hoods. Their track, Through The Dark, is a deeply personal song written by band member Dan Smith (MC Pressure) about his son Liam’s battle with leukemia.

Designers, animators and developers created new tools to bridge traditional animation methods and WebGL. The mobile experience fuses the latest web technologies, creating a landmark experience in music video, with unprecedented interactivity - capturing the sense of a father’s world turned upside down and a journey from fear to hope.