Debt Free Justice Documentary

Lowy + Lacar, a long-time collaborator of our studio, contacted us to develop two short documentaries for Debt Free Justice, a non-profit organization working to eliminate unfair juvenile fees & fines from the US justice system. One of the videos, “A Future Shouldn’t be Fined”, which tells the stories of several impacted individuals, won the 2022 Silver Telly Award for directing and social impact in the “branded content” category. Watch both documentaries below:

Juvenile Fees and Fines

A Future Shouldn’t be Fined

Project Overview

  • Purpose: Mini-documentaries to raise awareness about juvenile fees & fines in the United States 

  • Deliverables: 2 Short Documentary Videos & 1 Cutdown 

  • Duration: 10 minutes with a 2.5 minute cutdown, and 5.5 minutes

  • Timeline: 5 months for the first documentary & cutdown, 3 weeks for the second documentary 

  • Shown on: Debt Free Justice’s website and social media

Production Phases

  • Mood Boards

  • Styleframes

  • Script Writing

  • Layout Designs

  • Animation Tests

  • Motion Graphics & Typography Animation

  • Video Edit

  • Color Grading

  • Sound Design, including Voiceover Casting & Directing, Music Composition, Edit & Mix

Results

For “The Cost of Juvenile Fees and Fines” video, we created data visualizations mixed together with historical facts and dynamic motion design, to enhance the interviews of affected individuals and advocates. The collage design style was animated using digital techniques that looked like traditional stop-motion, resulting in a hand-made feel that provided a tactile, human connection. Both the full-length 10-minute video and 2.5-minute cutdown were completed in a 5-month timeline.

In “A Future Shouldn’t Be Fined,” we blended interviews with a spoken word poem, written by one of the impacted individuals in the documentary, with bold, percussive text animation. Edit, color, music composition, type design and animation for this project were completed in a rush, 3-week timeline. The result is impactful and emotional, and it’s one of our favorite projects to date.