"The Anna Freud Centre is a children’s mental health charity with over 60 years’ experience of caring for young minds. Our vision is a world in which children and their families are effectively supported to build on their own strengths to achieve their goals in life. We work with a wide range of different people from children, young people and families and students to academics, doctors, teachers, mental health professionals and policy makers. In the past it has been challenging to find a simple way to tell our message to all of these audiences. The animation we’ve produced with Mummu aims to overcome this by sharing what we do and the impact we have with our stakeholders in a creative, imaginative, engaging and accessible way."  - Rose Palmer, Anna Freud Centre

 

The challenge was dealing with such a serious and sensitive subject matter, but creating a film that was positive and uplifting. For this, animation was the most appropriate style so as to appeal to the overall audience. We began by brainstorming and having creative meetings with the Centre to develop a concept for their animation. Through joint efforts and a lot of input from the client, it was agreed that a paper aeroplane would be an ideal symbol for the centre and its work.

 

We wrote the story using the paper aeroplane to weave together the centres research, education and policy influence, based upon their front line work with children and families. Using the story structure, the centre then developed a script and Mummu assisted in refining this to compliment the animation.

 

We storyboarded and designed the characters, using a warm colour palette that helped contribute to the tone and emotion of the animation. Under his direction, a team of talented animators used a 2d flash character animation to express the range of subtle but effective emotions. Backgrounds and the environment were composited together in After Effects, using a paper texture to give the animation a crafted feel and link it with the paper aeroplane concept.

 

Creative Director: Sam Atkin
Animation: Aaron Lampert, James Turzynski
Producer: Claire Plaskow
Creative Development: Natalie Harvey
Sound Design: Aaron Lampert