2D Animated video on FORCED CONVERSION IN PAKISTAN

Our client, a small charity based in the UK, wanted us to develop an impactful and succinct video animation to shed light on the issues facing religious minorities in Pakistan.

We were provided with a script, which our in-house designers and content editors improved further to fit the theme of the 3-minute or so animation.

Owing to the difficult, sensitive and more-challenging-than-usual theme of the topic, it took our team some experimentation to come up with just the right icons, colours, and images to be integrated with the initially provided voiceover.

After multiple revisions and detailed feedback as well as encouragement from our client, we came up with the perfect animation to highlight a very important issue which is near and dear not only to the client’s heart but also ours. We deeply care about human rights and if it means bringing pressing issues to light through great animation, then so be it, we’re very glad to be a part of it!

The storyboard for this particular animation needed to be approached with great care. Luckily, our designers are very culturally sensitive, knowing exactly what kind of icons, graphics, and colours to use when working on a sensitive subject.

The end goal of the animation was to highlight key issues facing religious minorities, particularly the Christian communities in Pakistan, and how entire families (and not just their girls) were suffering at the hands of forced religious conversions and marriages.

• Every aspect of the design needed to scream out aloud: “Free the girls”, “Stop the injustice”, “Girls not brides”, or “End forced conversions and marriages”, for example.
• One of the first things we worked on fine-tuning were the fonts – these needed to be bold and prominent to draw attention to the key issues our client wanted to highlight. We also handpicked subtle yet thought-provoking background music to accompany the narrator, adding to the overall weight of the message, and inspiring the right actions in the target audience.
• The animation begins with the image of an oppressed and under-represented woman behind barbed wires, followed by headlines of Christian girls being kidnapped and then subjected to forced conversions and marriages. We immediately follow it up with some harrowing statistics in red to explain the magnitude of the situation.
• The next sequence of animations show how young women are abducted and forced to convert their faith, where clerics solemnize their marriage against their will.
• In the following slides, our designers skillfully explain how the Penal Code and Child Marriage Restraint Act is completely overlooked in Pakistan, with absolutely no consequences to offenders.
• Separation from their families is a common after effect of what unfolds after the first conversion and marriage, where the Police seem to idly stand by and do nothing or, in many cases, justify the acts committed by the perpetrator.
• From the abduction and forced marriage contract signing to reporting the matter to the local police to approaching the court of law, every bit of the situation is explained using clear fonts, icons and animation which truly strikes the right chord in the audience’s hearts – coercing them to take action by donating to our client’s cause.
• In addition to the separation from their families, these young women also experience sexual abuse and exploitation at the hands of their so-called “husbands” and “handlers”.
• In the final few seconds, our skillful animators and designers explain how forced conversions are affecting the Christian community on a whole – with many Christian families fearing their girl might be next. This can be seen toward the end of the animation with a mother worryingly clutching her daughter as the father looks on helplessly.
• The animation needed to end on a very strong and ever-lasting note, which is why we chose bold and prominent white fonts against a red background, with animated hands cropping up placards that read: “End forced conversions and marriages”, “Girls not brides”, and “CLAAS – Centre for Legal Aid Assistance & Settlement UK”.
• Perhaps the final slide says it all, urging the audience to put an end to Pakistan’s abusive forced conversions.
• Throughout the animation design process, our designers used Adobe Illustrator, Premier and After Effects to achieve the perfect feel, tone, and look to accompany the voiceover, and send an urgent, eye-opening message to the audience. In addition, the storyboard was also created using some of our own tried-and-tested in-house methods as well as tools.

• After multiple revisions and design amendments, our client was quite please with the overall look and feel of the animation.
• The animation encouraged Christian families residing in Pakistan and, in fact, in other parts of the world too, to reach out to our client’s charity, asking for the next steps in order to rid themselves of the menace.
• The client also saw donations coming in from all over the UK in greater numbers, and, much to their surprise, even from Pakistan and India – both nations where abductions and disappearances for religious conversions and forced marriages is an ongoing issue.

We were honoured that the client chose our design team to tackle this sensitive subject and have the opportunity to bring some very important facts to light. Hopefully, we played our part too in helping religious minorities find urgent relief from forced conversions and marriages.