Starting With Women
Explainer Animation

Starting With Women is an explainer animation made with agency Burness for ARU, about women’s land rights in developing countries. I directed the film and handled illustration, storyboarding, motion design and 2D animation, working with a small team on script, additional design, character animation and sound. We also designed the logo and title artwork for the campaign.

Animated in After Effects, with Cinema 4D for the opening scene. Under a minute and a half, warm and illustrated, without a single chart.

The waving flag in the opening scene was simulated in Cinema 4D and composited into the 2D illustration, so it moves like real fabric while keeping the hand-drawn look.

Land rights and legal reform are abstract subjects, so instead of explaining policy the script follows the people affected and shows what changes when women are involved from the start. That keeps the film human while it carries a complex message.

The closing scenes translate the outcomes into everyday images rather than statistics: higher incomes, more food on the table, children in school.

Storyboard

The storyboard for the animation. During illustration and animation some shots shifted slightly.

Styleframes

Illustrated style frames designed for Starting With Women: palette, characters and level of detail, signed off before animation started.