By Steve Bland
Earlier this year No Brainer teamed up with one of Manchester’s brightest video and content agencies, Trunk, and the national charity, the National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS), to work on producing two aspirational videos designed to showcase the incredible talents of young people living in care.
Well, we are delighted to say that these two inspiring films, one animation and one film based on a poem written by a 16-year-old Preston youngster in care, have been revealed for the first time at an exclusive preview event at Liverpool’s oldest remaining cinema, the Woolton Picture House.
Delivered through Wirral-based NYAS’s “Digital Life Stories” project, the objective of the six-month campaign has been to encourage young people to learn a range of new skills and engage in a series of workshops on film-making and marketing.
No Brainer ran the marketing workshops while Adam Britton and the fantastic team at Trunk led the way on the video and technical side of the Big Lottery-funded project.
And we worked together on storyboarding sessions where the young people came up with the storylines, themes and concepts for the two films. We should also give a special mention to the support we received throughout from Jennie, Lara and Amy at Everton in the Community and Kriss Akabusi for starring in the film.
What they said!
Gary Jenkins, Director and co-founder of No Brainer said: “We were honoured to get the chance to work alongside a brilliant charity like NYAS – and some truly incredible young people – on this project.
“We ran sessions at Edge Hill University, Devon, South Wales and at our own office in Warrington and we have been blown away by the talent, enthusiasm and desire to learn shown by the young people we worked with.
“These films give you an insight into what these young people were going through at that particular time and we genuinely couldn’t be prouder of what they have achieved.
“We have also loved working alongside Adam and the team at Trunk. They really are some of the best people in the business at what they do and I’m sure it won’t be the last time we collaborate.”
Adam Britton, Managing Director of Trunk, added: “This was quite an unusual brief for an agency like ours but we have loved every second.
“Both No Brainer and ourselves wanted to make sure the young people were right at the heart of the project and had the chance to take the films in any direction they chose. The ideas and creativity shown by the young people along the way gave us plenty to work with and we have all loved the challenge of bringing it to life.”
NYAS, which supports vulnerable young people all over the country, has been working on the ‘Digital Life Stories’ project throughout 2017 and more than 30 young people have taken part in the process.
NYAS Chief Executive Rita Waters said: “We are so proud of what young people across the north west have achieved with Digital Life Stories. The finished films are better than we could ever have imagined and it’s an experience we hope many of them will cherish for the rest of their lives and use to inspire their future careers.
“But we couldn’t have done it without the help of No Brainer and Trunk. They have supported us from day one and gone above and beyond what we expected of them. Both teams have really thrown themselves into it and totally embraced what NYAS stands for.”
About NYAS
NYAS is a rights based charity which operates across England and Wales for children, young people and adults, providing them with advocacy and legal representation when important decisions are being made about them.
You can check out the films here but why not head over to the NYAS Facebook page – and tell us what you think!
https://youtu.be/uyB2bklmJ54
https://youtu.be/Bwxoxu-xqP8
