The Brief
To celebrate 20 years of Takalani Sesame in South Africa, we take a look back at some of the highlights of the past two decades in a fantasy diorama taxi ride.
Takalani Sesame (“be happy Sesame” in Venda) is the South African co-production of the children’s television program Sesame Street, co-produced by Sesame Workshop and South African partners. The series debuted in 2000.
The Idea
We tell our story using markers stylized as location pins – each location pin takes us on a journey and represents a goal-post in Takalani Sesame’s 20 year narrative.
We create the world as if it was a tabletop flat-lay with paper-craft set pieces. Each of the paper-craft shapes is cut from colourful card featuring the celebration patterns. Our vignettes are then grounded with naturalistic soft lighting.
This framing narrative takes us in and out of interviews, inserts and retrospectives and aims to weave all of these chapters of Takalani Sesame’s histories into a cohesive story.
As we take a journey with the muppets in Zikwe’s minibus taxi, our story beats are represented by location pins: these are the lenses through which we can go all the way back to the very beginning.
The series features a number of muppet characters. Kami, an HIV-positive five-year old muppet, joined the show in its second season in 2002. Other muppet characters include Elmo, Grover, Kupukeji, Moshe, Zikwe, and Zuzu.
According to Sesame Workshop, Takalani Sesame is a “uniquely South African interpretation of the Sesame model, engaging children and their parents and promoting basic school readiness, literacy, numeracy, and health and hygiene.” Takalani Sesame also has a special focus on HIV/AIDS awareness and seeks to introduce HIV/AIDS safety while promoting tolerance and reducing stigma. The Takalani series also includes a popular radio program, a newspaper and magazine comic strip series, and a national campaign which encourages adults to talk to their children about HIV/AIDS and related issues
Credits
Wondermerk
Creative Director
Colin O’Mara Davis
Producer
Chris Janse van Rensburg
