In many parts of India, the arrival of a baby girl isn’t a reason to celebrate. Their “unwanted” status stays with young girls through adulthood, often leading them to indentured servitude, prostitution, and even terrorism. So we leapt at the opportunity to partner with Nanhi Kali, a global nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of impoverished Indian girls. After all, it is too infrequently that we have a chance to use advertising as an agent for real social change, and not simply a tool for commerce.
When taking on such overwhelming social issues, traditional advertising is rarely the solution. We knew we had to do something different and unexpected, something that tells a story while making use of new media. Something altogether original. The result was Nanhi Kali’s “A Girl Story” (AGirlStory.org), the world’s first donation-based film series.
“A Girl Story” combines technology, film and storytelling to shed light on the global challenge of educating young girls, while giving people an opportunity to make a difference immediately. The animated, emotional story follows the path of a young Indian girl named Tarla who wants to go to school to better her life. Whether she succeeds, however, is completely up to you. Tarla’s story will progress only by audience donations that will unlock new chapters within the YouTube film series, just as each girl at Nanhi Kali depends on donors to progress in their education.
Within “A Girl Story,” Tarla faces many obstacles along her path toward an education: disapproving parents, social dogma, gender bias and financial hardships. Only viewers’ donations can help her overcome them. If you choose to donate, her story will seamlessly progress to the next film, and she’ll get one step closer to her dream. Otherwise, her story ends there, and just like in real life, she becomes stuck–yet another victim of her circumstances. To create a smooth, filmic quality, each YouTube video is programmed to allow Tarla to seamlessly transition from one frame to the next. Of course, StrawberryFrog also needed to ensure that people would return to the site and continue to participate, so Tarla is sending personal emails updating them on her progress and thanking them for their donations. Viewers are also invited to friend her on Facebook and read her tweets.
The pro-bono effort was creatively and technologically daunting and required the passion of each partner to make it happen. Everyone involved had a personal reason why they wanted to help, and used that to keep the project moving forward. We are proud of what we could accomplish working with our team and no budget.
As a Cultural Movement agency, StrawberryFrog is always looking for innovative ways of creating sustainable campaigns that people can belong to and share. Generating emotionally invested users is paramount to the success of “A Girl Story.” Because as proud as we are of this effort, it means nothing if we cannot inspire others to give and help change the lives of these amazing young girls.
Corinna Falusi and Josh Greenspan are creative directors at agency StrawberryFrog, New York. They were key members of the creative team on “A Girl Story.”
L.A. Location Lensing Declines In 2024 Despite Uptick In 4th Quarter
FilmLA, partner film office for the City and County of Los Angeles and other local jurisdictions, has issued an update regarding regional filming activity. Overall production in Greater Los Angeles increased 6.2 percent from October through December 2024 to 5,860 Shoot Days (SD) according to FilmLA’s latest report. Most production types tracked by FilmLA achieved gains in the fourth quarter, except for reality TV, which instead logged its ninth consecutive quarter of year-over-year decline.
The lift across all remaining categories came too late to rescue 2024 from the combined effects of runaway production, industry contraction and slower-than-hoped-for post- strike recovery. With just 23,480 SD filmed on-location in L.A. in 2024, overall annual production finished the year 5.6 percent below the prior year. That made 2024 the second least productive year observed by FilmLA; only 2020, disrupted by the global COVID-19 pandemic, saw lower levels of filming in area communities.
The continuing decline of reality TV production in Los Angeles was among the most disappointing developments of 2024. Down 45.7 percent for the fourth quarter (to 774 SD), the category also finished the year down 45.9 percent (to 3,905 SD), which placed
it 43.1 percent below its five-year category average.
The two brightest spots in FilmLA’s latest report appeared in the feature film and television drama categories. Feature film production increased 82.4 percent in the fourth quarter to 589 SD, a gain analysts attribute to independent film activity. The
California Film & Television Tax Credit Program also played a part, driving 19.2 percent of quarterly category activity. Overall, annual Feature production was up 18.8 percent in 2024, though the... Read More