The Woods
A Film by Niamh

What is the Blue Sky Animation Project?

MAF’s Youth Steering Group, the MAF Champions, are a group of young people passionate about raising awareness of the support that MAF delivers. They thought an animated film was the best way to communicate the support MAF provides to young people. And so, this exciting animation project was born!
In January 2022, MAF started working with Glasgow Initiative of Facilitation & Therapy (GIFT), Growth Animation and Dr Javita Narang to support young people in developing an animation that shares their experiences of life before and after getting support from MAF. Art Director Sharon Caddie has worked with the project team to design and deliver the marketing campaign. The project would not have been possible without the support of The Paristaman Charity, which funded the project.

The Workshops

The young people were supported by a project team of animators, artists and therapists. Through a series of workshops, young people were given the opportunity to develop storylines through participating in guided meditations and other creative exercises. They had an introduction to animation, character development, storyboarding, post-production and composing soundscapes to create a final animation about their lived experiences.

The Animation

The Woods is the final animation created by the young people and was inspired by a poem written by one of the young people, Niamh, who went on to become the creative lead for the project. They wanted to create an animation to let young people know that help is out there and that although life might feel difficult and scary, there is hope.

The Moira Anderson Foundation would like to thank Niamh and all the other young people involved in the project. We’d also like to thank The Paristaman Charity, Glasgow Initiative of Facilitation & Therapy, Growth Animation, Dr Javita Narang and Sharon Caddie.