“Give Luci” tells the story of a boy named Kiama on his journey to and from school. Kiama, like many children, has big dreams. As Kiama heads home from school to have dinner with his family, he settles in but so does the sun, which causes Kiama’s world to go dark. Kiama’s lack of access to light means he, like millions of other children, cannot study at night or do his homework, which in turn dampens his dreams and his potential. Enter Luci, the solar-powered light. The video ends with the message “no one’s story should end just because the sun sets” and encourages viewers to give a Luci to households like Kiama’s by visiting mpowerd.com/give.

The original inspiration for Give Luci was the ancient art of shadow puppetry -- flat, articulated shadow images are projected between a source of light and a screen. We needed to create a subtle and complex childhood narrative of how one’s dreams and aspirations inspired by learning and reading are dependent on something most first-world people can't imagine being without: access to light.

During character development, we realized the silhouette form by itself could not drive the story. The animation required the subtlety to convey the psyche and identity of Kiama. At that point, we decided to create the project in 3D, still trying to maintain the 2D aesthetic. The characters and animals and some foreground objects were created in Maya; the sets were designed in 2D and imported into Maya where they were textured and lit and projected into 3D space The compositing was done in After Effects and enhanced with digital painting. The original spirit of the piece was conserved through the nuanced lighting, and it is still true to its original intent: a narrative told through light and shadow.