Follow Your Gut
Project Type:
Explainer Video
Location:
Dessau, Germany
Exposé
Many people know the proverb “butterflies in the stomach” or “sick with excitement”, the so-called “belly feeling”. In fact, the stomach not only figuratively has an influence on our feelings, but also literally. For example, 90% of the happiness hormone serotonin is produced in the abdomen. Or, strictly speaking, what lives in it. Bacteria, yeast and viruses, also known as the microbiome, live in our digestive tract and affect us in many ways. They support our immune system, protect us from pathogens, help with the absorption of nutrients and influence our brain functions. In order for these little housemates to be able to help us, however, they need food. They eat our leftovers that we cannot digest ourselves, the so-called roughage, and even convert some of them into substances that we can use, such as vitamins.
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Intro
In the intro scene many groceries can be seen that advertise themselves as being high in fiber, whole grains, protein dense, antioxidants rich, etc. The food comes enters the picture, first one by one, then they fall in more and faster until the whole picture is filled and food lands on top of each other creating chaos.
This is intended to illustrate the clutter of products in supermarkets and in advertising.
People are flooded with nutritional advice and advertising slogans which often create confusion.
Symbiose
Finding a visualization for the symbiosis was especially challanging. How can the cooperation of two organisms be presented in an understandable way?
To illustrate the exact process as it takes place in the body is hardly possible and also difficult for viewers to foloow.
So the challenge was to find an abstract symbol for the symbiosis between humans and bacteria.
For this I was inspired by the Yin and Yang symbol, as it symbolizes the interaction of different forces.
Instead of a static image, I opted for the visualization of two liquids rotating around each other. This is intended to illustrate the organic interplay between humans and the microbiome.
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Shopping
This final scene is a parenthesis with the intro. The video starts and ends with food, only this time it is without an advertising slogan or other labeling. Fresh fruits and vegetables such as an apple and carrots are also depicted.
It is intended to represent the simplicity of natural food, which is little to no industrialized, a "back to the basics" of nutrition.
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Heat
In this scene, the color red is used for the first time to illustrate the heat used to kill bacteria.
However, the color not only symbolizes heat, but also becomes a consistent feature of negative traits.
Thus, the antibiotics and the resulting antibiotic-resistant bacteria are also colored red.
The emulsifiers also take on a red color when they are inside the body, as they can cause damage here.
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Stylization
After first experimentations, the stylistic decision was to go in a comic-like or sketch-like direction, inspired by the "Spider-verse" aesthetic.
The color selection is kept simple by focusing on only four shades of gray and one shade of white to focus on what is most importan. A single shade of red is used to draw attention to particularly important parts.
The goal of the experimentations was to find out how detailed or simple the final project could be without confusing, overwhelming or boring the viewer.
First Experimentation
Style Defining
Animetic
Storyboard
