Client
UNICEF
Category
Video
Animation
Campaign
Deliverables
Video
Child marriage in South Sudan: Real-life stories shared through animation
Background
More than 52% of girls in South Sudan are married before they turn 18.
In early 2024, Rooftop partnered with UNICEF’s South Sudan country office to help bring national and global attention to the issue of child marriage in South Sudan.
UNICEF requested a diverse campaign that included two animated videos as well as a music video and a mini-documentary, each showcasing a different aspect of Child Marriage, and aimed at a variety of target audiences. The goal of the campaign was to shine a spotlight on the harrowing impact of child marriage on women, and challenge the social norms that promote child marriage in South Sudan.
Challenge
Gathering women’s real-life stories while protecting their identity.
Our team spent 12 days in South Sudan where we partnered with UNICEF and their young reporter youth group.
The challenge was to find a way to share women’s stories without revealing their identities. We also needed to tell them in a way that would captivate audiences who may be ‘tired’ of the message, or feel overwhelmed by the gravity of the message.
We worked together to develop a strategy that would resonate with the target audiences in the region. The campaign included six videos, as well as multiple cutdowns for social media, several radio clips and high-quality photographs.
Rooftop believes in the power of on-the-ground research and observation. The team gathered creative inspiration from their surroundings including the environment and landscape, cultural clothing and even the sights and sounds of the community around them.
Solution
Raw, emotive animations that shine a spotlight on women’s reality.
UNICEF South Sudan provided us with a number of case studies from their archives. To ensure the identities of the women were protected, Rooftop developed two animation videos based on their stories. The unrestricted nature of animation helped give our team the freedom they needed to create raw, emotive scenes that resonate with a wide range of audiences.
The first animation, titled ‘Mary’s Story’, is based on the real-life experiences of two from women in South Sudan. Our artists, animators, and composers wove together traditional frame-by-frame and digital 2D animations to bring the firsthand accounts of child brides to life.
In the video, we see a young woman standing amongst a herd of cattle, asking herself: “Is this what my future is worth?”
We see how Mary’s childhood dreams were taken from her when she was forced to marry at age 13, giving birth to her first child at 14. Her only hope today is that her daughter will have a better future than her own.
The entire animation was completed within a tight 25-day deadline.
The 3D animation project was also inspired by the real-life experiences of young girls in South Sudan.
For this video, the creative team took a unique approach, excluding dialogue completely. This allows a wide range of audiences to be completely immersed in the story through visuals, sound effects and soundtrack. The Rooftop team used motion capture to drive the realistic movements of the characters and to create a sense of connection with the audience.
The video begins by creating an immediate sense of urgency, showing a young girl running for her life… being pursued by armed men. When she’s captured, we see her dreams of education and a better life fade, and she’s forced to become the wife of one of her captors.
Both videos capture the reality that thousands of young women in South Sudan face every day.
The Result
The campaign was launched on World Children’s Day, 20 November 2023. The documentary, music video and animations have been rolled out over several weeks. The videos will be promoted nationally in South Sudan as well as globally.
For more information on the music video and documentary, click here. Both highlight different viewpoints, including those of parents, healthcare workers, community chiefs, government members, and individuals affected by child marriage.
According to UNICEF, the campaign is already helping to spark valuable conversations around the social norms that support child marriage in the region.
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