For The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), we created a fully 3D animated film that dives beneath the surface of pharmaceutical innovation, exploring how intellectual property supports pharmaceutical innovation, helping turn research into new medicines and treatments for a healthy Europe.
The core insight was simple but powerful: Innovation behaves like a formula, only working when all its elements are supported and allowed to do their work.
Rather than explaining IP directly, the film would embody it. By visualising biological processes in full 3D, the story could unfold at the level where innovation begins - inside cells, structures, and systems that mirror the real-world journey of research. Intellectual property becomes the unseen framework that allows this world to function: stabilising, connecting, and enabling growth over time.
The idea wasn’t to persuade through argument, but through recognition. If viewers could see how breakthroughs are nurtured, the value of intellectual property would become self-evident.
The film was built entirely in full 3D CG, with a deliberate focus on clarity, consistency, and control. A wide range of cells and biological structures were modelled in detail, each finished with distinct textures and materials to create visual contrast and intuitive readability.
This approach allowed Animated Healthcare to depict microscopic processes that are extraordinarily difficult and often prohibitively expensive to capture in live action. More importantly, it ensured coherence. Every environment could be shaped, refined, and evolved without visual compromise.
The visual language remained restrained and purposeful. Camera movement was measured. Lighting guided attention without spectacle. Each transition reinforced the idea of progressio, research advancing, systems aligning, innovation moving forward.
3D animation wasn’t used to embellish the story, but to honour it. The result is a world that feels credible, calm, and intentional, a visual metaphor for how intellectual property allows innovation to grow steadily into something that serves people and society.
The finished film gives EFPIA a clear, human-centred way to articulate the role of intellectual property in Europe’s healthcare future.
By framing IP as a sustaining force, one that supports researchers, communities, livelihoods, and healthy populations, the film shifts the conversation from protection to purpose. Viewers are invited to see innovation not as an abstract process, but as a shared commitment that only works when it’s supported.
When stories live beyond the reach of cameras, animation becomes more than a medium., it becomes a microscope. Explore our other animation case studies to see the craft behind our projects, and how our distinctive approach brings imaginative stories to life.
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