Thrive Scholars
Exceptional Minds, Extraordinary Futures
Thrive Scholar’s mission is to provide high-achieving underrepresented students from low-income backgrounds with the opportunities they need to thrive at top colleges and in meaningful careers.
The Scrapbook
The work of Thrive Scholars covers many areas, with many individuals and forms of support playing a role in the success of each student as they overcome the systemic barriers that block access to top colleges and high-impact careers. This has made it hard to explain the full extent of Thrive Scholar’s work and history in a single piece of content.
It was also essential that the animation placed the scholars and their experiences at its heart, while delivering important data and points that showed the broader picture. Finally, the film needed to embody and explain the ethos and principles that underpin the work of Thrive Scholars. The animation needed to bring all these areas together in one engaging, complete and shareable film.
The film
Our whiteboard animation told the story of Thrive Scholars through the voices and experiences of four scholars. These scholars were the animation’s main characters, and we ensured maximum realism by basing our illustrations on photographs of the scholars. To add authenticity and connection, the video’s voiceover was delivered by these scholars. Placing people at the heart of the animation allowed us to show the very real and powerful impact Thrive Scholars has on the lives of the students it works with. By focusing on the experiences of the featured scholars, we were able to emphasize Thrive Scholar’s hands-on approach.
The real stories of the four main characters, combined with the narrative of Thrive Scholars allowed us to show the full picture, from the background, approach and development of Thrive Scholars to the importance of their game changing support in the lives of students. This story was first captured in a script, and then told through visual storytelling, a voiceover and on-screen text. This allowed us to capture the full depth of Thrive Scholar’s work, highlighting and giving key details through visual icons and supporting text. Visual icons appeared several times throughout the film, at one point emphasizing what their students didn’t have access to prior to working with Thrive Scholars and later celebrating the careers and further studies students have gone on to.
Alongside the icons, we used a range of visual devices to bring the story of Thrive Scholars to the screen. Relatable imagery such as school settings and boxes of exam papers allowed us to root the animation firmly in education while visual metaphors such as the services provided by Thrive Scholars drawn as building blocks that built a set of stairs to the otherwise out of reach college showed the importance of and the way Thrive Scholar’s work supports students. All our illustrations were created uniquely for Thrive Scholars to ensure we told their story in the way that delivered it most powerfully, appealed to its audience and made the content memorable and engaging. These were then brought to life by dynamic animation, which further increased engagement and framed information for the viewer.
Delivering key data and stats contributed to the narrative and we used creative and human designs to deliver this in an impactful way, such as in the statistics about the percentages of Black and Latinx people in different industries. By including the Thrive Scholars logo and colours throughout the animation, we tied it firmly to them and their mission. The overall result of all of this was a film that captured the work of Thrive Scholars at an organisational and at an individual level, building in positivity and energy as it progressed through its narrative and music track, creating a singular film that explained the method, need and success of the vital work Thrive Scholars do.
About the client
From their beginnings in South Central Los Angeles, Thrive Scholars have been helping students achieve their full potential for 20 years. Thrive Scholars help high-achieving students from low-income communities across the United States, supporting them every step of the way from admission to prestigious colleges and onwards to jobs with top-level organisations like General Electric and Google. All based on scholar experience, data, and research; this is achieved through a wide range of activities, including the game-changing Summer Academy.
The context
Find out more about the amazing work of Thrive Scholars by visiting their website.
