In collaboration with Water Safety Ireland, we are developing visual content for their social media channels to inform, engage and educate young audiences regarding the dangers of water and how to prevent accidents. Water Safety Ireland is a non-governmental, non-profit entity that continuously works towards finding new ways to raise awareness relating to water safety, to protect and reduce the danger around water in Ireland.
Although there are many solutions to the issues of drownings in Ireland, they are still persistent and happening regularly. Our challenge is to communicate WSI Goals and to engage a direct, fast, communicative ways to attract and educate children throughout the online platform in Ireland.
At this stage, Water Safety Ireland's problem became apparent, which brought me to a stage where I brainstormed ways to address the unmet needs. The ideation stage marked the transition from identifying the issues to exploring the solutions. The ideation stage flows between idea generation and evaluation. When it was time to generate ideas, I did so quickly without focusing on the quality or feasibility of the concept.
This phase included sketching and ideating different views and perspectives on how the short video solution can achieve the message I am trying to convey to children, who are the primary target audience, to understand the dangers of water. I first began sketching children playing around water and the activities they would likely be doing, whether it be playing, fighting, throwing stones in the water, jumping into the water, etc
I then began to look at how they can seek help in moments where they may find themselves in danger, whether it be a nearby ring buoy, lifeguard, or any other tools which can help in a time of need. As there are many activities that children play or dangers in which they may find themselves, I needed to create one thing from a combination of all of the above to combine a cohesive message.
Although there were many attempted sketches, I had to narrow it down and come up with a final drawing which became a story that I then had to create and put into being. I had many ideas about the scene and the story I wanted to promote; however, the ones that stuck with me the most were also the most realistic.
‘‘The story begins with two friends, Jack and Noah, taking a weekend off to explore nature. Their trip aims to unwind and have some relaxing time where they can look back on childhood memories, observe wildlife, and have a good time. Jack and Noah find a camping location where they set up their tent. They are looking to set up a fire and are trying to find some wood.
When they finally find enough wood to set a fire, Jack starts to build it for them as he has some practice since he always used to go camping with his father. Noah, not having much experience in this, decided to take a walk and do some exploring of his own. He came upon a river that he thought was beautiful, and so he began observing. As the water was beautifully clear, he could see the fishes, but as he was leaning too far, he stepped over a wetland which caused him to trip and fall into the river.
When they finally find enough wood to set a fire, Jack starts to build it for them as he has some practice since he always used to go camping with his father. Noah, not having much experience in this, decided to take a walk and do some exploring of his own. He came upon a river that he thought was beautiful, and so he began observing. As the water was beautifully clear, he could see the fishes, but as he was leaning too far, he stepped over a wetland which caused him to trip and fall into the river.
Noah is surprised as although the current of the water did not seem strong while looking at it, it was for sure dragging him down. Although he struggles, he manages to scream for Jack, who luckily overheard him at the camping location.
Although Jack ran as fast as he could, Noah was struggling in the water and was trying his hardest to keep on the surface, the current is dragging him down more and more, and he ultimately finds himself under the water.
Although Jack ran as fast as he could, Noah was struggling in the water and was trying his hardest to keep on the surface, the current is dragging him down more and more, and he ultimately finds himself under the water.
While under the water, Noah is panicked and is seriously fearful of the consequence that this might have. Luckily, Noah remembers a memory of his late father, who was keen on teaching him how to swim and always talked to Noah about the dangers of water. As Noah remembers his father doing this, he finds the last bit of strength to get on top of the surface, where Jack throws him a ring buoy.
Jack throws the ring buoy to Noah, and he latches onto it while Jack is trying to pull him back up. Noah is thankful to Jack for saving him, but he is also grateful to his father for taking the time to teach him how to swim.’’
Jack throws the ring buoy to Noah, and he latches onto it while Jack is trying to pull him back up. Noah is thankful to Jack for saving him, but he is also grateful to his father for taking the time to teach him how to swim.’’
The message “Learn young, have it for life” is meant to represent the goal of the Water Safety Awareness Campaign, which focuses on changing behaviours in children in a way that they understand the danger of water. This message can be further transmitted to future generations. Hopefully, it can save lives in the future. Hopefully, a consistent marketing campaign over the next few years will impact our primary goal, which is to reduce the number of drowning in Ireland to 0%.
For increased perception and attention-grabbing, the use of sounds can significantly impact the story, giving life to the moving images and telling the story more entertainingly.
For increased perception and attention-grabbing, the use of sounds can significantly impact the story, giving life to the moving images and telling the story more entertainingly.
Crafting and created more and more scenes until I felt the message was being transmitted throughout the animation. The field research helped me visualize a camping site where you can have a ring buoy near you. The news is trying to say to make sure you have a ring buoy around when camping near water. Field trips around Ireland inspired the forest and water details. The colours of the animation play an essential role, and it was also important to follow Water Safety Guidelines, so I had to introduce them into the story. I chose the colours of the characters, respectively Jack and Noah, to represent the colours of Water Safety Ireland.
As the colours need to relate to the story's emotional impact, they evolved as having close nuances of the authentic colours as they are in nature. Therefore, as a viewer, you can quickly identify what it represents.
As the colours need to relate to the story's emotional impact, they evolved as having close nuances of the authentic colours as they are in nature. Therefore, as a viewer, you can quickly identify what it represents.
The animation was created in Adobe After Effects, post vectorizing and illustrating the images in Adobe Illustrator. Animation movements in the scenes of the story were applied to improve the viewer's understanding in a short period of what the image is transmitting without having to dig deep into the images. That helps the transition between these multiple stories change promptly to have a cohesive representation in the end.
