Behind the Scenes:
Bringing Stories to Life

Yasmin Godo

Getting the call to work on the “Only Human” series with Cambridge University & RSA Films was truly a breath of fresh air, coming directly off the back of my Channel4 Random Acts short “(Un)fit To Work” centring narrative tropes about Disabilities and how this affects (fictional) people within a work setting, loosely based on lived experiences of real people with in/visible disabilities. It felt very fitting for my next body of work to concentrate on the actual anecdotal experiences of Brenda Poku – a Social Sciences researcher living with Sickle Cell and this has affected and inspired her work, through the lens of a talking-head Documentary piece.

This Observational Documentary created a very raw and honest dialogue as to the lived experiences on the stigma of living with a chronic illness, the pain crisis and overwhelm this can cause, when institutionalised prejudices impact something as small as the urgency in medical health practitioners providing pain relief. Getting to grips with Brenda’s story was to want to amplify the voices of the many like her, who have had to suffer in silence without a means to share their testimony of what needs to be changed, how this can be implemented and a willingness to be vulnerable in her openness regarding all of the above.

Combining the vision I had for these films with the incredible work of Nathan Addai (Part 1: Health & Connection to Genetics) Don Dada Studio (Part 2: Fairness & Justice) and Toby Cato (Part 3: Searching for Sorry) marrying together their respective style of Animation with the overall themes discussed in each film, was such an enjoyable task. Pieced together with the work from our amazing crew. Each bringing their own creative flair to the respective excerpts, carved out from the dictated oral retelling of Brenda’s journey. Storyboarding and fleshing out their own take on what Brenda has seen and felt, to give the audience a deeper glimpse into what it is to experience a day in the life of a Sickle Cell warrior.

You can find out more about my work here: https://linktr.ee/yazzypresents

Don Dada

At Don Dada Studio, we had the privilege of being part of Only Human, a film project aimed at raising awareness about Sickle Cell Disease through the story of Brenda Agyeiwaa Poku. The film highlights her experiences with racism, marginalization, and her unwavering strength to support her community.

Our focus was to capture the tone of innocence and vulnerability central to the film. Through numerous concept iterations, we worked diligently to do justice to Brenda’s powerful story. This project is especially close to our hearts at Don Dada Studio, as Sickle Cell Disease deeply impacts our friends, family, and community. We hope that the film serves as a vehicle to encourage better genetic treatment for the disease and inspire greater compassion from healthcare practitioners for those affected.

Nathan Addai

It was an honour for me to be offered the opportunity to animate for this ‘Only Human’ project in the Summer of 2023. At the time my main creative focus was – and still is – authentically portraying and empowering the black diaspora through animation. Hence, to be a young black animator looking to build a portfolio of work true to my cultural heritage and lived experiences as a ‘minority’, this project was a Godsend!

It was my BFI-awarded, BBC-commissioned animated short Mental Roots that was discovered by RSA Films, which led to their invitation for collaboration. Whilst that animation was created and awaiting release (2020-2021), Mental Roots also birthed a multimedia brand with the same name, which delivers further works of animation, podcasting and more to creatively represent and engage black people in addressing issues affecting their mental health, wellbeing and identity. With this ‘Only Human’ project fitting thematically with the focus of Mental Roots, it made sense for me to make this project a client-based animation under the brand.

RSA Films believed my signature hand drawn, digital 2D style utilised in Mental Roots would lend itself well to conveying Brenda’s Ghanaian roots and perception of Sickle Cell within her family and community growing up. My illustrative style was utilised to convey her childhood, and the first-person perspective (another stylistic choice borrowed from the Mental Roots animation). Prior to starting my production, I was invited to the shooting day for the live action elements, in the RSA Studio in London. This gave me great perspective of the scale of the project, as well as a a golden opportunity to connect in person with Yasmin the Director, the other two animators and the hard-working film and production crew. It was an honour to meet the star of the project, Brenda Poku – I introduced myself as a fellow Ghanaian who was excited to hear her story more and animate some elements of her journey with Sickle Cell. Overall, this day grounded the whole project in a sense of warmth and humanity which inspired my creative process…

