Merck: Darating Ba Siya?

Project Name: Merck: Darating ba siya?

Client: Merck

What OVM did: Production

The biggest challenge the team faced with this project was meeting the client’s messaging requirements and creative vision with a small budget. The brief was simple: to create a short video meant to encourage couples undergoing fertility issues to  have themselves checked by actual doctors and not resort to superstitious, pseudo-medical practices. We also had to communicate this in an emotional manner—not a factual one. So while what the video encouraged people to do was a rational act, the way we had to convince them was through an emotional argument.

Right off the bat, a live shoot was out of the question as it would involve too many people, cost too much and take longer. This happened during the height of the pandemic and production costs were at an all time high because of the medical safety precautions the entire crew had to take. 

So we shifted to animation.

But, as most people in the industry know, animation is expensive and requires a lot of time. So we had to find a stylistic approach to animation that would lower costs and lower animation time. The result was a few plates, water-colored, with minimal animation. 

We were lucky that the client was easy to work with and timely with their comments and suggestions so approval of the AVP script took faster than usual. Once approved we had the plates drawn and animated all with the client's approval every step of the way. 

The video was to be cut to an original song composed and produced by the team but the client had the idea to transform the song into “spoken word” with original score which turned out quite well for the final product.

Working with Merck on this project turned out to be one of the most creative and fulfilling experiences we have ever had.