Animation in Drugs Education

"Drugs Hurt" by Caught In The Act and Beds County Council

You will shortly be able to download a clip from Serious Blazin'.

Caught In The Act and Andi Whitwham of Bedfordshire County Council have been working together on and off since 2002. Andi has frequently commissioned Caught In The Act to deliver drama-based drugs education in Bedfordshire schools. This joint working has also resulted in the development of a new drugs and alcohol awareness project for Bedfordshire year 7 pupils, It's Your Go.

In 2005, Andi asked Caught In The Act to make a drugs education film based on Drugs Hurt, Bedfordshire's resource targeted at vulnerable young people in the region. The resource has been developed to link first aid knowledge to an understanding of the potential short-term impact of drug use. Jenny Dee (CITA's managing director) suggested that animated film would be a really successful vehicle for the project.

Having identified an animator (Kate Sullivan) and sound designer (Paul Dodgson), Caught In The Act has written and produced Serious Blazin' as a pilot project.

Young people are viewers of great-looking TV, films and electronic games. The quality of the graphics with which they interact is extremely high. There are many filmed drugs education videos that date quickly and are produced very cheaply. Young people are distinctly unimpressed by the look of these resources and struggle to engage with the content. By presenting funny and contemporary animated images matched with a sharp and accurate script, we can guarantee that this will be a drugs education project that will engage its highly critical audience. And, as every classroom has an interactive whiteboard in it, using Drugs Hurt will be a very straightforward process for teaching staff. Importantly, written resource materials already exist for Drugs Hurt, meaning that it offers a comprehensive project to support teachers in delivering drugs education.

Serious Blazin' is the first of five stories from Drugs Hurt. Tyrone will appear in all the films. He will function as the audience's mate, someone frequently on the outskirts and sometimes in the thick of drug use and its consequences.

Drugs Hurt will set a new standard in the production of drugs education materials aimed at vulnerable young people. The animated film and the resource pack will be suitable for all non-mainstream educational settings. Teacher training in both the use of the product and in drugs awareness will be provided to complement Drugs Hurt. Capturing the interest of vulnerable young people is key to the National Drugs Strategy and Drugs Hurt has the potential to do this in a highly cost effective manner.