The little things in life project is a funny and relatable animation about an old man who has long term depression and lives with his best friend, his dog. The character is a lost and hopeless person struggling with a purpose in life, and throughout the animation the character grows through finding purpose and happiness and noticing the world around them. He is told by the skeletons to enjoy the small things in life that he used to enjoy. At first, he finds it difficult, but then it slowly becomes easy for him as he tries to look for joy in things that made him happy in the past. Daniel, 12, said “I really like it and I feel that not everyone will be as sad as he is, but doing the little things make things happy.”

We made this animation because it is meant to be relatable so people watching can enjoy the little things in life too. Just like the man in the animation, we can slowly realise what things really mean in life and how he realises how much he likes his dog.

Our main message is to enjoy life and to take time to appreciate life and the things that make you happy. We also really like the character of his dog as it shows how you can help others too if you feel like someone is struggling and he is very intelligent.

The animation process for us was challenging yet fun. We decided on a cut out mixed materials animation style because it was our favourite when we were brainstorming. We also created the characters and had fun colouring them in with different patterns and making them our own. The animating part of the process was the trickiest but the outcome was so much prettier and cooler after post-edits. Hasan, 12, said “I love the face changes when the skeleton faces him.”  

Overall, we would love to try animation again in a different project and were very happy with the final outcome.   

This was created by young people as part of the Headliners Young Journalist programme. This project was made possible by the Million Hours Fund.