American Lung Association - A Hope Story 

LOBO teamed up with agency Hill Holliday and The Ad Council to create a PSA for the American Lung Association. The goal is to raise awareness of the importance of cancer screening, especially among ex-smokers, who might think they’re out of harm’s way simply because they quit the habit.Directed by Mateus de Paula Santos, Felipe Machado and Tiago Marcondes, A Hope Story is a fully animated film that portrays a woman’s journey from smoker to ex-smoker, with all its ups and downs, in a delicate, relatable way that combines poetic imagery with raw realistic moments.The client’s decision to use animation to tell this story was based on extensive market research which, among other findings, revealed that animated characters can be especially effective at reaching diverse markets – corroborating LOBO’s long-held belief in the power of the medium to handle sensitive topics, convey all the nuances of complex scripts and speak to mature audiences. This last aspect was especially significant in the case of this campaign, since due to its subject matter it was important that the spot didn't look cartoonish or appealing to kids.We made sure the film spoke to the right demographic by working with a stylish, mature visual style based on 3D CG with a 2D-like finish, suggesting a mixed-media hand-painted feel. The characters were modeled in CG, then painted with a brush stroke effect to add a handmade feel. Later, the renders were composed over 2D matte paintings done in a similar style.To avoid the lengthy and exhausting work of painting every frame by hand, while at the same time achieving the “flickering” painterly look we were aiming for, we resorted to artificial intelligence. Once we had the renderings of the characters plus the 2D smoke element on top of the painted backgrounds, we painted some select frames to feed the AI, which then applied the effect to the in-between frames of every shot.