SUPERDOODLE X KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN LAUNCH

BEYOUROWN are excited to have this Kickstarter project live on our platform. Meet Katy Ross and who’s going to tell you about her new film… ‘Big Up My Boobs’, which is an animation about breastfeeding that she is hoping to raise £15,000 for. Be prepared to be mind-blown (exactly the response we are hoping for) so much so that it leads you to the donation click through button.

Katy’s story

I became a mum in 2016 and the whole process of being a mum – pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding… has completely wowed me. I’ve fallen in love with my amazing body and what it can do!

The more I’ve learnt about breastfeeding, the more passionate I’ve become. Did you know that the World Health Organization recommend babies have breast milk for six months and then, alongside eating solid food, breastfeeding should continue to form part of a baby’s diet up to two years of age? Buuuut, Unicef say that continuation rates in the UK remain among the lowest worldwide; only one out of three babies in the UK are being breastfed at six months, with only 1 in 200 women breastfeeding their children after they reach their first birthday.

When my son was born I had no idea how to breastfeed, how long I should do it for, how often to do it… I sometimes felt lonely while I was breastfeeding throughout the night, I was nervous about breastfeeding in public and there were times when I wasn’t sure if my baby was getting enough milk. It was a whole new world to me! Unfortunately there is a lot of incorrect advice/hearsay and stigma surrounding breastfeeding, and it can be quite stressful as a new mother to know what’s what. This animation won’t be advising people what to do, but will address some of these common mum-feelings and show some typical (funny) breastfeeding scenarios – the more we see of the reality of breastfeeding the better.

There are four different verses to the song which will feature four different characters, each mum having a different ‘story’ to tell. There’s bits about latching and position difficulties, pain, feeding in public, and one mum talks about being stuck at home in the same old chair while her friends go out to the pub!

Everyone on the project is excited to be involved, and we’ve already started preproduction. However, an animation is time-consuming and expensive. We don’t want to compromise on quality or take years to finish, so to make this short film possible we have turned to Kickstarter to raise the funds needed to start production.

The video is an extra push towards normalising breastfeeding. I’d like to let mums know that they’re not alone – they’re not the only ones who have sore nips, are feeling lonely and haven’t had time for a shower today.

It’s to remind people that boobs have a primary function of feeding children, not just for motorboating, although that’s ok too if you’re into that kind of thing.

The video is a bit of light relief for parents – they can laugh and relate to the madness of looking after a tiny human.

It’s also there to celebrate the beauty of breastfeeding, and give mums a sense of achievement. They’re doing something amazing.

Helping to normalise breastfeeding will hopefully encourage new mums to try breastfeeding, and to talk about it with others. It can also help mums to be less afraid of feeding around others and in public. And, ideally, all of this will in turn have an increase in statistics for more women breastfeeding, and for longer.

World Breastfeeding Week is 1st-7th August which will be an excellent time to share the video, so we aim to have the video complete, shiny and polished, and ready to go by the end of summer.

The more women that feel comfortable with breastfeeding, and the more it becomes normal, the better. Health benefits for children (and mothers) means less of a strain on the NHS too. Human milk boosts a baby’s immune system big time (helping baby fight viral, bacterial, and parasitic infections) and it can reduce baby’s risk of disease later in life, including: Type I and II diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, Crohn’s disease, asthma, eczema… the list goes on. Breastfed infants are at lower risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). And for mum, breastfeeding reduces the risk of ovarian and breast cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis. The longer she breastfeeds, the higher the benefit.

Although my actual real name is Katy, some people know me as Gobblynne. I’ve been working as an animator for the past 13 years and made award-winning short films and advertisements. Over 25 million of you have watched my RSA animation “The Power Of Empathy”, spoken by the amazing Brene Brown… but if you haven’t please take a couple of minutes to see the kind of animation I create:

I illustrate each drawing by hand, pen on paper, and then scan my illustrations and clean and colour them on my computer. A typical animation runs at a frame rate of 24 frames per second, which means there are 24 still images in a single second of animation footage.

I have recently opened a little creative company in Bristol in the UK called Superdoodle. We work with a community of carefully selected and trusted artists and experts – animation whizz-kids, expert writers and super sound designers – so when we need a special skill brought in on a project we know exactly who to call.

As this is a small project where we’re trying to keep budgets low, we’re going to keep the team small. I have already written the lyrics for the song – so the script is complete. We have a music producer on board. We will need to hire singers and record them in a recording studio. And I will design and animate the video, and will hire another animator to help with the hard graft!

Writers:
Katy Ross (www.superdoodle.co), Lucy Izzard (www.lucyizzard.co.uk), Luke Escombe (www.lukeescombe.com) and Tim Davis (www.timdavis.me)

Music writers/producers:
Laura Izzard (www.lauraizzard.co.uk) Laura is a composer and sound designer working in animation, gaming, and new media.
Michael McGlynn (www.viennapeople.com) Vienna People is a record label and recording studio. Michael has an ARIA nomination for hip hop.

Actually, if working at normal rates, a 2-3 minute long animation would cost more than this (in the commercial world, a LOT more). We have music producers, animators, and singers all working on this project, and we also need to book time at a recording studio. There’s a lot involved. Thankfully, I have spoken to people who are willing to lower their rates as they’re really keen to support the project.

I went through a very heavy thinking stage when working out how to fund this project. For a long while, I was adamant that I didn’t want to ask people for money, and didn’t feel like I deserved to be paid for my own passion project. At first, I pursued sponsorship from the business world, and the project did receive its fair share of interest – but then I decided that I wanted to keep the project independent, free from any advertising. It’s a project that’s close to my heart, and important I think.

After speaking to a few breastfeeding advocates here in Bristol and talking about the project in the breastfeeding community, I realised that it’s not just me that thinks bringing awareness to breastfeeding is important – people want to talk about it. So I feel confident and justified that I can bring this special project to Kickstarter!

The aim is to raise £15,000. This covers:

£1,000 Hire and record 5x singers
£3,000 Music writers/producers
£8,000 Designer and animator/s (including materials)
£750 Kickstarter fee (5% of total funds raised)
£450+ Payment processing fees (3% + £0.20 per pledge or pledges under £10 have a discounted micropledge fee of 5% + £0.05 per pledge)
£1,800 Rewards and postage

Any money we raise in excess of our goal will:

• Be used to promote the video, including fees to enter film festivals around the world (and subsequently giving it more exposure)
• Be extra payment for the artists involved.
• Add subtitles in different languages.
• Create a book, as a physical version of the song lyrics and illustrations – a perfect pressie for your pregnant pals!

I’m totally pumped about this idea (excuse the pun) and would be over the moon if you decided to help support the animation development. The greatest thing you get from helping the project come to life is that you are part of a movement to help normalise breastfeeding. You are helping mums laugh, and feel awesome and proud of themselves.

On top of that badass feeling of achievement, each pledger will receive access to a secret behind-the-scenes blog, a link to the finished film, AND there’s also a list of rewards, to say thank you for pledging.

All backers of the “Did you say tea?” goodie bag will have a choice of two different Tshirt designs:

Almost every reward includes three 38mm (1 1/2 inch) full-colour button badges on a printed card backer. Designs include “Badass Mum”, “Big Up My Boobs” and “Don’t Hate, Lactate”.

If you don’t need rewards, you can simply become a LEGEND, needing no more reward than to see your pledge go one hundred percent toward making this film a reality!