Betterment Bureau

Back in October of 2010, a chance request for a partnership with Amnesty International fell into the Bureau’s lap by way of Larissa Mettler Mendoza, campaign associate for AI USA and former schoolmate of Bureau co-founder Beat Baudenbacher. Seeing as how the Bureau was created to apply our talents to causes like Amnesty International, it immediately piqued our interest. Amnesty’s request was for us to help them by creating the opening film for their 50th anniversary conference, and it was precisely the kind of thing the Bureau has been yearning to do. But we knew that pulling off a 3:00 mixed-media film in only our free time wouldn’t be easy.

And it wasn’t. Five months of working evenings, weekends and the occasional weekday (graciously donated by Loyalkaspar) pushed the Bureau to its limits and brought out its best. Entire scenes were filmed in our tiny office insert stage (which we call the Garage™), renders were farmed throughout the whole office, and pizza slice after pizza slice were downed as the BureauCreatives™ collectively powered through the wee hours of late 2010 and early 2011, with March 19th in our sights.

It’s hard to believe that day is already behind us, and even harder to believe that we were able to achieve so much in such a small amount of time. And with the events in the Middle East colliding with our March 19th deadline, the time to stand up for freedom and dignity couldn’t be more apparent. We’re proud to have done our small part, and hope that the film inspires others to take action for human rights wherever they may be.

It is our great pleasure to present the opening film, entitled “Shine a Light,” for Amnesty International’s 50th anniversary celebration. We look forward to creating the film for their 100th.

Head over to the LK Vimeo site (here) to watch a full-screen version!

Amnesty also gave us the opportunity to include something small in the gift bags being given out at the conference, as a way of announcing our involvement in the project. Rather than make it all about us, we took it as a chance to wish Amnesty International a happy 50th birthday and give the attendees an interactive way to bring part of the film home with them. Boom! Two birds with one stone.