Stronger Voices project | Millstream Productions

Spectra is a not-for-profit organisation that delivers free, peer-led health and wellbeing services across London with more than 30 years experience of supporting local communities.

The Stronger Voices project explores transgender people’s experiences of healthcare, housing and livelihoods across England, Scotland and Wales.

To help communicate the research findings in an accessible way, we were commissioned to create a three-minute animation that was emotive, informative and impactful.

How we helped

We were involved in the Stronger Voices project from the very beginning, working closely with Spectra / The Trans Learning Partnership to help shape the narrative and develop the initial concept. Through early collaborative meetings, we explored script and visual ideas together, refining them until we had a clear plan for the animation.

During the character design stage, we went through several rounds of development to ensure the characters reflected the diversity of the trans community in the UK. We also developed a visual style that echoed the handcrafted feel and brand colours of the wider research, while giving the animation its own distinctive identity.

As a character-led film, authentic voices were particularly important. We worked with the client to hold voice actor auditions exclusively within the trans community, helping to ensure the voices felt genuine while creating opportunities for trans people to benefit from the production process.

As well as the animation, we also produced a talking-heads style documentary detailing how the research itself was carried out, methods involved, and how the research was kept trans-led and ethical.

the backs of three animated characters looking into the distance

animated character looking at an ID card

A collaborative approach

The subject matter was deeply personal to both us and our client, and the energy, care and passion that went into every stage of the animation made it a particularly special project to work on.

From the very beginning, we developed the scenarios and the designs of the three main characters together, resulting in thoughtful and diverse representation. The character animation was another particular highlight, with careful attention paid to the acting and expression to ensure each character’s experiences were portrayed sensitively and authentically.

Knowing that the finished film was created through such close collaboration, and that it genuinely reflects the community it represents, is what makes this animation feel especially meaningful to us

The impact

Drawing on our own connections to the trans community, we brought a genuine and informed perspective to the project, helping to communicate the experiences behind the research in a way that feels personal and human.

The result is an animation that acknowledges the difficult realities highlighted by the research while ending on an uplifting note, celebrating the strength of the trans community and its ability to persevere and thrive together.

We also produced three social cuts for use across social media, as well as the film documentary involving members of the research team.

5,000+

Video views

I highly recommend Millstream to anyone looking to have a short video or animation made. This was the first time we had shared our work via videos and animations rather than just written reports. They really helped bring our ideas to life just from some initial rough ideas and created a really high-quality animation that communicated what we needed in a way that people could really connect to. They were very easy to talk to and really helpful throughout the process. The video team was also amazing to work with and really helped the people we were interviewing feel comfortable and relaxed.

Kirrin M.

Trans Strategy & Services Lead & Trans Learning Partnership Manager

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