BBC to commission young Brighton graduates

Creative Catapult, a project set up in December 07 to encourage entrepreneurialism in young illustration and animation graduates, achieved a major coup this week as its winning team of graduates got their work commissioned by the BBC.

The 4-month long project was organised by Wired Sussex in association with industry partners Kanoti, and supported by the BBC and industry professionals. It included a series of daytime workshops and evening seminars in central Brighton.

The daytime workshops offered the 20 young creatives the chance to work on a ‘live’ brief for the BBC to create a viral animation promoting two BBC campaigns, and the opportunity to gain firsthand experience of how to successfully develop and pitch innovative ideas to clients. No guarantee was given by the BBC originally that the work would actually be used; however the winning team’s pitch was of such high quality they agreed to commission it on the day. The winning graduates - Kyle Bean, Chris Kelly, Natasha Hodgkins and Lindsay Stevens – will work alongside industry partner Kanoti to produce a 30 second trail for the BBC Learning campaign ‘Bare Facts’.

Speakers at the evening seminars included Sarah Bird, director of Brighton-based AnimNation and organiser of the Brighton Animators Networking Group (BANG), Kristjana Williams, of London based creative community Beyond the Valleys , Mel Charles of Oslar Donegan Taylor solicitors, Business Link , David Curry of Le Singe Media and James Marsden of FuturLab. Workshop mentors included Angie Taylor from Creative After Effects and Rona Innes from Moshi Machine, and encouraging talks were given by industry professionals including Nick Goffey of Dom & Nic, who have produced video work for Supergrass and the Chemical Brothers.

Ben Ledden from the BBC said “As soon as we saw the story boards we could see it working as a viral promo. It jumped off the page - a brilliantly simple concept that delivered a serious message with a light heart. The team had really thought about their audience and found the right kind of visual and storytelling style to appeal to them”

“It’s pretty tough when you first start out as even the best portfolio in the world won’t guarantee you success,” explains John Davison, director of digital media agency Kanoti which co-founded the project with Wired Sussex. “What you really need is access to support and good advice from people who have been in the same position and know what you’re going through, which is what Creative Catapult is all about”.

Phil Jones, director of digital media support organisation Wired Sussex, added: “Creative Catapult has shown once again that Brighton really is a hotbed of young creative talent, particularly within digital media. There’s strong graduate presence provided by the strength of both universities and an incredibly diverse and buoyant industry which help that talent to grow.”

Creative Catapult was organised by Wired Sussex and Kanoti, funded by the Area Investment Framework and supported by Skillset and Lighthouse.