How a Nightmarish Factory Line Showed Us What’s Gone Wrong with the Healthcare System in Poignant Village Medical Spot

Healthcare is about people. Whilst that should seem obvious, it unfortunately isn’t in too many cases. In 2023, a growing number of healthcare systems have become focused on numbers at the expense of humanity. This is coupled with a sense, particularly profound in the US, that the system itself is nearing breaking point. The result is that patients and staff alike feel dehumanised and robotic - like disembodied parts being moved around an enormous factory line. 

That impression has been brought vividly to life in a new campaign for the primary care provider Village Medical. In a spot directed by Patrick Daughters of Anonymous Content, we see appointments cut short as people are hoisted up and along an automated system which resembles a processing plant of the industrial revolution more than it does a modern hospital. 

Helping to bring that ad to life alongside Patrick was the VFX boutique Artjail, whilst the campaign itself stemmed from the creative minds at Deutsch NY. To find out more about the spot and why this was the right story to tell for the brand, LBB sat down with Patrick, Deutsch NY’s creative director Jeff Kopay and head of integrated production Miriam Franklin, alongside Artjail’s managing director John Skeffington, head of 2D JD Yepes, and head of 3D Jackie Liao. 

Above: This spot for Village Medical conceptualises the all-too prevalent feeling of being detached from humanity within healthcare systems. 

On The Factory Floor 

“We wanted to shine a light on a health care system that feels like it is at its breaking point”, recalls Jeff Kopay. “The factory metaphor was a unique way to portray the entire system as a complex assembly line where patients don't get the time and attention they deserve. The ultimate goal of the film was to highlight what's missing from the current system: Human relationships, warmth and understanding”. 

In terms of articulating Village Medical’s position as explained by Jeff, the ad couldn’t have done a better job. This was in large part due to how that factory metaphor was conceptualised - a task taken up by the team at Artjail. 

“During the conceptualization phase, we meticulously examined and researched a wide range of factory settings and films”, explains JD. “These included 1936 car assembly lines, airport luggage conveyor belts, distribution centres, and Amazon warehouses. However, the most pivotal references that significantly shaped our concept turned out to be the movies Monsters Inc. and Playtime by Jacques Tati”. 

Interestingly, Patrick echoes JD’s thoughts in terms of the Pixar influences. “I was hoping to land somewhere between Kafka and Pixar, and I think we hit the sweet spot”, he says. 

Reflecting on how the factory line came together so well, John points to the nature of the collaboration between Artjail and the rest of the team. “Being brought in early for the development stage was a huge part of why this job looks so good”, he says. “Being able to work so closely with the director, as we did here, is our preference”. 

As a result, Jeff is full of praise for his production partners. “Artjail absolutely crushed bringing this vision to life for us. They created a massive, complicated system of overhead tracks that is conveying hundreds of providers from room to room, each suspended in harnesses”, he notes. “There is a bit of a train-set like charm to all the overlapping action they developed. The look that was fabricated for the factory system was a beautiful juxtaposition to the emotional piece coming from the doctor and patient relationships”. 

One of the critical components in nailing the aesthetic was, as JD explains, the previsualisation process. “Pre-viz served as a critical roadmap for our narrative journey, providing a precise target that facilitated clear communication with everyone on-set about the exact scenes and elements that we needed to capture, thus eliminating guesswork”, he says. 

Above: A VFX breakdown put together by Artjail explores the process of bringing the factory line to life. 

Tricks of the Trade 

Inside the machinery of the post-production process, Jackie and the rest of the Artjail team were able to employ some smart techniques in order to get the best results whilst keeping efficiency in-mind.

“In order to flexibly build the dynamic rail system for each shot, our FX artists created a procedural setup in Houdini to be able to quickly build the entire system based on simple curves as well as generate hundreds of hanging doctors along with it”, he says. “Therefore, with hundreds of combinations, we were able to create the crowd without seeing any repeating patterns”. 

And, happily, that procedural setup came with other benefits too. “Another thing worth mentioning is, with this procedural setup, we greatly reduced the render time since the environment was built based on camera angles”, continues Jackie. “So the renderer could only focus on what’s inside the camera and didn’t waste time calculating things that are not visible in the camera view”. 

It’s just as well that the Artjail team were able to leverage their expertise in this way, given that the tricky nature of the project threw up its own unique challenges. As Miriam recalls, one such obstacle was having to recreate the client’s medical offices on a soundstage located on the other side of the world. 

“After the initial set designs had been approved and construction was under way, the client asked us to showcase the unique proprietary skylight feature on the ceiling of their medical offices”, she recalls. “Due to the placement of rigs, lights, and other key equipment necessary to create a technically complex tracking shot through the office set, it was not feasible to create a practical ceiling. Artjail came up with a quick and beautiful solution that allowed the ceiling to be created in post and follow seamlessly with the camera move”. 

All in all, the resulting film was one that the entire team was aligned on. “At the outset we just wanted it to feel like a very average American medical institution without being too dreary or nightmarish”, explains Patrick. “It ended up looking realistic, but also a bit Roy Andersson which was cool”. 

Ultimately, the take-home message of the ad is that things don’t need to be this way when it comes to healthcare. The factory metaphor is a nightmarish vision but it is - for now - just a vision. “It would be interesting to rebuild this environment in Real Time Engine”, laughs Jackie, “so we can all be hanged on the rail system to experience how those doctors feel!”. 

With any luck, Village Medical is set to help ensure that feeling drifts further away from the reality of American healthcare.