‘Tinninben Animation’ places spotlight on child abuse in Guyana

Mar 13, 2016 News

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By Kiana Wilburg

Sexual abuse of children is a well-known phenomenon and a grave issue in Guyana. But how can we teach children about the power and importance of disclosure when these things occur? How can we furnish them with the right tools and information, so they know how to deal with it, not after the crime is done, but before it happens?

Well, Chief Storyteller at Tinninben Animation and CEO of Tagman Media, Alex Graham has been working alongside a commendable team to do these very things with a compelling animated series called Nancy’s story.
NANCY’S STORY
Graham shared that Nancy’s Story was born out of an effort to extend the work that Tagman Media was doing under a programme that he and his team had developed called the TELL Scheme.
He said that back in 2010, just after the historic passage of the Sexual Offences Act (SOA), he and his team were contracted by the then Ministry of Labour Human Services and Social Security, with funding from UNICEF, to develop a communications strategy to educate the public about the new offences, and penalties under the Act.
Graham noted that it quickly became obvious that well designed, developed and produced Public Service Announcements were going to provide information to citizens, but would do precious little to really help victims and potential victims of sexual abuse.
He said, “As we studied this problem, we recognized that a major area of weakness was this thorny issue of disclosure. Most victims didn’t want to tell. We also recognized that so many victims were children. And so the ‘TELL Scheme’ was born. It is an interactive suite of tools designed to encourage disclosure among primary school aged children.”
The Tagman CEO continued, “But there were struggles with finding funding for the production of the materials, because they were not contemplated in the UNICEF Project and there were no available resources at the ministry.”
In the midst of that struggle, Graham said that he and his team were developing the animated feature because they recognized that broadcast could get them past some of the production and delivery problems associated with the printed and administered TELL Scheme materials.
Graham said that by this time the ministry called on the services of ChildLink, a local non-governmental organization which aims to create a society where every child has the right to grow up in a safe and secure family and community.
Graham asserted that ChildLink embraced the concept and went looking for funding from commercial sponsors and the British High Commission and succeeded. As a result, a multi-stakeholder partnership for the sake of Guyana’s children was born.
“I do not keep track but by now hundreds if not thousands of children in most regions of Guyana have been exposed to the TELL Scheme, and rates of disclosure among children keep rising. We acknowledge and thank ChildLink for the effort,” expressed Graham.

He added, “However, nothing pushed the envelope like the animated video Nancy’s Story. The power of animation to connect with children (and people of all ages) the almost unlimited repeated broadcasts by TV stations especially the Learning Channel and NCN made Nancy’s Story a household staple.”
Graham said that he believes the success of Nancy’s Story was based on a number of factors, one of which includes the obvious fact that it was an animated film. He opined that animated products are very popular with children and well-liked with many adults, especially those with children.
“Also, I believe it succeeded because it was bold – there was Uncle Brian in a bed with Nancy on national TV… I think that it succeeded, because it was relevant as well. The mounting cases of child sexual abuse gave everyone cause for concern. Also, Nancy’s Story was authentic. There was no attempt for it to be fake and it had light moments and a good song,” said the chief storyteller.
THE ANIMATION PROCESS
With regard to all the intricacies that went into the creation of Nancy’s Story, Graham explained that funding provided did not cover all of the costs and for the sequel of the film, there was no funding period.
He noted that other work was being done for the studio to survive while working on Nancy’s Story in between the breaks.
But Graham noted that while the end result is amazing to watch, animation itself is time consuming.
“We have to get our creative team together to develop a strong storyline. Sometimes that comes quickly or sometimes it may take several meetings over a period of time. Once we are satisfied with the storyline, the writers get down to the task of producing the script and the artists start working on developing the characters (in the sequel the new characters) and developing the scenes for the action,” he explained.
“When the script is settled and characters and scenes are drawn, the animators start a process called rigging which means adding the capacity for movement to the designed characters. While animators are rigging, another team is doing the voice casting and a first cut of the recorded voices become the base for the animation.”
The Chief storyteller said that sometimes, at this stage, a rough animation called an animatic is produced, so they can get the feel for how the product is going to look and sound. This gives them the opportunity to see how the story is working and what needs attention.
“Sometimes at this stage we bring in outside consultants to see how we treated various issues to make sure that all the elements work well…you know… educators, counselors, child protection specialists and whomever might be needed,” he expressed.
Graham said that when this is done, they get the final voices, the sound track and the like. He said that the final stage is the editing after all the animation is done. He noted that the voice recording and sound/music production is done at another studio.
THE SEQUEL: SEXUAL ABUSE OF BOYS
Recently, Tinninben Animation launched the sequel of Nancy’s story. This time, it was called, “Nancy’s Story: Boys Too.”
Graham explained that in this episode, one sees that Nancy has grown up a bit, is in a new school and making new friends. One of her new friends, a boy, Stephen, is the victim of grooming and sexual abuse at the hands of an older male relative.
The Chief storyteller said that Nancy, because of her own experience, is able to lead him to disclosure so that the abuse would stop.
The Tagman CEO said, “In this sequel, we get to expose grooming, an offence under the Sexual Offences Act 2010. We get to show the challenge some families face when they are split (for the sake of betterment), we get to break some stereotypes about offenders and important sub-plots show reference to the justice system at work and even the media as responsible. But we pushed the envelope on the sex scene.”
Graham said that he and his team had the challenge of ensuring that the message was pellucid and that the scenes were authentic so that victims could identify with them.
But, as with Nancy’s Story, they had to ensure that there was no vulgarity, that in the end it was a product for general audiences and allowed parents to guide their children through open discussions.
“In other words, we had to push the envelope but stay within the parameters that made Nancy’s Story succeed,” added Graham.
“We chose to tackle the issue of the adult male abuse of boys. This is a very difficult matter. This is a matter that is either not discussed or is discussed with some extremely ugly stereotypes – like the assumption by some that every gay man is necessarily a pedophile, just to name one.”
Graham asserted that the sequel is of great importance, because the issue of boys as victims of sexual abuse is swept further under the carpet than that of girls.
He noted that one statistic suggested that as many as one in six boys is the victim of some level of sexual abuse, just a little lower than one in four girls.
Graham intends to make more animated films about raising awareness about child abuse and also has future projects which will focus on other social ills.
He revealed that Nancy’s Story will have another installment this year that would both be placing the spotlight on dealing suicide and/or Trafficking In Persons.
Graham said that there are different products in various

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