We’ve just finished work on a short animation for a Charity called Publish What You Fund. They needed to tell the world about the ridiculous situation regarding the giving and receiving of aid. It turns out (and this was news to me) that Governments around the world don’t publish information about the Countries or projects that they are donating money to. This means that not only do Governments in wealthier Countries not know where their resources are most needed, but also that Governments in poorer Countries don’t know what to do with the funds that they have available!

They are running a petition to Make Aid Transparent, and they decided that an animated film was the best way to put this message across in a succinct, memorable and sensitive way.

Charities are a group that frequently require animation to spread their messages, because no other art form can be as relevant to everyone without alienating anyone.

We worked recently with another Charity who needed to make films that would be shown in developing Countries around the world. They couldn’t show black people, white people or brown people because that could potentially alienate other races – so we made the people blue. It’s the same with class, gender, age etc – a person on screen automatically has a class, a gender and an age, and these things will affect how you absorb what they’re saying. A person also has a past and a present – an actor who endorses a product one minute may be caught hurling anti-semetic abuse at policemen on the motorway the next (to pluck a random example out of the air), and the product is tarred along with Mel Gibson’s reputation. I’d be rather surprised if you found Mickey Mouse in a similar situation!

So here’s a film that explains the message behind Aid Transparency and ends with a call to action to sign the petition. http://www.makeaidtransparent.org