Exploring the theme of grief through animation, young people used techniques such as shadow puppetry, 2D paper cut out and hand drawing to express their emotions.

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Our climate, our grief

Imogen (12) and Maddie (12) worked together to create this charmingly detailed animation about the recent fires in Australia. Their love of these animals and their care for the earth shines through this brilliant animation. Theirs is a story of hope and new beginnings.

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If there's darkness, the only thing left is light

Jamie (11) chose to hand animate his short film. Beginning with a visual representation of the dark taking over the light, Jamie’s film unfolds into a wonderfully executed comic style animation with a mature, clever moral of harnessing the strength of our own light to fight the darkness.

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Inner thoughts of a young woman

Lucy (12) beautifully captured the essence of the song she chose to animate to, a wonderfully artistic representation of the inner world of her character. Lucy used imagery and camera movement to capture the journey through a young girl’s thoughts.

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I'm finally happy

Aicha (12) brought her own experiences of surviving troubled times to her animation, with a surprising, celebratory end to an otherwise dark short film.

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Horse

Alex (11) explored shadow animation and after making his character, the horse, Alex followed his creative intuition allowing the animated movements to unfold into this viscerally macabre short film.

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Secret

Angie (13) spent hours meticulously hand drawing her animation exploring a secret, untold story. With beautiful, subtle movements, capturing the audience in the details, each flicker told a thousand tales. Unfortunately, due to the current world situation, Angie didn’t manage to capture all of her drawings, but we hope to bring them together in the future for what will be a visual delight.

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Let's begin

Ahsan (11) had a clear knack for animating from the start of the project and set about hand drawing his short film. He really captures the nerves of his character as he climbs to great heights.

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The Making Of

We began by thinking about music we like to listen to when we need cheering up. For some, this was upbeat music to pull them out of their low mood, for others, a need to be comforted by others experiencing similar things and finding a way to express that through music. 

After learning different animation techniques, the group set about making animations to go with the songs they chose. They have created a collection of heartfelt animations in unique styles, from koalas waking up in the bush fires of Australia, to a young hero fighting the darkness alone.

Scroll through the gallery below for behind the scenes photos from the course:

Special thanks to course tutor Aoife and assistant Ella.