Bioscript: Rethink HAE
Project Snapshot:
Campaign: Rethink HAE - Medical Video
Client: Bioscript Group
Services: Video production, SFX make-up & prosthetics, rotoscope animation
Deliverables: Medical awareness videos and animated assets
Making HAE Visible
Hereditary Angioedema (HAE) is a rare and unpredictable condition that can cause intense swelling in areas including the limbs, face, intestinal tract and airways. Bioscript Group needed a way to communicate what HAE actually looks and feels like — with enough visual impact to engage audiences, while remaining accurate, human and respectful.
Previous attempts to visualise the condition using stylised 3D animation had struggled to capture the reality of the experience. Bioscript approached Bearded Fellows to rethink the creative direction and find a more authentic way to bring the symptoms to life.
Our solution combined real people, practical effects and rotoscope animation, creating a visual representation of HAE that felt grounded in lived experience rather than medical abstraction.
Real People. Real Symptoms.
We began by moving away from fully animated characters and putting real people at the centre of the film.
A specialist SFX make-up artist used prosthetics to realistically recreate the physical swelling associated with HAE. This gave the production a tangible foundation, while allowing the performers to communicate the emotional and human experience of living with an unpredictable condition.
The approach kept the representation grounded and recognisable, avoiding exaggerated effects that could distract from the message.
Bringing HAE into FOCUS
Rotoscope animation gave us another layer of creative control. By animating frame-by-frame over live-action footage, we could enhance and manipulate the physical effects of HAE while retaining the proportions, movement and emotional expression of the real person.
This combination of live action and animation allowed us to show something that is difficult to communicate through conventional medical imagery: the physical reality of an HAE attack and its impact on the person experiencing it.
Clear & Respectful Representation
The resulting film became the visual centrepiece of Bioscript's Rethink HAE campaign, giving audiences a more immediate and relatable way to understand the condition.
By replacing generic medical visuals with real people, practical effects and carefully controlled animation, Bearded Fellows created a representation that was visually distinctive without becoming sensationalised; helping to make the symptoms of HAE easier to see, understand and remember.
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