Creative catapult to media success (From The Argus)

Creative catapult to media success

1:41pm Tuesday 8th April 2008

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An animated trailer dreamt up by young creatives could slingshot them to a successful career in the media.

Twenty youngsters from across Sussex took part in Creative Catapult, a project set up last December by Wired Sussex and creative digital media agency Kanoti, supported by the BBC and industry professionals.

A series of workshops gave them the chance to work on a "live" brief for the broadcaster to create a viral animation promoting two campaigns, Making the Clothes I Wear, to encourage ethical fashion, and Bare Facts, to promote sex education discussion between parents and their children.

Those taking part were aged between 18 and 25 and either studying, or had graduated from illustration or animation courses.

The group was split into teams and had to find a contemporary way of encouraging a hard-to-reach audience to engage in a difficult subject.

They also gained first-hand experience of how to successfully develop and pitch innovative ideas to clients.

No guarantee was given by the BBC that the work would be used.

However, the winning team's pitch was of such high quality it was commissioned.

The team was made up of Chris Kelly, 23, who studies digital media design at City College Brighton and Hove, Lindsay Steven, 24, a former multimedia student at the college, and Kyle Bean, 22, and Natasha Hodgkins, 22, who are both studying for a degree in illustration at the University of Brighton.

The group came up with a storyboard for a 30-second trailer for the Bare Facts campaign.

Ben Ledden, of the BBC, said: "As soon as we saw the storyboards we could see it working as a promo. It jumped off the page. It was a brilliantly simple concept that delivered a serious message with a light heart."

The team will now work with Brighton-based Kanoti to turn their idea into reality.

Chris said: "You had to have a lot of confidence in your ideas to succeed in this project and at City College our tutors are constantly encouraging us to raise our game and try new ways of approaching things."

Chris and his team's success was a boost for Micheal O'Connor, multimedia course leader at City College. He said: "Chris has the perfect balance of skills and attitude you need for a course at this level. He's very good technically and really creative.

"I think Chris's success in this project proves the college is able to stretch people and give them confidence to push themselves out into the industry, and it also helps gives us a higher profile when it comes to attracting the next intake of students."

John Davison, director of Kanoti, added: "It's pretty tough when you first start out, as even the best portfolio in the world won't guarantee you success.

"What you 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, was also delighted with the inaugural Creative Catapult and said discussions were under way to hold further events.

He said: "Creative Catapult has shown once again 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."

The BBC is keeping the content of the winning trailer under wraps until it is unveiled later this month.

To find out more about Creative Catapult, register for the Wired Sussex newsletter at www.wiredsussex.com.

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