Berlin Productions (BP) has animated the first of a series of cartoons that educate children about keeping their hands clean by hand-washing or using sanitizing wipes. The cartoons are part of a broader campaign that will be launched in schools and children hospitals.

Animated in the style of a Saturday morning cartoon, ‘The Germ-O-Tron’ is the first installment of The Adventures of Cora & Cory, a series starring two hygiene-savvy children. In this debut episode, Cory builds the Germ-O-Tron, a robot that is intended to destroy germs but instead goes haywire and threatens to destroy much more. Together, Cora and Cory defeat the Germ-O-Tron while demonstrating the value of using hand wipes to prevent the spread of germs. The cartoon also includes a sing-along that promotes the use of the wipes.

BP was hired by the film and video production company ACM Productions (www.acmproductions.tv) to animate the feature for PDI, the health-care divsion of Nice-Pak Products, the global leader in moistened wipes. Nice-Pak invented the ‘wet-nap’ in 1956 and is now marketing Sani-Hands Wipes for Kids, a moist wipe for children.

Rick Berlin, president of BP, drew the storyboards for ‘The Germ-O-Tron’ and felt a particularly close connection to the project. ‘Being a parent,’ he said, ‘I see huge value in teaching kids the value of hygiene in schools — that seems to be where my kids pick up the colds and stomach bugs and bring them home!’

BP vice president and creative director Dylan Wood was the key animator for ‘The Germ-O-Tron.’ Production, he says, took approximately a month and a half, which included client feedback and rough cuts; the feature was edited concurrently. The individual elements of the scenes were created and manipulated in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, composited in Adobe After Effects, and animated in Macromedia Flash.

‘The Germ-O-Tron’ is a resounding success, said Bud and Craig Mikhitarian, the principals — and brothers — of ACM Productions in Ridgefield, Connecticut. ‘We and Berlin have never done a project like this before,’ they said, ‘and we weren’t sure how good it would be, though we had our high hopes. What we did know was that we and Berlin would put everything we had into this to prove we could do it. Result: The commercial-quality animation is lighting up the sky over at Nice-Pak; everyone loves it. Test screenings for kids have been a great success. Children are going around singing the song and saying lines from the story — all because the animation has brought Cora and Cory to life.’

The Adventures of Cora & Cory is being distributed on DVD and VHS, and plans are underway to produce a Spanish-language version. Life-size characters of Cora and Cory are in development. Their first appearance will be at a trade show next month, and later, they will visit children in schools and hospitals.

About Berlin Productions
Established in 1982, Berlin Productions is a visual communications firm that produces Web sites, video, CD-ROMs, DVDs, kiosks, animation, presentation, illustration and print design for corporate, educational, medical and government institutions. BP clients include Nextel, NASCAR, MCI, Pepsi, GHI, SoBe, Dun & Bradstreet, Columbia University, Starbucks, Prudential, Sony, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

For more information visit www.berlinprod.com.