Co-producing a ground-breaking interactive film

Dyan's story film montage9-months in the making, today marks the launch of Ryan’s Story, a film about child criminal exploitation that gives viewers a chance to make choices on behalf the young person at the centre of the latest film.

In what has been a true co-production, Ryan’s Story was developed based on characters and scenarios set out by young people from Grimsby who wanted to create something realistic and hard-hitting to help viewers understand the harsh reality of becoming involved in organised crime.

The storylines follow paths based on Ryan joining either a local or out of town organised crime group. From there, the character wrestles with his conscious and the consequences of the violent world he inhabits.

The film was commissioned and produced in conjunction with North East Lincolnshire Council’s Young and Safe Team as part of the Not In Our Community campaign, funded by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Humberside.

The young people leading on the direction of the production agreed it was important that the film felt realistic and that once in these kinds of situations there are no right and safe options you can make. Their message is that wherever possible you should avoid getting involved in drug dealing and organised crime in the first place.

As well as standalone versions of the two main storylines, the film has been created on the Adventr platform enabling interact use on phones, tablets and desktops as an extra hook for young users. In an exciting development Adventr has made it their global “Adventr of the Week” pushing it out to users across the globe!

The young people involved in the project also worked with Beats Bus Records to write and produce a soundtrack to the film, called Trapped Ambition, which featuring in the film and end credits.

Viewers of the film tell us that it feels real in a way that hasn’t been done before. The young people who steered the project had a clear idea of the messages we needed to get across and a style that would make young people stop and think about the issues the film raises.

We’re so pleased that the lads feel that we’ve got it right and full credit to them for putting in the effort and pushing themselves out of their comfort zone by doing things like writing, acting and even performing on the soundtrack.

We also think we’ve created something next level in terms of quality and are excited to see how people react and hope it becomes a valuable tool in the work against organised crime in our area.

The film and resources are available at www.notinourcommunity.org or, you can give it a go on the version beneath.

Let us know what you think @eskimosoup @notinour

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