Young people in Logan City leading discussions and action towards ending gender-based violence in their region, have teamed up with Griffith Film School (GFS) to produce a series of animated clips that challenge harmful behaviours in relationships.
Non-profit organization YFS, which houses youth ambassadors in the #R4Respect program, approached Griffith Film School to create short animations that would effectively deliver their message of education and violence-prevention across social media channels.
Animation Program Director at GFS, Dr Peter Moyes accepted the Producer role and brought in talented Honours student William Pietsch to work on the project. “William came up with some fantastic concepts. Through discussions with YFS Ambassadors, we developed the project, with Will breathing life into the ideas with his incomparable stylings,” said Peter.
The series of short animations deal with coercion, control, sexting, cat calling and ‘locker-room talk’. The clips were officially launched in May at the Griffith Film School, withDirector of the Office for Women,Kylie Stephens, on behalf of the Minister for Communities, Women and Youth, Minister for Child Safety and Minister for Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Shannon Fentiman.
Youth Ambassador with R4Respect, Andrew Taukolo said the clips use quirky, fun images and text to spark the interest of young people. “Top marks to the lead designer, Griffith University animation student Will Pietsch; he’s clever and sensitive in the way he gets the messages across.”
Industry executive and co-founder of Altvfx, Takeshi Takada agrees, “I was amazed and excited to see the standard of the work produced for the Don’t Be a Bad Apple animated films. They ticked all the boxes in the brief and made a piece of entertaining content that appeals to a wide audience.In today’s digital and social age, this is the kind of thing that could be adapted
across many different platforms, reaching a target audience the world over.”
Cath Bartolo, the CEO of YFS said it was a great opportunity to collaborate with Griffith Film School on this important project. “We think the clips communicate really important messages in ways that young people will relate to,” Ms Bartolo said. “They’re by young people for young people, which is the fundamental principle of R4Respect’s peer engagement approach.”
Dr Peter Moyes also praised the collaborative nature of the project. “This was a fantastic opportunity for Griffith Film School to combine forces with a great community organisation, and to use our strengths in animation production to raise awareness and highlight important issues around community welfare.”
Find out more about Animation at Griffith Film School
Find out more about YFS and #R4Respect
Watch all ‘Don’t Be a Bad Apple’ clips