What is the film about?

Trunk’s Layla Atkinson creates an informative animation about mitochondrial disease. When the studio phone rings you never know what delights it will bring. Occasionally we will receive a call asking us to create content for something that we have never heard of, so it was, when Peter Barker at Orinoco Communications contacted Trunk to create an explainer film about mitochondrial disease.

The disease affects 1 in 5000 people and has a devastating impact on thousands of families in the UK. One of the countries leading research centres is based at Newcastle University. There, the Wellcome Trust Centre for Mitochondrial Research works tirelessly to understand and combat the disease. They commissioned us, through Orinoco, to create a video to further the public’s understanding of this disease.

Trunk’s director Layla Atkinson states “ I, like most people, had never heard of Mitochondrial disease, so had to do a fair bit of research to understand what is was so that I could explain it clearly. Having learnt that the disease mostly affects children I wanted the video to be visually stimulating with a strong graphic style“
The finished video, with a nod to Saul Bass, used stick men, a beautiful balanced palette and simple illustrative elements to explain how the disease affects the patient. In less than two minutes Layla’s film clearly explains the complex nature of the disease and highlights why this hugely debilitating disease is poorly understood, even within the medical profession, where it is frequently misdiagnosed.

Producer Richard Barnett noted that “Trunk has a track record of creating videos for complex or little understood aspects of our daily life. Whether it is the workings of the International Maritime Organisation, which touches all of our lives yet is not well known, or the complexities of retail supply chains or the nuanced information required by health professionals when communicating with their partners. All these require us to obtain quite a deep understanding of the subject matter before we can put together a script that, in a time sensitive process like animation, clearly communicates our client’s message. The film for The Wellcome Trust is a great example of this type of work”

Credits :-
Director: Layla Atkinson
Producer: Richard Barnett
Commisioner: Peter Barker
Agency: Orinoco Communications
Client: Wellcome centre mitochondrial research