Child Bereavement UK

In our previous work for CBUK, we have focused on educating younger children, explaining what funerals are and how the loss of a loved one can evoke different emotions. With this animation, CBUK asked us to do something more emotive that would get young people talking about death.

It was important to represent kids from a variety of backgrounds, to illustrate that bereavement is something that can affect us all. The idea was to show the elephant as being ever-present. It’s neither good nor bad – it’s just there, wherever you go.

During the storyboarding phase, we selected shots of teens doing everyday activities while the elephant looms nearby, ignored by everyone The incongruous imagery of the giant elephant dominating the environment but never being acknowledged highlights the need for us to talk about death as part of the grieving process.

We wanted to use a more sophisticated colour palette than we have done before with CBUK’s younger audience. We referenced teen graphic novels to inspire some of the colour choices and used texture to add depth.

We had the pleasure of working with the brilliant Akilah Sheraya, who delivered a voiceover that perfectly balanced youthful passion with poignancy.

Characters were designed in Adobe After Effects, animated in Adobe Animate and composited in Adobe After Effects.

The result is a piece of work that we’re really proud of. It strikes a balance between emotion and empathy, and we hope it gives young people a gentle way to start meaningful conversations about death.

If you’d like to get your audience talking about an issue, we can help. hello@jolt.studio