Tattoos on David Beckham’s body come to life, depicting scenes of violence against children in this UNICEF PSA “Violence Marks Forever.” While Beckham’s actual tattoos were chosen to represent happy or important memories, the tattoos created for this commercial show memories of another variety–ones that leave long lasting scars on their young victims.
Animation and production studio BlindPig, sister company of Absolute Post in London, creatively executed this new :60. The animation illustrates all-too-common forms of violence that boys and girls endure in spaces where they should be safe–their homes, schools, online and in their communities.
Phil Oldham, creative director of Absolute, said, “It was important for us to not hold back, and expose the horrific realities of violence against children. The tattoos were designed to tell these stories and yet remain honest to both classic and contemporary tattoo designs.”
Director Jonas McQuiggin commented, “It’s different from most campaigns in the fact that it lets the stories come to the forefront, instead of the celebrity. In the film, David’s body becomes a canvas to highlight the issue of violence against children and deliver the campaign’s powerful message; violence against children marks them forever. To me, the final product speaks for itself. It’s a remarkable example of how powerful and compelling stories can be communicated in a non-conventional way.”
BlindPig was approached by UNICEF directly and tasked with writing a script based on four case studies, and fully executing the campaign.
BlindPig’s Tom Cardo-Moreno, who handled lead design and animation on the :60, shared, “Throughout the process we just kept pushing the idea, watching it back and thinking it was quite harsh–but each time realizing we had to tell these stories in this way because, shockingly, this is the reality for many children. The guys at UNICEF were really receptive to our ideas and an absolute pleasure to work with. Everyone is delighted with the final outcome.”
Starting from scratch with the illustrations, the BlindPig team spent a lot of time sketching the designs and developing the script, ensuring that everything had been simplified to an extent that the story came across in the four images. The shoot was carried out at Duke Island Studios, with sound design by BlindPig and editing at Absolute Post.
Kirsty Murray, sr. producer at Absolute Post, commented: “When it came to writing the script, there were four of us sat in the room challenging each other and pushing the concept as far as we could. It was imperative for the designs to tell the story before they were animated. We primarily filled the blank patches on David’s skin, but with interlinking shots we felt we needed to add a little bit of subtle animation with the teardrop and the bird.”
