In November 2013 as part of the National Family DR week, we released a video on YouTube titled ‘Understanding Family Mediation’. This collaborative project was designed to explain through visual media, the benefits of family mediation for separating couples compared with going through court. The project was developed in conjunction with Professor Elizabeth Stokoe of Loughborough University, Paul Gadd Director at Protocol IT and Euan Lockwood Director at Kerf Design.
In March 
2014, the Ministry of Justice contacted Liz Stokoe and Paul Gadd to discuss the possibility of collaborating to create a single video. This initially involved providing updates to the script from their original ‘birds’ style Prezi video. After a number of weeks, the MoJ decided to adopt our character style video and backing music with a new script. After two months of development the final version was released on the 28th May 2014, along with revised family mediation leaflets and posters using branding images from the video.
The video brings together various components:
- Legal information incorporated in the text script provided by the MoJ
- CARM text (Conversation Analytic Role-play Method) developed by Liz Stokoe in the script
- Visual elements developed by Protocol IT and Kerf Design to depict various demographics
- Technical Prezi and video skills provided by Protocol IT and the MoJ Design team
- Background music developed by Protocol IT
The final visual and audio components were assembled by the MoJ design team into the final video, with input from Liz Stokoe and Paul Gadd
Some of the CARM text incorporated in the original video had to be adjusted to meet requirements of the legal team at the MoJ. However we feel that the message explaining that family mediation as an alternative to going to court, has not been lost in the changes.
The project demonstrates how collaboration can successfully bring different skills together to effectively communicate a message.