Behind the Scenes: A New AI&I Movie

Over the past six months, the PR & Public Outreach Committee has been active in developing a new, informative and dynamic video about our research institute. With this video, we aim to show how we work together and to inspire (prospective) researchers, clinicians, patients and other stakeholders with the innovative and important research being carried out at AI&I.

To ensure a professional production, we again partnered with Sensu, the company that also created our previous AI&I film in 2020. To make sure the various AI&I disciplines were properly represented, the PR & Public Outreach Committee involved our institute directors, Joppe Hovius and Reina Mebius, and set up a dedicated AI&I Movie Working Group consisting of Jos Bosch, Wendy Dankers, Armando van Bruggen and Bastiaan Haak. Also, Nina van Sorge and Marit van Gils were consulted several times as experts to assess the realism of the movie. 

A first version of the script was drafted and shared with the working group, who were asked to reflect on questions such as:

• Does the text accurately represent your research or program?

• Do you have suggestions for additions or revisions?

• Are all components of AI&I sufficiently visible?

• Are the different facets of our research, including the clinical work, clearly highlighted?

We also circulated examples of videos previously produced by Sensu for other organisations, as well as our earlier AI&I video, to help align expectations.

Based on the collected input, Sensu produced a first animated version of the video. This version was reviewed by all involved, and further refined in several feedback rounds until we arrived at a cut that everyone felt truly captured the essence of AI&I.

Animation alone, however, was not enough. We also wanted to include live‑action scenes. Together with Sensu, we developed a shot list to capture these scenes, including: culture plates with bacterial colonies, a clinician in conversation with a patient, scientists and clinicians in discussion, and a vaccine being drawn from a vial. The 24th and 25th of June were reserved as shooting days, and Sensu came to the O2 building with a director, cameraman and a full set of equipment to shoot these scenes. Our AI&I volunteers Eveline Li, Bastiaan Haak, Niamh Tromans, Mike de Kok, Negisa Seyed Toutounchi en Noah Dekker did a fantastic job in front of the camera. And we also couldn’t have done it without the support of Linda Markus, Priscilla Heijnen and Eelco Keuning behind the scenes.

We are now eagerly awaiting the final version of our new film and look forward to sharing it with you soon.