The purpose of the project was to create a series of short films to showcase the outstanding work of the BME leaders during the COVID19 pandemic and to highlight the programmes in place within the NHS to help more BME employees to progress up the career ladder. It was important that the films weren’t over-dramatised for heroism, from the beginning we wanted to be very clear that these people aren’t ‘angels’, or ‘heroes’, but instead, they are highly skilled and educated people doing their jobs to the very highest standards.
One of the biggest challenges with this project was COVID19. We had originally aimed to film the BME Leaders in person, but ever-changing COVID restrictions, and the November national lockdown, meant that this was no longer possible. Instead, the NHS trusted us to tell the leader’s stories in an engaging way using animation.
An absolute privileged to work with such a professional team at Studio Giggle and what an amazing job they did! So friendly and professional in equal measure, I am blown over by the phoenix they made from my ashes! our stories captured, hopefully as a catalyst to help other EM Leaders
Angela Knight Jackson- Deputy Director of Nursing Professional Development
We had Zoom calls with all of the leaders to discuss their stories. This helped us to get a better understanding of who they are and how we should animate them. The key to the success of the films was authenticity and that was the guiding principle for the entire creative. We worked closely with the contributor on their scripts to ensure that we hit all the key points and retained their own voice. The leaders then sent over photos from throughout their life and career. We then treated these images to build the animation. From here we could begin to create style frames and story boards to map out how we would effectively tell their story in a motivational way.
Once we had mapped out the animation, we had each of the leaders performer their own voice over based on the condensed script we had created. This added to the sense of authentication and identity that we wanted to create.
The animations are being used to promote the Florence Nightingale Foundation’s Ethnic Minority Leadership programme. The programme began in March 2020 in response to the COVID19 pandemic and saw a group of 22 ethnic minority nurses enrol and develop their career. Our 4 leaders, Angela Knight Jackson, Hannah Spencer, Jabu Chikore and Linda Chibuzor, were all part of this programme. Now the Florence Nightingale Foundation is able to use their stories to inspire and challenge other ethnic minority group leaders to come forward.
