Local entity aims at impactful storytelling through animation

May 29, 2016 News

---

Impactful storytelling coated in a spoonful of honey. This is essentially what makes animated videos so

irresistible, compelling, and powerful. It brings to life visions and ideas, with the end result being ‘edutainment’.

Taking the lead in a budding, but constantly growing industry in Guyana is Alex Graham, Chief Storyteller at Tinninben Animation and CEO of Tagman Media.
With Tinninben, Graham says that he and his team aim to tell stories that are close to Guyana’s culture, traditions, and challenges, in order to entertain, educate and, most importantly, transform.
He admits that storytellers in the animation world face a number of hindrances such as shortage of skills, and the jarring reality that there really isn’t an enabling environment for the creative industry to really thrive.
But no hurdle is going to stand in his way of ensuring that Tinninben achieves its goals.
In an interview with Kaieteur News, Graham provided some insight as to how Tinninben all got started.
Graham said that back in 2010, just after the historic passage of the Sexual Offences Act, 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.
He said 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.
As the Tinninben team studied this problem, they quickly recognized that a major area of weakness was the thorny issue of disclosure.
“We also recognized that so many victims were children. And the TELL Scheme was born, an interactive suite of tools designed to encourage disclosure among primary school aged children. 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, we were developing an animated feature, because we recognised that broadcast could get us past some of the production and delivery problems associated with the printed and administered TELL Scheme materials,” Graham noted.
He continued, “By this time the ministry called on the services of ChildLink. ChildLink embraced the concept and went looking for funding from commercial sponsors and the British High Commission, and succeeded. And a multi-stakeholder partnership for the sake of Guyana’s children was born.”
Graham 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) and the almost unlimited repeated broadcasts by TV stations made Nancy’s Story a household staple.”
Graham expressed that a new project was next in line. He said that he and his team chose to tackle the issue of the adult male abuse of young boys.
He said, “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. We had the challenge to ensure that our message was very clear.”
“We had to ensure that the scenes were authentic so that victims could identify with them but, as with Nancy’s Story which tells of a girl who was abused by a relative, we had to ensure that there was no vulgarity. We had to ensure that the product remains one 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.”
Graham recently revealed that Tinninben Animation and E-Networks have recently collaborated to produce Guyana’s first episodic animated television series, called Nancy’s School Daze which will be premiered on the E1 Channel in September 2016. This announcement was made during the first night of GuyExpo 2016.
Nancy’s School Daze seeks to draw on the success and critical acclaim of Nancy’s Story, and the recently released Nancy’s Story – Boys Too, to build a character that continues to connect with children and youth to help them through the ‘daze’ of growing up and learning life in both its beauty and often ugliness.
Explaining the plot for the upcoming animated series, Graham said that in Nancy’s School Daze, Nancy and her classmates are drawn into a conflict with a school gang comprising mostly of older students.
He said that Nancy uses her wit and brilliance to help her friends stay one step ahead of trouble and be successful at their school work.
Graham said that along the way they will confront the personal struggles of adolescence, the group struggles of teamwork and leadership, and the ugly social issues of peer-pressure, bullying, violence, abuse, and others.
Graham noted however that animation is quite a costly venture. Asked to say if he has approached the Government for support on his most recent project, the storyteller said, “There have been a lot of conversations, but very little has come to the industry from the government over the years. For most of us, we have had to find ways to monetize our products from the outset or not do them at all.”
He added, “These are purely private sector initiatives. In the case of our relationship with E-Networks, we have a very interesting approach, E-Networks is committed to developing local content of all types and genres and we want to get our products out there. So we have a revenue neutral arrangement to start with. Don’t even let’s talk about costs. In the real world, animation cost as low as US$50 per second to US$2,000 per second, we’re somewhere in between there.”
Graham also noted that the availability of funds is one of the hardest parts about being in the business. He said that it’s difficult to get the traditional financial institutions here to understand and support the creative industry. He said that the result is that “you have to drain other revenue streams in your business” to support the development of animation. Graham added, “So every day we are attempting to do quality animation on a shoestring budget.”
In spite of the challenges he has encountered, Graham maintains that animation holds great potential for boasting Guyana’s growth.
“Through this medium, we can preserve culture, we can record it, and we may even be able to shape it.” In this regard, he even revealed that the very name of the animation studio is representative of Guyana’s culture.
Graham intimated, “The name ‘Tinninben’ is homage to our storytelling traditions. We, Tinninben Animation, are story tellers. We are among the inheritors of the great storytelling traditions of West Africa, brought to this region of the world by slaves. The history, crafts, and culture of a people were preserved in storytelling and by the same means, a new generation was educated.
“In Guyana, at the end of a story, the storyteller would say ‘and the tinnin ben(d) and the story end.’ An aluminium can, like those that contain food products, was called a ‘tinnin’. We are not sure what is the connection between the ‘tinnin’ and the end of the story, but being faithful to the storytelling tradition we inherited, we celebrate the end of a good story in our name.”
In terms of revenue generation, Graham said that the animation industry was valued at being over US$22B in 2013 and has grown considerably since. He said that the cultural and creative industries overall is much larger.
He posited that Guyana must work on its business model, develop its content, and nurture an effective talent pool.
Graham said that while the riches of the international animation world are beyond the reach of small studios locally, there is a large opportunity for the Government to provide the platform and the needed tools to support those passionate about taking the sector to unforeseen heights.

---

---