Alko.

Hodgson, Jonathan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7043-8396 (2009) Alko. [Film/Video]

Abstract

Alcohol abuse is a notoriously common problem in Scandinavia affecting not only the alcohol abusers, but also those living in close contact to them. Perhaps worst affected are the children of alcohol abusers. In 2008/9 I worked on an alcohol awareness campaign commissioned by Alko, the government-owned national alcoholic beverage retailing monopoly in Finland. The brief was to research ways of using drawn animation to raise awareness of the negative effect the behaviour of alcohol abusers was having on children.

Animation has been used by the NSPCC to inform audiences about child abuse. Here the approach taken was to combine conventional cartoon animation with live action drama. The animation for the Alko project took a more experimental approach, exploring calligraphic mark making as a means of expressing diverse emotional states.

I researched the work of a 20th century graphic artists who used expressive mark making to evoke of a variety of emotions from ranging from joy to horror. The differing approaches of these artists became a visual reference for the narrative development in two animated films. Each film depicts a parent and child playing together in what at first appears to be innocent play, but soon develops into a more disturbing scenario as the parent becomes increasingly inebriated. In each film there is a clear development in the graphic quality of the drawing, from simple semi abstract fluid curves changing to more aggressive and expressionistic mark making.

Both films were broadcast on Finnish television and shown at film festivals. The films were well received and were nominated for an award at the British Animation Awards.

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