Dentists. Just the word makes your fillings sing. But Dental Diagnostics aren’t dentists and they wanted to create something that would not only help explain who they are and what they do but also put people’s minds at ease.

Our brief was to create a video that communicated that message and showcased their incredible facilities and staff.

That meant it was time for the sexiest of all production stages – research!

bring the humour

“As I spoke with Raahib (Dr Raahib Dudhia – Owner of Dental Diagnostics & Dental Radiologist) it was clear they were dealing with a lot of misconceptions about who they were and what they did. He was a really warm dude and they seemed friendly and most importantly funny,” said Explanimate Lead Producer Dave Owen.

“We love funny clients because they’re open and willing to push the boundaries a little. So we could be a little more playful. People getting hurt is funny, Chaplin knew it and the guys in Jackass knew it. So when a client is cool with us including people walking into signs and breaking their teeth we know we’re onto a good thing,”

It wasn’t good enough to just have pratfalls though we needed to create a style and approach that you could accommodate those and also make them look like the professional organisation they are.

“it’s alive!”

So we needed to understand how people experience their services and once we did we drew inspiration from the journey that people go on to get to their door.

Explanimate artist Jenn Goddard suggested a “travelling 2D” approach that blended character with motion and telling the story by continuously panning through different scenarios. “It’s a great way to conveying large amounts of information in a short timeframe without it feeling rushed or choppy. It really lulls you into the world of the animation and lets you just kind of exist there and soak up all the info you need.”

real people > characters

Characters in explainer videos can sometimes feel a little “stock” even when they’re designed by great artists. Drawing inspiration from real people helps them feel unique and clearly delineated. It also helps reflect the real diversity that’s present in a given workforce.

So with pictures in hand, our team set about creating caricatures that worked in the world and style of the animation.

working together

Once all of the elements were in place it was time to bring it all together. Working in close collaboration with Dr Raahib the team began to explore the journey visually.

“We’re not dentists so sometimes what we imagined in our head as cool just wasn’t conveying the sense of calm or relief that they wanted,” said Lead Illustrator Kelly Tan. “We had a scene representing the low rates of harmful exposure and we focused on the “rates” and not the emotional impact of that, Speaking with Raahib he was able to flag that and then as a team we could come up with a solution.”

the adoring public

Once it was all locked down Dental Diagnostics threw a launch party and invited their professional contacts. They even invited us to speak about the experience of developing the video with them.