Animals in Therapy | Article
How are we feeling?
Animals in Therapy is an On the Edge series of short, satirical films where animals express their anxieties about living in an increasingly human-dominated world. The episodes use footage of real animals with high-quality CGI lip-sync, narrated by leading talents, such as Rhys Darby, Jessica Barden, Mae Martin, and Adrian Bliss.
Seeing the world from the perspective of an endangered animal starkly portrays the unjust relationship between humans and other species. Our objective is to entertain first and spark curiosity, but also to capture the imagination. That way we hope to enable people to see our relationship with other species from a different angle: through their eyes. Ultimately, we want to increase understanding and empathy for other creatures, encourage people to explore further and take action.
Although our tone is often tongue in cheek, we deal with some fairly intense topics, but always focus on hope and clear solutions. People are experiencing enough eco-anxiety! We want to engage and inform our audience and empower them to take positive action, not depress them so they feel any effort is pointless. Fundamentally, we want people to act in a way that makes sense to them.
Accompanying these short films are unconventional infographics that are both thought-provoking and shareable. Our website contains more in-depth information on the issues woven into each episode, such as why flightless birds are threatened and what can be done about it. Also provided are links to organisations we believe are doing great work, for those who want more.
Animals in Therapy is the first of many projects for On the Edge. We will regularly measure the impact of our content so that we can refine and improve our approach. Our learnings from this project will be incorporated into the next, and the next, and so on!
Our end goal at On the Edge is to take our audience on a journey and through it, help them emotionally connect with the extraordinary species that inhabit our natural world. We sincerely believe this connection is essential if we want people to care more about nature.