During the pandemic, the UK media reported heavily on the strife of the government and economy as the nation was plunged into subsequent lockdowns. But in the collateral of prioritising these adult matters, the media failed to consider the effect of the virus on the lives of the younger generation - seeing their experience as an afterthought.

 

In response to a brief referencing sustainability, we wanted to investigate how the pandemic influenced social sustainability in our communities, with a particular focus on lockdown-induced education within the home. Research illustrated that this, sometimes innovative, but oftentimes turbulent method of teaching conducted over the past year was unsustainable for a significant amount of children in the long run. We decided to focus our film on how we can learn from this experience and create a more sustainable education system for future generations, inside and outside of the home.

 

As an approach we chose traditional, cartridge paper/oil pastel/acrylic animation to emulate a child’s style, along with the benefit of blown up texture and a tactile feel; a laborious and time consuming approach that has paid off to give an alternative take on a marginalised experience. The animation takes place in a desolate void to further the feeling of isolation many children must have felt -  separated from their friends and normal life. This traditional and multimedia route allowed us to explore their sentiments in a visually distinct and unique style.