Sarah Cliff x Body Form

In the Summer of 2025, Sarah Cliff was commissioned by AMV BBDO and Omnicom to create four, one minute long films for their client Body Form who chose some of the most frequently asked questions in relation to a universal experience for half the population, Periods.

Together with a supremely talented crew of animators at Oh Studio, Sarah created four animated episodes where two sisters explore these concerns in various scenarios. The key topics covered where first periods, PMDD, heavy periods and painful periods – helping to allay stigma and young girls concerns around these topics as they get to know their bodies better.

This being Sarah’s first time having her work set in motion with animation, she did a stellar job of leading the charge with art directing, designing, illustrating and directing each of the four episodes. Putting her right at the helm of the process, with the talented Joe Bichard, Hannah Lau-Walker, Millie Woodcock and Melanie Krein bringing the animation and directorial power too, in such a short time frame for the amount of concepting and work involved. Thanks to the team at AMV BBDO and Omnicom for having Sarah and Joe involved.

We caught up with Sarah for a Q&A to discuss the project:

Why did you want to be involved in this project and how did you think your illustration could impact the brief and issues at hand? 

The four episodes address some of the most frequently searched questions about periods. I admired that the brief suggested not to shy away from blood or stigmatised subjects such as mental health. More open discussion of these topics would have benefitted my younger self, so it felt meaningful to work on a project like this, something that can help young people, especially when you consider that this is affecting 50% of the population and it’s still not discussed openly!
I also have wanted to make work for a younger audience for a while because so many of my influences come from children’s books so it was really encouraging to be approached to make work for a younger audience. I was really inspired by European kids book illustrators such as Beatrice Alemagna when I was a student and the visuals in psychadelic 70’s British shows such as the Original Magic Roundabout I still find charming.

I also really admire some of the past projects that Body Form have made, for their unapologetic approach and also their regular use of illustration and animation. The Womb Stories video especially had so much beautiful animation by people I admire, so when the email about this job landed, I was over the moon!

Can you tell us a little about the process of creating the concepts and design for the animated episodes? What was the biggest challenge?

We began with the scripts from AMV, I created initial character designs for the first period film to make sure we were getting the colours and the look right and then started the storyboards.

Next, I came up with a cast of characters for the rest of the films, and we worked on the next storyboard as I was designing the first film, then while the animators were working on that I would be designing the next one, while feeding back on the progress of each film and so on.
Illustrating for a project like this is completely different from making singular images because of the volume of images involved. On the whole though I altered my process and simplified the language a bit. Making each film run as efficiently as possible meant there wasn’t time for getting too wrapped up in the details and also it was important to make sure what I put in the storyboard was realistic to achieve in the time. There were a few shots that I allowed myself to expand, such as the garden scene in the First Periods film, I used the tall flowers from the garden as the shapes of the trees in other shots to save some time.

In the record shop scene in Heavy periods, I made the record covers mostly out of chopped up bits from the rest of the films so far, so it was all in the same universe. Even though it was intense, in retrospect it was a useful challenge which developed my instincts in a different way and I found it hugely rewarding when it came together.

Were there any parts that were especially hard to represent? 

One challenge was in the first periods film where there’s a simple demonstration of how the pad goes onto the pants, we needed to show this as simply as possible – but I realised, it’s not that simple unless you’re sat with your pants around your legs – so I came up with a few sketches to the client, and the solution was a sequence of three perspectives done simply, which turned out fun!
Another idea in the storyboarding where the script likens period pain to ‘wringing out insides with barbed wire’ was going to be too graphic to draw literally. As a solution I used the barbed wire as a background motif and thought I could make a thuggish womb character – less threatening than the insides, but still unsettling. I had someone like Phil Mitchell in mind. The team suggested Phil womb might be too weird for a wider audience so we made him a bit cuter!
How was it implementing animation into your work for the first time? How did your illustration come to life?

I have learned a few of the basics in after effects on previous projects, so I had a good idea of how to structure the images and also I work in illustrator which lends itself well to After Effects animation. It was my first time directing something of this scope and there was lots to do which was daunting at first but Joe and the team of animators at Oh Studio were really helpful and encouraging. All of the animators involved are seriously talented and skilled, I was so lucky to have them on board! I would love to do it again and have more people involved on the storyboarding and some extra cel animation too.

What key takeaways do you have from this project?

It was really great having the opportunity to work on something sequential and be immersed in a world for a longer period of time. That has definitely given me some food for thought on the sort of personal projects I will be working on in the future! I also learned that my work can be the right fit for other audiences and I remembered how nice it can be to make something as a team effort. My confidence grew a lot too and I feel ready for more large projects!

Which moment is your favourite from the 4 episodes?

The snapping friendship bracelet as a metaphor in the PMDD film is one of the bits I’m most proud of. Because of the tropes around PMS, sometimes the complexities that come with mental health issues such as PMDD are overlooked, so It was important to me that it came across with empathy and compassion.

Initially I had reservations about the monster concept in the script, but we worked together to merge the two ideas and I think it contrasted really nicely and gave a slight humour element along with the familiarity of these homemade bracelets that are timeless and relatable to girls (Swiftie or not!). The sound design of the beads gave it that extra tactile feeling too which I really enjoy.
There are also some scenes with cats in “When Will I Get My First Period?” and “Heavy Periods” that Melanie Krein and Millie Woodcock animated beautifully. We were lucky to have Hannah Lau Walker animate a few scenes using traditional frame by frame animation, on the PMDD and Heavy Periods films. Seeing those parts come to life was really cool.
Do you have any other dream animation projects in mind?

Music videos would be really cool, that would have been my teenage dream. I also really enjoy when documentaries have little animated sections to explain a concept, a great part of illustration is sometimes we get to learn about new ideas or niche stuff so I would love to be a part of something like that. I would also love to make my own film one day!
You can see all four episodes from this project on Body Form’s Youtube Channel:
Episode 1 – When will I get my first period?
Episode 2 – Heavy Periods | How much blood is too much period blood?
Episode 3 – Period Pain Relief Tips | How can you stop period pains?
Episode 4 – What is PMDD?

And be sure to check out Sarah’s full portfolio – here!

Credits:
Design/direction – Sarah Cliff
Animation – Oh Studio / Joe Bichard, Millie Woodcock, Hannah Lau-Walker & Melanie Krein
Concept – Dian Sofia & Chelly Samways
Production – Brilliant Artists, AMV BBDO, Omnicom
VO – Ferah Ahmet & Leonora Haig
Sound – Bubble TV