Bernardo Romero Maker Klick Health

The Bridge, a powerful new film from Klick Health, looks at the intrinsic bond between people and their pets, and how that bond can act as a lifeline for both. We spoke to Bernardo Romero, co-writer and “Maker” at Klick Health about the inspiration and process behind the campaign.

AH: The film delves into a deeply personal emotive space, where did the inspiration for the film come from?

BR: The film was inspired by a heart-warming true story I was told during a difficult time in my life. When riding the NY subway shortly after losing my own dog, a stranger shared the story with me in an attempt to cheer me up. We hope ‘The Bridge’ will be a catalyst for more life-changing encounters between fur friends and people, and will help PAWS NY in their fundraising efforts so they can keep doing their amazing work.

I believe there is great power in storytelling. As a healthcare agency, that means reaching people in need and working to save lives by telling some of the most important health stories in the world. The pandemic has changed human behaviour and content has never been more important. So we’re focused on creating powerful stories that will resonate with people, hopefully inspire them, and bring about positive change in the world.

The animation style is really unique, what decisions were made to create a style that fits so personally with the piece and conveys the emotions and personalities of both protagonists?

Art direction was pivotal in depicting the main characters’ internal mental health struggles. The overall art direction of the film was developed to convey a hostile world where our characters feel cramped and unwelcome in the world they inhabit. Our characters’ surroundings are distorted and feature gothic-inspired angles. Meanwhile, the main characters were designed to have unusual proportions and we used edgy, scribbled textures to portray their stress and agony. The shaky effect on all the characters, objects, and fonts creates an overall sense of instability and a need for resolution.

Colour also plays an important role in the narrative of the film. The colours blue and grey in the film are a metaphor for the man’s mental state. Conversely, orange is used to represent hope and the road to healing. It first appears in short flashes triggered by the positive interactions they have with each other and culminates in a fully transformed, bright, orange world reflecting the characters' now positive and hopeful mental states, following their now unbreakable human-animal bond. It’s a really special film.

The music works hard to convey the bond between the characters, why was this particular track chosen?

The Bridge uses “Perfect Day” -– the 1972 hit by Grammywinning musician, songwriter, and poet Lou Reed to bring attention to the mental health benefits of pets.

After going through hundreds of iconic songs that could represent the mental state of our character, it was clear to us the “Perfect Day” was the perfect song. We also love the fact that he once put on a high-frequency concert for dogs and himself owned a pup named Lolabelle. After negotiations with Lou Reed's estate, they felt confident and comfortable sharing his legacy through this film. We could not be more proud to have this song as a way to articulate the dichotomy between the characters and the definition of a perfect day.

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