Best Friends
Some 250 million children are currently forced to grow up in the midst of violence and conflict. These children need our help. War Child provides these children with vital protection, education and psychosocial support. War Child needs support in order to provide these services in the form of structural income from donors. War Child staged a TV special - “Jij&Ik" (You&Me) - in the summer of 2016 to boost our donor base. “Jij&Ik" was broadcast in primetime on Dutch TV channel NPO1 and produced in partnership with The EO. The bond between a parent and a child was a central theme of the show and a driver of donations. Boys and girls performed musical numbers with their parents and between the songs short films had to be broadcasted called Eye Openers. These Eye Openers had to recruit new Friends (donors) for War Child.
More than 1.2 million viewers watched the tv show “Jij&Ik” and the proceeds from the event enabled War Child to help some 6,500 conflict-affected children. During the periode de video was promoted on social media. The film Best Friends was also broadcast on TV. Social media activity allowed us to help an additional 150 conflict-affected children.
It's hard to describe how impactful this project has been. It was heartbreaking to see how bad the living conditions for children in refugee camps were. They often had no more clothes than the clothes they wore. There were no schools, no toys and toilets were a hole in the ground. And yet, despite all the misery, they were happy and optimistic. But that makes it all the more painful. On the other hand, it teaches us how strong children actually are and that they need all the help from us.
There was one big challenge with this assignment - if we are going to show the strength of children without resorting to dark, clichéd images, will we still touch the viewers’ hearts? If the Eye Opener is too positive, there is no urgency for viewers to become donors. Yet on the other hand, dark, distressing images of war - no matter how powerful - are no longer guaranteed to make a connection. Therefor each film depicts the ‘power of imagination’ that children draw upon when they are forced to live with war. Because it was difficult to imagine the situation of a child forced to live with war, experts from War Child who work with conflict-affected children were in close contact with the creative team. The creative team was able to draw on the experience of War Child experts to understand how children draw upon their imaginations. We deliberately chose to film on location in order to both obtain powerful footage and capture the tragedy of the situation. 'Batman' and 'Op Reis' were both shot in a Lebanese refugee camp at 15 km from the border with Syria. It was challenging for the film crew to shoot footage in such a context. Prior to departure, the crew received a comprehensive security training.
The brief behind the Eye Openers was to do away with the clichéd images of children as victims and instead highlight their strength and resilience. The brief was simple and short - to show the imagination of children forced to live with war. Children can use their imaginations to temporarily escape their misery - which is often the only option they have. Obviously this is not enough.
