Our #UnderstandMore film for World Autism Awareness Day was created with members of our Insight Group and narrated by autistic actor Jules Robertson. Here's how we went from survey, to workshop to finished film.
A film about the making of our animation:
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The steps we went through to make the film:
- We first sent a survey to our Discover Insight Group of autistic people & family members. We asked for their sensory experiences – good and bad, and their thoughts about character types and film styles.
- From these answers we created some scenes and character ideas that we took to a workshop with Insight Group members. They helped us bring scenes to life with suggestions for emotions, behaviours, sound and lighting. Then our animators got to work.
- We sent the first version of the animation back to our workshoppers for their feedback. They wanted us to change a few words in the script and make certain scenes a bit clearer and more focused on autistic strengths.
- Finally, the lovely Jules Robertson from the TV show Holby City agreed to narrate the animation for us. The Insight Group and autistic staff members made final tweaks and then the animation was ready for #AutismAwarenessWeek.
We are so grateful to our Insight Group, especially Lisa, Beau, Tom and Lucinda who gave feedback at every stage.
Huge thanks to our animators at The Like Minded who constantly change the animation to fit the needs of our community.
When we work together, we create something better.