state of global air

Health Effects Institute
film production, video strategy, & story development

Air pollution over city scape
Play Video about Air pollution over city scape

Air pollution & climate change: the impacts on global health

Each year the Health Effects Institute analyzes the latest data on air pollution and health around the world and produces the State of Global Air (SoGA) report.

We work with the SoGA team to create a striking video to accompany the report and develop social media excerpts and targeted versions of the video content to amplify the communications impact throughout the year. 

The Core Video is sent out with press releases. The 2020 report and video were published in Newsweek.

A key goal of the video content we create is to provide partner organizations around the world with a compelling story to share as part of a larger toolkit that highlights data specific to their region. 

project context & Goals

Two of the strongest threats to human health in the last 100 years are climate change and air pollution. But it wasn’t until relatively recently that they became part of the same conversation. 

This video story offers a brief glimpse at how we have ‘dealt’ with both threats in the past, and how we need to begin to address them as part of the same system. 

our client

The Health Effects Institute

our role

Video Strategy
Story Design
Film Production
Editing

Our team

Story Contributor:
Dr. Eri Saikawa

Directors and Producers:
Catherine Orr
Elena Rue

Cinematographer:
Arthur Thompson

Footage Sources:
Archive.org
Storyblocks
Pond5
Getty Images
World Bank
PAQI
and more

Editor:
Elena Rue

Colorist: Marika Litz

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Air pollution's impact on newborns

“There are more and more studies in different countries, on different continents, that are well done and confirmatory that air pollution is a very strong risk factor for low birthweight and preterm birth.”

In this video story two epidemiologists and a neonatologists paint a picture of what the research is telling us about the connection between air pollution and preterm birth. 

The story is data-driven, but it is presented in story form to create a deeper connection between the viewer and the information. 

project context & Goals

Historically, stories have had a bad reputation in the research and science worlds for being too simplistic and lacking context. But we have found that when video stories and research projects are presented together in an intentional and complementary way, stories can help deepen understanding and spark engagement.

This video project was created with the target audience of policy makers and NGOs, with an eye toward creating something powerful and fact-based that would also engage journalists, medical providers, and the general public.

The video package included the Core Video as well as four video excerpts and a number of still images to accompany press releases and enhance social media campaigns. The Core Video was featured in Newsweek, accompanying an article about the report.

our client

The Health Effects Institute

our role

Video Strategy
Story Design
Film Production
Editing

Our team

Story Contributor:
Dr. Raphael Arku
Dr. Susan Niermeyer
Dr. Beate Ritz

Directors and Producers:
Catherine Orr
Elena Rue

Cinematographer:
Andrew Hida
Andrea Patino
James Chance

Footage Sources:
Archive.org
Storyblocks
Pond5
Nacho Corbella
J.P. Dobrin
C.K. Vijayakumar
World Bank
and more

Editor:
Catherine Orr
Elena Rue

Colorist:
Marika Litz