Our Picks: How Far We’ve Come by Joe Donaldson

How Far We’ve Come by Joe Donaldson

“How Far We’ve Come” takes the form of a rhythmic timeline charting many of the major events, milestones, and breakthroughs in the battle against AIDS from the 1980s up to the present day and beyond. The main hope for the film is that it could offer a bit of perspective on this global crisis as well as spread hope for what is to come as we work toward the attainable goal of creating an AIDS-free world.

Directors Notes

With “How Far We’ve Come” I didn’t just want to create a film that was about a specific style or animation technique. I wanted it to be more of a tonal piece that was equally about the feeling and rhythm of the film as it was the pixels themselves.

More often than not, music and sound design are left for the latter stages of production. For this film, I wanted audio to have equal emphasis as the visuals themselves. From the beginning of the production, David Kamp and I worked together to set the tone and general structure of the film. Given the reduced animation style, our intent was to create a musical grid that every moment of the film could align to. In the end, through music and the simple graphic language, our hope was for the film to feel approachable and informative.

Credits

Produced by: T Brand Studio
Direction, Design & Animation: Joe Donaldson
Additional Animation: Claudio Salas, Andrew Schoneweis
Music and Sound Design: Studiokamp
Special Thanks: Dan Covert, Andre Andreev, Rasmus Bak, Vincent Tsui & Debora Cruchon