Aardman director Dan Binns crafts a gentle and optimistic animated film for the Scottish Government’s autism awareness campaign thru The Leith Agency in Edinburgh.

Director Dan Binns: “It’s a real privilege to be able to spend our time making films, especially for a project that seeks to encourage empathy, kindness, and understanding for a group whose experience of the world might be a little different to our own.

“Striking the right tone, both in the actions of the characters and the design was the trickiest part of the project. Finding a look and feel which autistic people could relate to in a positive way, as well as communicating what can sometimes be an uneasy experience to a wider audience, was a challenge.

“We tried many different ways to visualize the characters and their environment, (myself and with a little help from the very talented Henry St Leger) and although tricky, it was the most fun part of the project.

“You rarely get the time with a small advert like this to try lots of different things and I think the final output benefitted from all the extra doodling and thinking time.

“Production started pretty much as lockdown happened but as we were doing a lot of 2D and mainly using iPads it really wasn’t too tricky to carry on. The 2D animation was time-consuming but being done frame by frame gives it a really nice feel and I guess there are worse ways to spend the lockdown period!”
 

Client: The Scottish Government

Agency: The Leith Agency

Production: Aardman
Director: Dan Binns
2D animation: Jane Davies, Lucy Izzard, Emma Lazenby
Producer: Jason Fletcher-Bartholomew