The film captures the beauty of our vision, the role our mothers play in shaping it, and the critical importance of preserving it when it’s at risk. Animation, direction, environment, character design, script, music, and sound design were crafted to create a beautiful and emotional film that highlights the importance of what they do. We brought a sense of splendour to sight through vibrant colors, diversified textures, and lighting. We used a FPOV to mimic human eyesight. Environments and wardrobes were detailed to capture multiple eras of time. Facial mapping enhanced facial expressions. Scene transitions used clever vision cues.

“A Beautiful Sight” is a branded, regulated film for a pharmaceutical product, VABYSMO. It was reviewed and approved through Genentech’s medical/legal/regulatory process (Project Review Community - PRC) and includes proper fair balance per FDA Guidelines for branded pharmaceutical advertising in the United States.

Nearly 20 million people in the U.S. live with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a serious eye disease that causes vision loss and can lead to blindness. It mostly impacts older adults, many of whom are desperate to preserve their vision in their golden years. Many retina specialists, the doctors who prescribe and administer the treatment, believe in VABYSMO as a reliable treatment for these patients, so much so that most would even use it to help preserve their loved one’s vision. In a category that is saturated by clinical content to communicate with doctors (treatment claims, data, and side effects), “A Beautiful Sight” stands out by raising the profile of VABYSMO through emotional, highly crafted storytelling to elevate a unique brand claim. Ultimately it stands to remind doctors of the important role they play in preserving our vision, and the trust they have in VABYSMO to do it. We chose to launch it the month leading up to Mother’s Day in the U.S. to raise awareness of the impact of our mothers on our vision for the world, and those doctors who care for their vision when it’s at risk.

This work is for the United States and under the FDA/OPDP regulations and guidelines.

HCPs are the audience, specifically retina specialists and ophthalmologists. They are responsible for prescribing and administering VABYSMO for their patients suffering with wet AMD. The work prominently features their role in preserving vision, and the impact they can make on people with vision loss.

The film starts from the first-person perspective of an infant in a crib as he first lays eyes on his mother’s face. Each scene thereafter is from the son’s point of view showing how his mother cares for his upbringing, and helps shape his vision for the world. As they age through the years, and her vision begins to worsen, he takes steps to become a retina specialist. In the penultimate scene, he walks in to see his mother not just as his mother, but as his patient. Their roles have flipped where he is now caring for her. The messages punctuate the meaning of the film “Our loved ones shape our vision for the world. It’s only natural that we do everything to take care of theirs. 95% of retina specialists would use VABYSMO to care for their loved one’s vision.”

Inspired by true stories from retina specialists that treat their mothers with VABYSMO, and a survey that 95% of retina specialists would use VABYSMO to care for their loved ones, we saw a great opportunity for unique content to promote the brand. The brief was to develop a film that elevated this and to do so in a way that was focused on emotional storytelling without clinical product claims. The objective was to reinforce the value of VABYSMO as a trusted treatment among retina specialists in a category where peer influence is critical.

Our sight is our most precious sense. The animation was a significant undertaking to capture the beauty of our vision and make it relatable to a professional audience not used to animation. By using vibrant colors, differentiated textures, highly detailed scenes, and realistic lighting we helped showcase how beautiful our vision can be and how important it is to protect it. The action and environments in each scene were crafted for emotional resonance and cue vision from a FPOV. To enhance the emotion of the characters, facial mapping of actors was integrated. Each scene transition was crafted to cue vision while maintaining a seamless flow into the next scene. Highly detailed environments and wardrobe conveyed the passage of time from the 1980s to present day. The mom character was developed to age her 40 years while still being recognizable as the same character.