Childline Competition Brief

Brief

The brief is to create a 10-60 second animation suited for an audience of 13-18yr olds, for the Childline social media platforms. 

Key Points

-Accessible to all children (ethnicities, backgrounds, gender...) 

-Not triggering (explicit imagery etc)

-Utilise Childline colour schemes

-Vector images, hand drawn feel

I have a three week deadline before I need to submit this to YCN. 

I've been thinking of the tagline "The monsters aren't under my head, they're in my head" ever since I read the brief months ago. I initially considered a hand drawn animation but wanted to push myself to try digitally animate which will be a lot easier thanks to my new found (kind of) love for after effects. 

Youth Mental Health Services

Childline website imagery

Initial drawing stages

To draw the character(s) I used my drawing tablet and initially used Photoshop as I find this easier to draw freehand with than the Illustrator pen tool. I then converted it to a vector image and used Illustrator to add the colour as it's more precise than the paint bucket tool in Photoshop. It is also now a cleaner clearer vector image whereas it looked too pixelated before it was image traced.

I varied the thickness of lines separating the head from the monster arms protruding from it.

For the colour scheme I used those found already on the Childline website so the design would seamlessly fit with existing colour schemes. 

Using this as a basis I can create two different characters, as the brief says they want it to be inclusive to different genders, race and backgrounds so no child could feel left out or that they couldn't contact so I've adapted this template as so: 

I neatened up these blocky details like the ends of the fingers as after I vectorised them they lost some of the initial detail they had when drawn as a bitmap image.

Typography 

I initially thought it would make sense to have the typography handwritten, the same thickness of the illustrations, this kind of style looked accessible, friendly and suitable for the target audience. I'd imagined this message in a speech bubble highlighting the child's ability to open up about their feelings which is the most important goal, so by normalising it hopefully making it less scary for children to use this service.

I mocked up this iPhone phone screen as an experimental alternative. 

Feedback

Although the hand written/drawn text bubble would be consistent with the character design, peer feedback made it apparent that the audience of kids would probably be more drawn to the iphone mock up as something they're probably familiar with, which ties in more then with the brief as this will be viewed through social media platforms so including visually the use of technology will aid the campaign, as communication is done so much more nowadays through phones/ social media platforms. 

I added in as an additional text the Childline slogan "Online, on the phone, anytime." to reinforce this message. This got a lot better response than the hand written approach.

However it seemed to make more sense to just include their own logotype with their slogan, this was provided in the brief information pack. I wanted to incorporate it into my design by putting it in thought or speech bubbles.

I felt the background of the initial white was wrong, my peer agreed it looked too empty and not as exciting to a child, unlike the colourful characters. Looking back at Childline's backgrounds they're vibrant, colourful and/ or patterned:

Background Experimentations 

Colour

Pattern

I stopped experimenting with pattern as I felt it was an obvious choice to choose colour over this as pattern is too distracting from the characters, especially as they will be animated. The colours especially blue is much more calming than the chaotic patterns or the warmer shades especially the red, a colour which can cause anxiety and is associated with feelings of anger which I want to avoid.

Asking additional feedback from peers it was established the blue background was the most appropriate, thanks to its soothing nature and the calm connotations of blue (sky, sea etc).

According to the Colour Effects website on: Phycological Properties Of Colours 

This connotation with the strong blue simulating 'clear thought' is key as well in aiding kids being able to communicate, as well as it being 'serene and mentally calming.'

Next step is to master the puppet tool in After Effects, this is a way of manipulating a flattened image. I heard about this and thought this would be a much easier induction for me to get started with, rather than making each limb on a different layer and moving them using anchors.

This was quite easy however I did notice some distortion of the extremities, at one point it crashed and was moving really weirdly, I had to go to technical support. They just told me I had too many pins, it should be more like this so the limbs move more organically:

As my design has quite a lot of details it's impossible to avoid warping the ends and realise for future reference to have more details, it would be beneficial to have them on different layers.

With the phone I made it so that it appears from the bottom, to the right of the character. I need to now adapt this so it's suitable for the social media (square) outcome and figure out where to put the Childline logo, which is to be revealed by the disappearing phone for their website graphic.

I like this as it's suggestive Childline is always there even if not visible, after a difficult time/ horrible thoughts/ circumstances etc, Childline is always there in the end; furthermore emphasising the ease of connectivity with the phone imagery.

