Touching Animated Film Shares How Mother's Help Shape Our World View

Our mothers help shape our vision for the world. So, when their vision is at risk due to wet age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of vision loss among older adults in the US, how we care for them means everything.

This Mother’s Day, to celebrate our mothers, and the doctors with the distinct responsibility of protecting their vision, Genentech is releasing a short, animated film titled 'A Beautiful Sight,' created by Grey Health. The film’s strong narrative juxtaposes a mother’s vision loss with her son’s steps to become a retina specialist. Using the first-person POV the film showcases how our vision is cared for, literally and metaphorically. 

“A Beautiful Sight is unique in that we took one insight and built a story to move and emotionally engage three different audiences - patients, caregivers and retina specialists,” shared Genentech patient marketing director, Opthamology, Erin Echter. “We wanted to flip the script on traditional pharma ads that focus on clinical aspects of treatment. We instead focused on the human experience and emotional connection to show that Vabysmo is not just a treatment, but one that retina specialists would trust for their own parents.”

"A Beautiful Sight was conceived with a grand vision: to redefine the standards of craft and storytelling within the realm of branded pharmaceutical advertising. Traditionally dominated by predictable lifestyle imagery and functional communication approaches, our aim is to elevate the narrative, emotion and visual experience to new heights," shared Bruno Rebelo, executive creative director at Grey Health.

Developed in partnership with highly awarded animation company Roof Studios ('Unbreakable' + 'Rosemarie’s Life') and composer Joel P West of Marvel-acclaim (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), the film shows the integration of patients, their loved ones, and doctors coming together in community to care for each other’s vision using Vabysmo, a treatment 95% of retina specialists would trust to care for their own loved one’s vision.

Beautifully telling the story of a 40-year time gap, innovative facial mapping technology was used to enhance the 3D characters’ features for emotional readability. The film also features detailed, vibrant environments - from seeing your mother for the very first time to ultimately becoming her doctor – improving visible accessibility along the way.