Climate Change, Flooding and Erosion – University of Liverpool Research

Professor James Cooper of the Geography and Planning department at the University of Liverpool, hired us to create an animated video to explain their scientific research into climate change, storms, flooding and erosion.

Storms produce severe erosion in river catchments which have an impact on critical infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, buildings, agriculture and electricity distribution networks. Researchers at The University of Liverpool have developed a computer model that simulates storm events of differing duration and intensity, both for current climatic conditions, and for those predicted to occur in the future. These models are used to generate erosion maps which identify infrastructure presently at risk, and show how erosion risk changes with climate. The information in these map models allows stakeholders to assess how to respond to erosion hazards.

The animation is being used as an outreach tool to communicate the research findings to the general public and to and encourage stakeholders such as highways agencies, environmental agencies and local authorities to begin mitigating against the predicted impacts of climate change, storms, flooding and erosion.

 

Process

Script

We collaborated with researchers from the University of Liverpool to write a script for the animation. 

Sketched Storyboards and Animatic Video 

Sketched storyboards - Climate_Change__flooding_and_erosion
A storyboard was sketched out based on the script. The storyboard images were then put into a video sequence with a draft voiceover recording so we could test the timings and ensure the script and images made sense when played together.
At this point we made some script and image revisions before moving to the next stage. 

Illustration of Animation Assets

Illustrated storyboards - Climate_Change__flooding_and_erosion
Once the sketched storyboards were signed off, the storyboards were illustrated using Adobe Illustrator. A gradient style of shading was used as this helped show the flood waters, storms and erosion. 
Some revisions were made before moving onto the next production phase. 

Animation 

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The animation phase started by preparing all the illustrations for animation. This involved separating artwork out onto layers and naming them.
Illustration files were imported into Adobe After Effects then animated. 
A professional voice over artist recorded the script then the audio track was mixed and edited so it could be animated in time to.  

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