Animation Students bring Protests to Life

11 February 2020

Greenham Women Everywhere is a research project to capture the stories from the peace-seeking movement of the Greenham Common women, protesting against nuclear weapons in the 1980's and 90's. Over 100 women were interviewed. Their actions still influence the shape of protests and feminist campaigns today.

Second year Animation & Visual Effects students were asked to capture aspects from these interviews and bring them to life through short animated films.

Student Dimana Bratanova explains the challenges she and the team faced in representing something they had not heard of previously: "As an all international group, it was especially challenging to understand the context of the time and place, but we researched the event carefully and gave our best to understand and capture the essence of this brave act. We combined authentic photos and interviews from the camp with an artistic approach, and we were delighted to find the Greenham women appreciated the final result."

Senior Lecturer, Kathy Nicholls, worked with the team to help them understand the situation, collaborate with the client and supported them in editing the final production. The strength of the animations warrants the pride she has in the teams,
"Doing it for real and working collaboratively with external clients to represent something so historically important in the evolution of feminism and peaceful protest is a real privilege." Said Kathy, "The teams did a wonderful job of showing the emotion and celebration of the women getting together in protest, combined with the powerful political atmosphere and threat from nuclear weapons."

Greenham Women Everywhere is a partnership project between Scary Little Girls Association and The Heroine Collective. Scary Little Girls is a feminist production hub with a passion for stories that are historically or culturally excluded, or usually told from one perspective only. They create jobs for women, cross-collaborating and skills sharing for the benefit of the artistic and wider community and are committed to the creative case for diversity. The Heroine Collective is an online UK publication dedicated to the heroic women, past and present, who have played a crucial part in creating positive cultural change in the world today.

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