Stills from the Animation

Public Engagement

Commissioned by researcher Charlie Gregory, this animation was created as a science communication tool to explain the genetic consequences of fisheries management decisions to a broad audience. It is aimed at the general public and researchers working across environmental science disciplines, and will primarily be used in academic presentations and public engagement contexts.

Production Process

Script & style concept

We collaborated with Charlie to write a 2 minute script for the animation based on the competition entry that explained his research and pitched the storyline concept. A style concept was designed to give an idea of how the animation would look.

Visual Approach

Sketched Storyboards and Animatic Video

A storyboard was sketched out based on the script in Adobe Fresco on an iPad then uploaded to Boords. 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

Once the sketched storyboards were signed off, the storyboards were illustrated in the style design.

The illustrations were created using Adobe Illustrator.

Some revisions were made before moving onto the next production phase.

Animation

The animation phase started by preparing all the illustrations for animation. This involved separating artwork out onto layers and naming them.

Textures were applied to the imported illustration assets in the animation software.

A professional voice over artist recorded the script then the audio track was mixed and edited so it could be animated in time to.

Research Insights

Freshwater ecosystems cover less than 2% of Earth's surface but support 12% of global biodiversity. When the invasive parasite Gyrodactylus salaris threatened wild Atlantic salmon populations in Norway, authorities responded by applying Rotenone, a broad-spectrum biocide, to entire lake catchments, eradicating all fish before restocking with captive-bred juveniles.

This kind of severe population reduction is known as a genetic bottleneck. When a population is rebuilt from only a small number of individuals, genetic diversity is lost. Without that diversity, fish are less able to adapt to environmental change, resist disease, and maintain healthy populations over time. Using fish samples collected before and after the treatment, the research team is tracking how much genetic variation was lost during the process, and what this means for the long-term resilience of these populations.

The project also looks beyond the fish themselves, examining how parasite communities respond when their hosts suddenly disappear, raising broader questions about the unintended ecological consequences of conservation interventions.

The animation was also produced in Welsh, and was featured in a press release by Bangor University in March 2026.

What the client said