Pantosaurus is a two minute short film that helps parents to teach their children about sexual abuse. It’s awfully like Dumb Ways to Die and there’s undoubtedly a good reason for that. DWTD was watched …and watched…and watched by people from ages 3 to 83.
The new animated film targets kids 4-8, and – really – has to also appeal to their parents, grandparents and teachers.
It’s the idea of OMD UK for children’s advocacy organisation, NSPCC and was produced by Aardman. Its song was written and recorded by Adelphoi.
Peter Wanless, chief executive officer of the NSPCC, stated, “We hope our new child-friendly and catchy animation will act as a conversation starter helping parents to address the topic of sexual abuse without using scary words or even mentioning sex.”
Heather Wright, executive producer at Aardman, creators of Pantosaurus (as well as much-loved characters like Morph, Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep) added, “Humour, animation and music are a great way of making it less awkward for parents and young children to talk about this very difficult subject. The song has definite ‘earworm’ potential and I’m sure children will find it funny and memorable which will in turn give them the language they need to use to protect themselves.”
The film’s music was written by one of Adelphoi’s in-house composing team, Ashley Bates, who produced, recorded and sang the song with his children at Adelphoi’s studios.
Adelphoi was briefed while the concept was still in development and was given directions as to what the character represented as well as the aims and goals of the campaign.
Bates commented, “This was a sensitive brief, so it was important that the melody and tone of the composition were both fun and informative. The brief we were presented with included guidelines and key points, as well as what keywords to use or avoid. There were important messages to get across that had to be interpreted in a child-friendly way. It’s a delicate subject and we had to lighten the tone of the message, whilst striking a fine balance between conveying its importance, without making it cringe-worthy or uncomfortable.
“Ultimately, the key goal was to make it fun, despite the importance of the message. The animation and song itself are intended to be inviting as well as a starting point for adults, parents and guardians to communicate with their children about the subject, so the focus wasn’t to convey the entire message, rather to draw in audiences and lead to them reading more about the guidelines on the NSPCC website.”
Bates added, “It isn’t an easy subject to address because it might be opening doors to something the children have never considered and they might be too young to be exposed to that concern, but it’s also important to address these in the interests of keeping them safe.”
Pantosaurus will be appearing in cinemas across the UK. OMD UK has also negotiated a deal with AOL to distribute the video, targeting parents on premium platforms.
The new film continues NSPCC’s Pants campaign, which has already helped over 400,000 parents talk to their children about sexual abuse since it launched three years ago.
Credits
Animation: Aardman
Director: Lucy Izzard
Producer: Jason Fletcher-Bartholomew
Production manager: Danny Gallagher
Storyboard / animatic: Rob Richards
Design: Lucy Izzard & Magda Osinska
Flash Animators: Charlie Miller, Andrew Fossey, Lucy Izzard
Compositors: Jon Biggins, Bram Ttwheam
Editor: Dan Hembery
Music Production: Adelphoi Music Ltd.
Composer: Ashley Bates
Producer: Max De Lucia
Media communications agency: OMD
