Man up or open up? Commissioned by The Open University Broadcast & Partnerships team to create a learning journey co-produced by OU and the BBC. “James Arthur: Out of Our Mind” For BBC Three. The program is a highly personal film featuring singer-songwriter James Arthur, focused on men’s mental health. The Broadcast & Partnerships team was inspired by James’ candid impressions of Arthur’s own mental health woes and wanted to explore why men struggle to seek help when they’re in danger.
Academic contributor and animation consulting scholar Dr Martin Robb of the Open University said on the subject: Despite recent shifts in thinking about gender roles and relationships, many young men still feel pressure to act tough, choosing to keep things contained rather than seek support. .”
Produced by Kong Studio and designed and directed by Hannah O’Brien, this animated short highlights the shocking stats behind the issue in a tactile and informative way. Also,”ok buddy? Bringing Dr. Martin Robb’s OU research to life.
Chris Belson, Broadcast Platform and Public Engagement Manager at The Open University, said: Talk about their mental health. It was also a great opportunity to learn from and advocate for the people and organizations on a mission to change it. This will always be a very sensitive and often complicated topic. As such, I felt that animation was an ideal medium to explore in a way that was both empathetic and accessible. “
Kong previously had an exciting collaboration with The Open University Broadcast and Partnership team for a BBC co-production. “Museum Secrets” When “AIDS: An Unheard of Tape”Kong Studio is committed to creating entertaining content with strong ethical and social purpose, and OU’s projects are perfectly aligned with that mission.
Kong co-founder Bill Elliott said of working with OU: The subject matter is always interesting and thoroughly researched, giving us an enormous amount of creative freedom. I can. It’s a perfect win-win for us. “
Chris Belson adds: From the moment we first pitched the concept to them, it was clear that they were connected to what we were trying to do. Likewise, the Kong Studio team has always been flexible and takes the care needed when trying to visualize particularly subtle and delicate concepts. and accepted feedback from experts. “
Man up or open up? Directed by Hannah O’Brien. Kong Studio Executive Her Producer Emma Burch said: Bill recently stumbled upon Hannah’s Instagram so she was already on our radar and when we were considering an animator for this project we realized that her style of hand drawing and painting visuals was a difficult topic. I knew it would give a human tone to The animation production schedule was relatively tight for her, five weeks. Still, Hannah was able to draw on her previous project experience with similarly sensitive subjects to streamline the process. Hannah produced a beautiful film within a limited schedule. “
Chris Belson and Dr. Martin Robb handed Kong’s team the brief and script for Hannah to bring to life. Regarding the production process, Hannah said: They provided feedback throughout the storyboards and animatic stages, and offered suggestions on how characters struggling with mental health were represented. I envisioned an uneasy feeling starting from the head and gradually taking over the whole body. Here the swirling lines in his head developed, Describe the physical feelings that mental health issues can causeThe use of color was also important to me.The animation starts out very blue and gray and gradually becomes more colorful, representing the man feeling more and more of himself as he recovers.“
Commenting on the final film, Dr. Martin Robb said:
Chris Belson, Broadcast Platform and Public Engagement Manager at The Open University, added: Needless to say, I wish more men were open-minded, not open-minded. “
“Man up or open up?” can be viewed at Open University broadcasts and partnerships page.