For the square version it makes sense to switch the speech-bubble so it's actually being voiced by the character, if children can identify with the characters it may be easier "hearing it from them", so if they see this figure connecting with the service maybe they'd feel more comfortable contacting Childline.

Having to make the design square I didn't want to loose out on either element (the character or phone) so combined them, I'll have the phone sliding up and down as with the rectangular (webpage banner) animation, but hiding the character. Avoiding the speech bubble popping out from behind the phone I'll animate it so it appears once the phone has descended, like so:

 

Feedback

The blue works really well, a lot better and less stressful than the designs with shapes and patterns. Strong concept with the colours of the monsters relating to emotions 

Really like the colourful characters

Very happy with the feedback, didn't seem to be any negatives!

Final Outcomes

Website banner 1600 x 900

Social Media 1200 x1200

Top Trump: Finished Videos

Mami Wata

Kali

Hel

Getting peer feedback they suggested I go the extra mile and actually make the cards, have them printed on card/ thick paper (I will talk to James about the best stock to use..) and have a shoot of people playing with the cards, having this on a carousel behind these on my instagram post would really complete the project giving a rounded finish, utilising multiple mediums. I plan then to submit these to design accounts as a body of work.

Top Trump: Music

Adding audio, resizing so it's fit for instagram

Music

I originally thought I wanted a traditional/ classical/ ancient sounding songs to go in the background of the animated posts, however this doesn't seem to align with the visual aesthetics. I then thought it would make a lot more sense to choose current music, imagining what the modern day versions of the Goddesses would listen to.

For Mami Wata I initially thought I could use this, a strong female rapper spits about Mami Wata which seemed perfect but through peer feedback I recognised it would be more appealing and accessible if I used a more popular song, something ethereal and more like background music so as to not distract from the artwork.

I then chose Fruit by ABRA, her voice is soft and mumbly and the beat is mystical sounding .. I cut to a section with the lyrics "Don't listen to a word they say, I'm in your head like every day", directly referencing the hold Mami Wata has over men, as she appears to them in their dreams, requests they remain sexually faithful and has a grasp over them the rest of their lives as they fear she will make their lives if they are unfaithful. There's further reference to this on the cards as I made "mind control" one of the categories.

Thinking more however about a consistent theme, it should really be some 90/ 00s tunes. This theme of nostalgia should be consistent throughout the visuals and now audio. I wanted to use instrumental sections of the songs that would be recognisable without the lyrics (or minimal lyrics), something people would hear and instantly feel something, a link back to their childhood to match the visual recognition of the Top Trump style layout.

For Hel I've chosen Justice by Genesis, the sound of impending doom just seemed to fit rather well.. I originally was sifting through lots of heavy metal but even I couldn't handle it. I feel electronic music is a lot more accessible. I used to be obsessed with this when I was younger, I thought of it almost immediately as it does sound like it should be played at the entrance to the underworld.

Speaking of nostalgia, Missy Elliott's 'Get Your Freak On' just had to be Kali's song, referencing her almost destroying the whole universe from drinking too much demon blood... the intro to the song is so recognisable it fits perfectly.

I struggled with finding one for Mami Wata. I pondered over Britney's 'Toxic', Amy Winehouse 'Back to Black', Eve's 'Let me blow your mind' (intros were too short) Massive attack Teardrop, I decided upon Cassie 'Me & U', the intro was 20 seconds which is the exact length I've used for the others, the beat also sounds slightly reminiscent of old school video games which fits perfectly. The lyrics are somewhat sexual "baby tell me how you like it.. just me and you boy" which fits Mami Wata to a tee.

Lemonade Music Video: Promotion & Feedback

Finished Video

Social Media Promotion

This is my promo on my design account, Ben has also been posting images onto his official Bienvenue page. The main aim being to bring more attention to this lemon-head as a visual identity for Bievenue. Therefore throughout the promotional posts on Instagram we've used lemon emojis keeping it playful and leaking images of the characters as a teaser in order to build hype around the video.

In future shows it would help maintain and build this visual identity if Ben had models wearing the lemon heads on stage/ in the audience. 

I've posted these two promo videos on Instagram, this first a sneak peak video, and the latter was my initial intro edit however I felt it was too dark, I ended up using the same effect but overlaying the video as I loved this idea of the lemonade liquid flowing from the lemonheads. In the promo video I used 'funky bubbles', the bassy intro fit perfectly with the cell preset over bubbles made in After Effects. Their almost mutation like movement works in time with the song and gives it a very 70s feel.

I really liked Luke saying "right, we're ready to end the clip"... and thought this would be a little different to just using the song intro again, and again you only have a hint as to what it is visually as the lemon appears vaguely in the drips every now and again giving it an exclusive feel.

Feedback 

I managed to finish the editing just before I got back to London for my placement, but now I'm here it would be the perfect opportunity to get some professional feedback from video editors. I showed it to my new friend here Joe who does just that and I was so surprised and thrilled he said it was brilliant and couldn't think of anything that needed changing in terms of the shots etc. but he gave me some really useful tips on how to give it a more professional feel.

Dimensions 

By changing the screen dimensions to 1920x (roughly around) 818 - can be played around with, "whatever looks best". This will give it a more cinematic look as when these dimensions are uploaded to youtube it automatically widens the video , so whilst editing there will be black borders but when it's uploaded it will get rid of them . He specifically said do not add black shapes mimicking this as you'll have way too much black space and they will stay when its lengthened on youtube. 

Colour grading

Learn how to use Lumetri: colour wheels on After Effects can really give it that depth & colour balance. This will be perfect as he mentioned it I could agree noticing some parts due to lighting and the lower quality of the fish eye lens were mis-coloured and a little inconsistent. 

Joe then suggested his personal preferences and go-to settings, explaining it seems to be the perfect balance, but to be careful of skin tones as you can end up looking a little orange if it's too much!

mid tones: more towards the orange 

shadows: more towards the blue

at the end play with the highlight which can help avoiding anyone looking like they're wearing too much tan! It was really insightful and encouraging feedback, I'm going to try out all of these methods. 

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I messaged Ben about these alterations however it was too late by this point as his manager had what we had thought was the "ABSOLUTE FINAL VERSION.MP4" and was sending it off to try and get it released as a premier on a music blog. This would be great exposure for all included, the manager Mick is quite illusive so not sure what blogs he's currently trying for but we're crossing our fingers. I know now for the future however what I can do to give it that professional edge thanks to this feedback but I'm still really pleased with the final version and very chuffed in terms of the editing as Joe said it was great.

Suki Skatebrand: Promo Video

I wanted to create some promo to hype up the brand. Looking at 90s skate mags I drew inspiration from the vivid displays of colours, clashing prints and layout etc.

I composed the images from screen grabs from found footage of skaters all over the world in the 90s.

I displayed this on instagram using grid systems, so it took up a row. Using my new fav After Effects I manipulated 90s footage of Southbank skate park with effects that drew attention to the logo more than anything, to build suspense for a launch. 

To intensify this skate aesthetic, manipulated the footage, adding water like streams eminating from the back of the skate board, neon bubbles relevant to colour schemes found in skate mags from the logo as well as glitches and warps.

                                          

Music Ocean Wisdom ft Dirty Dike& Edward Scissor Tongue 'Freeze'

I chose this as I felt it was really fitting of the skate community, British brash abrasive aggressiveness.. this whole vibe of "I don't give a fuck" is the best way I can describe it. 

(fangirl moment, Dirty Dike liked the post)

As I'm at my placement currently, I got some feedback from a couple of Video Editors I've become friendly with, they said it was "really cool", I'll take that!

I then showed this to the client and he said he liked it but it wasn't really the 'brand ethos'. Never had he once discussed what he perceived this to be, bearing in mind he didn't even have the name of the brand until I helped him choose, he went onto say "he'd been thinking of this for years" and was angry I didn't seem to understand what thoughts were floating round his head that he never expressed. Things soured at this point needless to say, especially when he started drawing my logo design onto skate decks with what looks like felt tip pen and putting my name to it. 

I had to tell him to remove this content from the instagram as it was unprofessional, inconsistent and not what I wanted to have my name under. It seems unsure wether or not he will ever actually start this skate brand, he seems to lack any form of drive or ambition which is a shame because I was really pleased with the content I'd given to him but I think him spray painting the logo on skate ramps is the furthest Suki will go in his hands.