2019
Step Change Explainer
Art Direction
Storyboard
Animation
Storyboard
Animation
In early 2019, the Sydney-based strategy and creative powerhouse Step Change set out to capture its spirit in a bold new way. Tasked with distilling the agency’s wide-ranging services into a single, unforgettable moment, we embarked on an in-house journey to craft an explainer video that would both intrigue and inform. Rather than lean on our familiar brand guidelines, we chose disruption: a fresh visual language that would stand apart wherever it played.
From Script to Styleframes
The moment we received the script, we knew our first mission was to give words a face. Drawing inspiration from Sydney’s energetic skyline and the agency’s collaborative ethos, we sketched a series of styleframes that teased the textures, color palette, and compositional rhythm of the final piece. Each frame was crafted to hint at the narrative beats—fast cuts to spotlight our services, smooth transitions to reflect our strategic thinking, and pops of unexpected detail to reinforce our disruptive edge.
Storyboarding the Sequence
With styleframes as our north star, we moved into storyboarding. Over the course of dozens of sketches, we choreographed every beat: the opening shot that sweeps through office corridors, the dynamic montage that introduces our core offerings, and the closing scene that leaves viewers with a clear call to action. Each pencil stroke mapped out not just motion, but emotion—ensuring that when animation brought these frames to life, the story would resonate long after the screen went dark.
By weaving together art direction, meticulous storyboarding, and fluid animation, this explainer video became more than a project—it became a living showcase of how Step Change thinks, creates, and innovates.
