As one of the largest private religious organizations in the USA, Crossroad Church not onlyhelps people love, but most of all loves to help people. While built upon Christian values, the organization’s ultimate mission is simplistic, inclusive, comes down to the basics—teaching about good and evil. Deeply humanitarian in nature and modern in approach, the Church reached out to us and asked to develop a series of Netflix-like, few-minute-long educational animated shorts.
We instantly said yes and, whether or not divine intervention took place, the project has turned out to be a milestone for us on many levels. Developing this animated series was both a challenge and learning process. We dove deeper into the Good Book and learned about several hardly popular but extremely interesting parables. Their themes and storylines pushed us onto uncharted territory that made us rediscover and experiment with nearly everything that happens during the production of animated movies.
Just the research on so many geographically, ethnically, and culturally diverse characters took endless hours of reading and fact-checking to make sure they’d look historically correct and come across plausible on screen. Character design and animating methods were clearly a make-or-break factor during animation development. Directing was much more complex than we were used to while working on explainer videos. It took us outside of our comfort zone, forcing to look at the production process from a much wider point of view and elevating our scripts to proper storytelling.
Sound effects and music were a whole another challenge altogether. Each episode needed its own original soundtrack, effects, and voice-overs performed by professional voice actors. Overall, it’s been a really unique learning experience and the first time we were in control of so many creative and production areas. Every single episode in this animated series makes us extremely proud and happy.
