The Assignment: develop and produce a 1-hour animated film to tell a complicated story and unite a community. The final movie was to be shown in theaters, on television, and needed to be easily edited into short modules for classrooms. Good Juju helped identify critical facts and storylines, put together the right team and managed and directed the production from concept to finish.
The Result: Pa`a Ke Aupuni opened to sold out screenings throughout the Hawaiian Islands and was broadcast to over 500,000 television viewers on live TV. The film is now included in core curriculum in Hawaii schools and continues to serve as a valuable resource in bringing the community together on undeniable facts.
The history of Hawaii’s monarchy and its overthrow is complicated and stirs great passion, conflict and confusion.
How does one unite a community and gain larger support in the midst of confusion, fractured information and misunderstandings?
Unite from the start: We began by facilitating collaborative meetings with OHA staff, community leaders and historians to find common ground and agree on goals and strategy.
Break it down: Good Juju helped distill volumes of academic data into engaging narratives and story lines. Chapters provide natural stopping points and enable easy re-viewing.
Line art is fine art: Simple line art, done well, can be captivating. This graphic art style keeps the focus on ideas and content.
Connect through character and culture.
Facts alone can be cold. We created Pueo (a native Hawaiian Owl) a non-political and culturally appropriate narrator to add warmth, connect story lines and engage audiences.
Create a strong vision and plan, plan, plan.
Bringing a film to life requires a talented team. Good Juju’s crew included script writers and editors, storyboard artists, illustrators animators, voice talent, sound effects, music writers and sound editors.
Storyboards provided a space for creative development and solidified the vision as well as providing the framework for production process.
Build a strong team and keep everyone on track.
Our detailed production schedules defined roles, set goals and showed impact of deliverables and deadlines.