In my character and scene design, it made sense to include Ghanaian art and Kente cloth textures, to give my animation a raw, organic feel. It was an opportunity to celebrate my Ghanaian roots as well, as I literally scanned some of my Ghanaian clothing to use as textures for the sky, ground and other elements in the animated scenes. The repeated imagery of the sickle cells as ‘seeds’ growing into ‘family trees’ was used as a strong motif representing the acceptance of Sickle Cell in hers and others’ families, and how the condition unites her community. The most fulfilling part of my creative process though was attempting visual effects and overlays I had never tried before. I always aim to try something new with each project. In this case, it was the roto brush affect in Adobe After Effects, to allow animated layers to be sandwiched in-between Brenda and the studio backgrounds. This did require frequent communication with Yasmin and the video production team, in terms of requesting which specific time segments of colour-graded footage I needed sent back to me, to add animated overlays and send back to them! Though the result of this experimentation is far from perfect in my view, it adds a unique charm to Part 1 that illustrates how much Brenda’s upbringing and condition is ‘engrained’ in her.

I find Brenda’s story and message hugely inspiring. I hope our efforts as a collective team of diverse creatives helps spark real change in how people and communities with Sickle Cell are seen, and in turn treated. Considering my busy schedule at the time balancing this project with a full-time job, I am proud of the outcome and who I became in the process. It has definitely sparked inspiration for more animated content and projects under the Mental Roots brand, that highlight multi-ethnic experiences of wellbeing and mental health.

To follow Mental Roots’ journey and find out more about what we do (including creative school workshops), check out our website: mentalroots.org. My general portfolio of animation and design is available at animnathan.co.uk

Using documentary film as a tool to not only explore complex emotional and moral questions but also to socialise those discussions beyond the rooms in which they happen.

For a week in September 2022, 21 people with personal experience of genetic disease travelled from across the UK to the Wellcome Genome Campus near Cambridge to sit as members of the UK Citizens Jury on Genome Editing. The jury members were selected to broadly reflect the demographic make-up of patients who are eligible to use genomic medicine services and genetic counselling in the NHS. To our knowledge this was the first time a citizens’ jury has been convened on this topic in the UK.

Given the magnitude of the question asked of the jurors and the significance of this being not only the first jury on this topic, but also the fact that every juror has lived experience of genetic disease, it was decided from early on in the design process that the entire jury would be captured on camera to create a documentary film of the process. The end product, titled In Our Lifetime, not only succinctly captures the format and process of the jury process, it also captures the thoughts and feelings of the jurors and experts over the course of the week. Produced as a collaboration between Wellcome Connecting Science, film director Mark Downes and Cambridge production company Lambda Films, the film had a cinema premiere on 20 September 2023 which brought most of the jurors back together along with scientists, policy makers and other thought leaders, and has also been selected to four international film festivals to date.

According to director Mark Downes: “The film seeks to explore these complex themes [around human embryo editing] through storytelling. I want to engage audiences in a conversation about the moral and ethical boundaries of gene editing of embryos with CRISPR. I want to present the science accurately while also delving into the personal and emotional aspects of gene editing. I want viewers to empathize with the families facing these life-altering decisions, to grapple with the moral quandaries that scientists and policymakers confront, and to consider the broader societal implications of this powerful technology. Ultimately, my hope is that my film will contribute to a more informed and thoughtful public discourse on the subject of gene editing. It’s a conversation that will shape the future of humanity, and I believe that through the medium of film, we can both inform and inspire positive change, all while respecting the complexity of the issue at hand.”

Mark Downes is the Director and Chief StoryTeller at Green Eyed Monster Films– sustainable films sustainably made; and our talented production partner is Alex Morris, Creative Director at Cambridge production company Lambda Films.