AIDSspace

There is an estimated 33.4 million people living with HIV around the world today, with 7400 new infections every day. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS helps mount and support an expanded response to AIDS – one that engages the efforts of many sectors and partners from government and civil society. As a step to expand informal and established networks to include more people interested in HIV and help everyone engaged maximize resources for a stronger AIDS response, UNAIDS has created a social networking site called AIDSspace.

Edithouse was commissioned to produce a 60 second film that introduces AIDSspace and its value to the community.

“From the time of commissioning Edithouse to the project delivery deadline we had 1 week,” says Anders Hjelmström who acted as both director and editor on the project. “We normally would turn down a job with such an aggressive timeline. The reason we decided to take the challenge was the staff at UNAIDS. They were very motivated and willing to put in the extra time needed for this project to happen. It was head on from the very start. After discussing the project with UNAIDS and listening to what they were trying to achieve with the film there was no time to lose. The storyboard we created for this film must have been the fastest produced storyboard in the history of Edithouse. Thanks to the fast response from UNAIDS regarding the storyboards we were able to start planning the shot in a very short time span.”

“We decided in the very early stages of the project to use the Canon 5D markII as there wasn’t enough time or budget to rent a studio. So instead we dismantled some of the ceiling and with the help of a homemade tripod we mounted the camera to the roof to get the desired angles.”

“The only thing we bought for this project was a sketchbook to draw in and the music, everything else is in-house, from camera to lights. One of the great advantages of working here at Edithouse is the asset of great talent and that we are rather subsistence regarding camera equipment,” says Anders. “Tobias Garsell is really good in drawing so it came natural to let him do all the drawings in the film. Alex De Castillo was the DOP and Daniel Wallenius supervised the 3D.”

“During the duration of the whole project, we made sure that UNAIDS had ongoing access to the material to avoid any errors and to be able to do any necessary adjustments on the fly. Everything has worked out excellently. The client is very satisfied with the final result. We delivered on time and for those who are curious the film can be seen at www.aidsspace.org