The Best Work You May Never See: Animation Studio Brigade, Director Sean Broughton Team On PSAs Tackling Distracted and Drunk Driving

Multidisciplinary design studio Brigade in New York produced this animated PSA campaign for agency RK Venture and the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) to raise awareness of the dangers of distracted driving and drunk driving. Directed by Sean Broughton of Halflife Digital in Albuquerque, N.M., the campaign was inspired by a true story in which a six-year-old helped police in the German city of Hamm track down a rogue driver by sketching the assailant he witnessed.

Narrated by children, each spot tells a different story with animations of childlike crayon drawings that show the graphic consequences of bad driving decisions and how they affect others. 

This PSA entitled “Just Drive” recounts a little girl’s story as she witnesses her mother striking a family at a crosswalk. She thought her mom saw them, but she didn’t because she was driving and looking at her phone. 

“When I learned of the news report about this boy, I could instantly visualize a PSA around the narrative point-of-view of a child,” said Broughton. “Not only would it drive home our message with honesty and authenticity, but it also felt similar in tone to the campaigns we’ve done for the NMDOT in the past.”  

Working closely with RK Venture principal/executive creative director Richard Kuhn and broadcast creative director Nick Tauro Jr., Broughton commenced on the campaign in the scripting phase, focusing on the three main hazardous driving issues New Mexico is currently facing. They next moved on to articulating the visual language of the campaign with a style bible. The illustrations had to not only convey the emotion of each story — from a child’s POV — but also translate well to animation. 

Brigade, led by creative managing director David Dimeola, first created storyboards for each spot by sitting down with Broughton to interpret the scripts. 

“Sean is an ideal director with his exceptional ability to describe in great detail how every aspect of a scene should perform and look,” said Dimeola. “It just gets the entire team to the heart of the story by providing our motivation, which is what you need in a fast-paced production line.”

Brigade’s art director then illustrated the entire cast and supporting artwork, which included iconography such as flowers, trees, clouds, insects, vehicles, people, and buildings with a child-like aesthetic. 

“We arrived at a very specific look for all three films,” explained Broughton. “The illustration elements had to be drawn in a style that remained childlike, yet legible, relatable, and animated.” 

Tasked with binding each unique story with a cohesive motion language, Brigade employed a combination of CGI and 2D cel animation, which enabled them to light the scenes in three dimensional space, complete with depth of field, shadows, and parallax.  

In order to bring the characters to life with a sense of spirit, Brigade tapped lead 2D animator Masa Nakamura for his expertise in traditional animation techniques. Leading the CG team was Leomar Esteves, who developed a flexible workflow to combine 2D cel animation and light for the final look all within Maxon C4D.