Jabu Events is an end to end event management company based in Bangkok now producing hybrid events in Bangkok and Phuket. We are proud to have produced this animation film for UN ESCAP’s Hybrid event in Bangkok, Thailand. Contact Us if you would like to know more about producing a Hybrid Event in Bangkok, Phuket or other parts of Thailand.

At the end of last year, we met with officials at the UNESCAP office in Bangkok for their annual event, The UNESCAP’s Asia Pac Forum on Sustainable Development.  This event is organized to discuss current progress and the way forward on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) made by countries from the Asia-Pac region. The UN has set forth 17 goals to be achieved by 2030 which are a roadmap to make this planet a better place. 

As part of this UN event, 3 short films needed to be produced. These were to be shown to attendees such as various heads of state, ambassadors, ministers, UN Officials and other stakeholders.  These films needed to communicate the urgency in achieving these 17 SDGs as we are currently off target. Urgent action is required if we are to achieve these goals by 2030.  But with the outbreak of Covid19 by Jan 2020 in Thailand the event was cancelled along with our other events .

The call back

Then towards the end of April 2020 the UN called back. They said the event was back on but now would be held online as a hybrid event.  There were no event requirements anymore except for the film but now this needed to be made for online viewing. The initial film discussed was in 3 parts, each part shown on each of the 3-day event.  These were going to be shown on 3 massive screens to a live audience. We had planned to add a bunch of tech & graphic gimmicks to aid in making the film look snazzy.  The event was now scheduled for the middle of May. We had just about 3 weeks to re-work the script, get approval from various stake holders at the UN and then produce the film right in the middle of the ongoing lock-down. 

Making of the film

The script was submitted within a few days and the UN too recognized the urgency and took less than week to approve leaving us with just under 2 weeks to produce this film. These weren’t just any 2 weeks; these were 2 weeks smack in the middle of the Covid19 lockdown in Thailand.  How were we going to produce a film in the middle of the lockdown in Bangkok? As just about everything was closed or banned, especially film productions?   Therefore, the decision was made to move to an animation format which would require far lesser human interaction. But the risk we ran was using an animation format, not an ideal one to discuss an issue which was extremely serious and important and where urgent action was required.  And that too with an extremely mature audience. 

The making of this film got even more challenging. Almost every one of our regular animators refused to take this job. They were short staffed during the pandemic. And there was just not enough time to create a decent animation of 8-9 minutes within the following 10-12 days.  Eventually we found a team who were prepared to take on this job.  The director of the film, Vishal Sood, ended up using his 6-year-old daughter to voice the main protagonist. He also used his wife’s voice for the mother of the 6-year old girl in the film.  We are happy to report that no human interaction took place in the making of this film. 

Credit to our team

Jabu Events would like to thank the animators Vikas & Vimal, and the editor Jorge who took on this challenge.  We would also like to thank Mallika Sood for writing a wonderful and touching script. This film and its message could not have come at a more apt time.  As the global Covid19 pandemic escalates, it makes these sustainable development goals even more relevant and important to realize. We need to achieve these goals in order to achieve a sustainable world in every sense.  And now without boring you more on about the making of this film, here’s the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHeeKpObPtU

The video is also available on the UN ESCAP’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOEiCGrnge4