HARVEY'S STORY - CASE STUDY

Spear is a youth employment charity that helps young people aged 16–24 overcome barriers to work and education, empowering them to move into sustainable employment or further learning. The Spear Programme delivers focused coaching, practical skills training and ongoing support, equipping participants with the confidence and tools they need to build brighter futures.

We were invited to produce an animation telling the story of a young person who had graduated from the Spear programme. It was important for the film to show how the programme helps participants overcome difficult circumstances and make positive changes in their lives.

Spear have produced many live-action, interview-based case studies, but this was to be their first animation. They were keen to explore how animated storytelling can tackle difficult subject matter and how greater control over the visuals can be used to elicit an emotional response in the audience.

The team at Spear had preliminary conversations with a number of programme graduates about participating in the animation. Harvey was among this group. When we heard the outline of his story we were struck by both the scale and the poignancy of the challenges he had faced early in life. It was inspiring to hear how he has managed to find a positive path, despite experiences of grief, drug use, struggles in education and young parenthood. We were delighted when he agreed to be the subject of the animation.

Our first step was to arrange to have an extended conversation with Harvey. He was very generous and open in talking about his experiences. He gave us a detailed account of his childhood, how he came to join the Spear Programme and explained how it has empowered him to make changes for himself and his family.

We went on a research trip to Harvey’s home town. The trip included a visit to the local Spear centre and a meeting with Harvey’s Spear coach. We took photographs at key locations and even made some audio field recordings. The information we gathered on this trip formed a great resource to feed in to the script writing. The location photographs shaped the background design in some key scenes, helping create an authentic sense of place.

We began the process of developing a script using a recording of the conversation with Harvey as a starting point. We wanted to keep as much of his voice and personality in the finished film as possible, but we also needed to be very discerning about what to include. Condensing the events of nearly twenty years into a 3-minute script was a huge challenge.

We were initially hoping to use audio from the conversation with Harvey as the voiceover for the film. We gradually edited the audio down through multiple versions, but it became clear that this technique wouldn't give us enough flexibility to communicate the main points of the story clearly in the short time available. We decided the film would be more effective if we were able to rewrite some sections to make them clearer and more concise. We took pains to be as faithful to Harvey's words as possible. We collaborated closely with Spear throughout this process. The result was a tight script that could be voiced by an actor.

Working with illustrator Thomas Pullin we developed a visual style for the film. We wanted to evolve the style that we had used on previous projects for Princess Alice Hospice and We Are Donors. We did a lot of visual research and design tests for the character artwork. We wanted to strike a delicate balance between simplicity and realism. We needed the characters to be efficient to rig and animate, but not overly cartoony or stylised. They needed to be relatable and capable of expressing subtle emotion, so particular attention was given to the faces and eyes.

Character artwork sketches and layer breakdown

We developed a style for the backgrounds in parallel with the character design. We chose very simple, abstract backgrounds, for some scenes so that the emphasis was on the characters. These shots employed lighting effects and expressive brushstrokes to create a loosely-defined dreamlike space. In other scenes the location played an important part. Here Thomas was able to combine areas of detail with subtle texture and shading to create some really atmospheric environments.

Visual development sketches for background artwork

When the script was approved, we began work on a sketch storyboard. Thomas collaborated with us on shot composition and helped us push the camera angles and use of perspective to be more off kilter and striking, especially in the first half of the film. We worked out a colour script that shifts from cool, gloomy palettes to brighter, warmer tones as the story becomes more hopeful.

When the storyboard was approved Thomas undertook the task of creating the artwork for the entire film. He put in a tremendous effort to produce a lot of high-quality artwork in a short period of time. We were really pleased with the way he captured the emotion we were going for in each of the scenes. The use of texture and lighting to create mood and add depth to the compositions was particularly impressive.

Still frames from the finished film

We rigged the artwork for animation in Moho and After Effects. This was our first project using Moho and we used it to animate all of the more complicated character scenes. We were impressed by the intuitive rigging tools and got some really nice results after experimenting with bone dynamics and particle simulations. Regular collaborator Mike Blackman helped us get to grips with the software and contributed lovely character animation to some key shots.

The beautiful original music was composed by Rob Lewis. Dan Pugsley at Cassini Sound produced the sound design and mix.

The film has been very positively received by Spear and stakeholders at both The Ares Foundation and Nandos. It is being shown at events and online. Many viewers have been emotionally affected by the animation and drawn inspiration from Harvey's story.

It was a privilege to work on this project. The collaboration gave us an amazing level of insight into the work that Spear does. Please consider donating to or getting involved with this wonderful charity.