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Company: Back 2 Front Animation Ltd
Project: Talking With Hands

http://www.talkingwithhands.org.uk

Dates: Jul 2007 to Feb 2008

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How did the project start?

Talking With Hands is a charity that provides access to the cinema for deaf and hard of hearing children. Their mission is to provide total communication and understanding for all, by working with cinemas and museums to provide a hearing interpreter to sign a film with British Sign Language and subtitles. They also run youth workshops which allows children of all hearing abilities to integrate and learn subjects which they may not do normally, from Animation, African Drumming, Sculpture, Chinese and British Sign Language.
They first approached us to revamp their old website, to make it more fun, colourful, child friendly and accessible for all ages. They where clear that they wanted a mascot figure for the children to relate to, and for that mascot to spread the message of the work they where doing- which in turn lead to an animated movie of that mascot using sign language and subtitles to let everyone understand the work they where carrying out.

What options did you consider?

The clients where very impressed with our past 3D animation character designs, it was just a case of finding the right character to represent them.

What help and expertise did you receive?

We received lots of help from the actual users of the site-the children themselves. From workshops we did with them, they decided they wanted an animal, a lion - and that animal was a strong and confident figure. Like the Deaf Community itself.

Did you face any challenges or learn any lessons?

The biggest challenge as none signers, has been replicating a British Sign Language
interpreter's movements into animation. Hand movements are so quick and have to be exact. We had lots of fantastic feedback from the children and respected leaders in the Deaf Community such as Clive Mason, praising the animation and how clear it was. This was a fantastic achievement for us. Our biggest fear was that no-one would be able to understand the movements, besides a few comments that the younger children found it a little too fast, which we corrected, we had a successful animated character signing a message that everyone can understand.

What are the outcomes and how has it improved your business?

We have an increased awareness of the deaf community. The success of Talking With Hands has led us to work with some fantastic Deaf and Hard of hearing schools around the UK and we learn new things with each visit.

What are your plans for the future?

Talking with Hands continues to grow with more children joining the Youth group. The woman in charge, Rose-Ann O'Malley has just been awarded an MBE for her services to Deaf People. We continue to work with Talking with Hands and the children to update and develop their website. In the future we have plans to do the first animated feature film with the mascot again signing and using subtitles.