Splash Entertainment has completed work on a heartfelt Public Service Announcement, set to run in the UK, which is designed to educate children and parents on organ donation. Titled The FAB Gift of Life, the spot was created in support of Believe: Organ Donation Support, a Welsh charity.
Anna-Louise Bates of Cardiff set up Believe after her husband Stuart and seven-year-old son Fraser were fatally struck by a car in December 2015. She has been working with Mike Young, himself a Welshman and CEO of Los Angeles-based Splash Entertainment (Norm of the North, Kulipari), to create an animated film to help spread the charity’s message.
The short film, scripted by Ms. Bates and voiced by two local Cardiff schoolchildren in both English and Welsh, will initially be screened in schools across Wales, with plans for a UK-wide campaign later this year. The charity’s aim is for The FAB Gift of Life to be made available as a teaching resource to all primary schools in Wales, in an attempt to destigmatize the subject of organ donation and get young children and their families talking about it.
The film carefully broaches the topic of how organ donation can save lives. In the case of young Fraser, his organs went on to save the lives of four people. The story is told through the animated version of the Believe charity mascot, “Fraser Bear” — the nickname Anna-Louise and her husband had given to their son.
Young, whose animation work has won several Emmy and BAFTA awards, flew to Cardiff from his home in Los Angeles to unveil the film on March 1.
“It was important that we create a film which both engages kids while also sending the message that organ donation can save lives,” said Young. “I know of no better way to reach kids and their parents than through a warm and friendly animated character. The fact that Fraser Bear is based on a young boy who passed away too soon makes this an especially personal project.”
