Animating for kids

five top tips from Blue Zoo co-founder Adam shaw

1. Know your audience. This doesn’t mean dumbing down – get to know who will be watching and make decisions accordingly. Don’t simply get carried away with what you think is funny in the moment.

2. Turn the soundtrack off. If you can’t follow the story because it requires exposition coming from dialogue, then the visual narrative isn’t clear enough.

3. Character comes first. As entertaining as a big action event can be, the story should be driven by character. What journey have they been on and what have they learnt?

4. Focus. Every shot, you should know precisely what the audience will be focusing on – don’t let them be distracted. Every moment should have a reason and progress the story forward.

5. Be kind to your characters. Young children learn at an extraordinary rate, absorbing everything. Yes they need to be shown characters making bad decisions, but there should always be a consequence. Don’t use being mean as a way to get a quick laugh.