ROOF Studio Animates Emotional Short Film for CURAVIVA Switzerland

Animation studio ROOF Studio (ROOF) recently produced “Rosemarie’s Life,” a touching 3D-animated short about a strong woman and her life experiences. The film was conceived by agency CRK as part of a Switzerland-based campaign that aims to strengthen careers in long-term care and support the recruitment of young health professionals. An alliance of the Swiss government and Swiss healthcare organizations made the campaign possible, led by CURAVIVA, Spitex, and OdASanté. “Make a Career of Humanity” will run through 2023.

In the film, an elderly German woman shares her life experiences with Livio, who studies nursing and takes care of her. In hearing the stories of Rosemarie’s painful childhood experiences of being separated from loved ones during World War II, to the joy of reuniting with them, her life story becomes a source of inspiration for Livio, serving as a reminder that a career in long-term health care is an opportunity to not only help others, but also become part of their history.

Originally produced for the European market in German, “Rosemarie’s Life” is now being released for English-speaking audiences after garnering nearly half a million views on YouTube.

“It was really important for the audience to emotionally connect with Rosemarie’s journey, so we focused on strong frames, similar to an illustrated book, to convey her story,” says Guto Terni, Partner/Creative Director at ROOF Studio. “With this approach, we could communicate with efficiency, using the animation to amplify the emotions and give proper weight to her experience, while the voiceover brings an important element of realism to the film.”

ROOF created Rosemarie’s story in a more European-style of animation, leaning on the use of fewer frames while bringing a sense of charm to the film. This approach enabled the team to focus on animating only what was necessary for each scene. In addition, this approach meant ROOF could bring an immense amount of detail to the 3D elements, a specialty of the studio.

“Whether it’s a scratch on an object, peeling paint on a wall, or even the movement of clothing and hair, the painstaking detail of each scene helps draw the viewer into the characters and their world on a deeper, more cerebral level,” says Terni. “When you're condensing a life story into two minutes, it's especially important to have the fluid camera work and composition work in harmony and guide you. So, even as you move from one shot to another -- seeing Rosemarie's life as though you're turning the pages of her story -- you can focus on the subject of the scene and still perceive all of the rich details because of the camera framing.”

“Much credit goes to the CRK team, who gave us complete freedom to explore the looks of the characters and environments, which were based on real pictures of Rosemarie’s family album” concludes Terni. “They came to us with a great thoughtful script and always kept our creative vision moving forward. This collaboration was so fulfilling to us as artists and we think the resulting film is a reflection of this mutual passion and trust in creating something beautiful together.”

Ad Agency: CRK

Marketing Manager CURAVIVA Schweiz: Theres Gotsch-Hinden

Production Company: ROOF Studio 

Compositing: Nash FX, ROOF Studio

Audio: Combustion Studio