Pixeldust created AFSCME's commercial on how the largest US public sector union has shaped the lives of American workers through history.
Fair contracts, healthcare, safer workplaces: behind the rights many American workers count on, there is a union story. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the country’s largest public sector labor union, chose Pixeldust to tell that history in its newest commercial: how the union has shaped the lives of American workers for generations.
The challenge was to introduce AFSCME in an engaging, entertaining way while keeping the authoritative voice of its President, Lee Saunders, at the center. Pixeldust placed him inside an abstract space surrounded by the union’s archival photography, so past and present share the same frame.
The work
AFSCME, the country’s largest public sector labor union, asked Pixeldust to tell its story in an engaging, entertaining way: how the union has shaped the lives of American workers throughout history, introduced by its President, Lee Saunders.
Pixeldust composited Lee Saunders into an abstract space surrounded by archival photographs of the union’s history, so past and present share the same frame while his authoritative voice carries the story.
The spot was planned in a sketched storyboard, then Lee Saunders was filmed on a green screen, so the team could cleanly swap the scenery around him and make him stand out among the largely colorless photographs. Pixeldust’s illustrators treated the many archival documents and photos with a pen-stroke filter while the animators rotoscoped Saunders off the green screen. Finally, the animators composited him into each scene and built creative transitions that carry viewers on a journey through time.
The finished 60-second commercial was featured on the front page of AFSCME’s website, introducing visitors to the union and its legacy.
Stills
