THE 14TH ANNUAL SHORTY AWARDS

The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media and digital. View this season's finalists!
From the 4th Annual Shorty Social Good Awards

The Plastic Ocean PSA

Finalist in Animal & Wildlife

Entered in Pro Bono, PSA

Objectives

At a time when mainstream brands are beginning to pay attention to the banning of

single use plastic, creative agency Alkemy X has been a force in driving conversation

around the issue.

 

Last spring, the creative brand helped to produce a powerful PSA for Sea

Shepherd, an environmental non-profit organization dedicated to protecting marine

wildlife.

 

Drawing attention to the fact that one million animals die each year as a result of

plastic pollution, Alkemy X worked with the agency Fred & Farid to develop

shocking, highly detailed print and motion elements that simulated marine life

trapped in a liquid plastic.

Strategy and Execution

The short film takes viewers on an emotional journey. Beginning with elegant, surreal

imagery, the spot quickly transitions to the horrifying suffering of a dolphin, sea

turtle and shark before delivering a simple, but effective call to action.

 

All of the creatures in the promotion were modeled and brought to life using Maya

animation software before being migrated to VFX program Houdini for the

painstaking work of building the plastic ocean simulations. Final compositing was

done in the digital composting application Nuke. The finishing touch was the

haunting score and sound design composed and arranged by Tuesday Collective.

Results

The PSA has won several awards in the past year, including the following:

Philadelphia ADDY Awards, Best In Show 

Philadelphia ADDY Awards, Gold for Computer Generated Imagery

Philadelphia ADDY Awards, Gold for PSA

LOUIX Awards/Philadelphia One Show Awards, Gold in Animation

LOUIX Awards/Philadelphia One Show Awards, Best in Craft Awards

Media

Video for The Plastic Ocean PSA

Entrant Company / Organization Name

Alkemy X, Sea Shepherd