THE WOOLMARK COMPANY
WEAR WOOL, NOT FOSSIL FUEL
Awareness campaign against synthetic clothing - 2022
Directed by Jorik Dozy & Sil van der Woerd
Studio Birthplace teamed up with The Woolmark Company to educate people about the hidden impact of synthetic fabrics on the environment based on the insight that every 25 minutes, an Olympic pool’s worth of crude oil is used to produce synthetic clothing.
Directors Jorik Dozy & Sil van der Woerd
“Did you know that about 70% of all clothes today are made from synthetics? That's another word for oil. We're literally wearing oil. The fast fashion industry uses 2.5 million litres of it every 25 minutes. Big numbers like these are often hard to comprehend and therefore we struggle to connect with them. Using film to visualise big data in ways we can relate to it will help us come to grip with the reality of our consumer culture.”
Cutdowns
In addition to the main film, 3 cutdowns were created in which we follow the different characters on their individual journeys, expanding the scope of the world.
Production
Woolmark approached us with a clear challenge: how do we educate the public on the enormous impact the synthetic clothing industry has on our planet? We teamed up with London based agency 20 Something to craft the answer which came in the form of a data visualization concept - visualizing an Olympic sized pool filled with oil which is used for the production of synthetic clothing, every 25 minutes.
We collaborated on the production with our London based partner Park Village and Silver Lining Films in South Africa.
The special effects team of Max Poolman at MXFX built a custom 6x6 meter pool that was filled with 36,000 liters of fake oil, created from a mixture of water, food thickener and edible children's paint. Lighting the pool was a significant challenge as the pool essentially acted as a mirror, reflecting everything visible in the studio. A white dome was created over the pool that was lit to match the nature plates that were previously shot on location.
The crew traveled to the South African region of Mpumalanga to capture its stunning diverse landscapes in natural lighting. We chose this location for its lush, unspoiled landscapes which were needed to contrast the polluting world of oil. Maneuvering a large crew and its equipment through a dense rainforest brought its challenges.
Previsualization & Visual Effects
The project went through an elaborate pre-production phase where we created a full CG previsualization of the film together with Dead Pixel in Amsterdam, to understand many of the challenges before going into full scale production.
Watch the video below for a detailed breakdown of the process:
Wear Wool, Not Fossil Fuel has been featured in the media:
ABC | Ad News | Ads Of Brands | Ads Of The World | Adweek | Campaign | Creative Review | Designboom | Design Taxi | Fashion Network | Fashion United | Forbes | Just Style | Little Black Book #1 | Little Black Book #2 | Luerzers Archive | Media Shotz | New Cloth Market | Roastbrief | Shoot Online | Shots | Stash Media | Stock And Land | The Drum | The Industry Fashion | The National Tribune | The Scot Free | The Woolmark Company