Character Animation for Social Impact

The Mission: Protecting Children Through Animation
The Marist Center for the Defense of Childhood, in partnership with the city of Curitiba and other organizations, needed to create an educational campaign to empower children against sexual violence. The challenge was to communicate this incredibly sensitive and serious topic to a young audience (ages 4-12) in a way that was accessible, empowering, and not frightening. The campaign, “Defenda-se” (Defend Yourself), required a visual language that could clearly explain complex situations and encourage children to seek help.

Storytelling as a Shield: Creating an Empowering Narrative
Developed for the 2014 Brazilian World Cup, when Brazil was expecting a surge in international tourism and heightened concern for child safety, the project featured animated videos set in a friendly, sports-themed world with two teams: the “Defense Team” (children learning to protect themselves) and the “Attack Team” (characters representing predatory behavior). As the character animator, I brought these roles to life to convey emotion, teach key lessons, and empower children to say “no” and report abuse.

Bringing Characters to Life with Purpose
As the dedicated character animator for five of the videos in this series, I was responsible for translating the scripts and illustrations into fluid, expressive motion. The entire animation was executed in Adobe After Effects. Key aspects of the execution included:

• Character Animation: Rigging and animating all characters, focusing on creating clear, emotive performances that would resonate with children.

• Narrative Pacing: Timing the animation to align perfectly with the voiceover, ensuring the educational messages were delivered with maximum clarity and impact.

• Technical Efficiency: Leveraging After Effects expressions to streamline repetitive animation tasks, allowing more time to focus on the nuance of character performance and storytelling, all without the need for external plugins.