Students showcase true spirit of animation

Creative students were put through their paces by an industry heavyweight after being tasked with creating an animation for a leading digital sports agency.

Second year students from Teesside University’s BA (Hons) Computer Animation and BA (Hons) Character Animation courses were required to produce work to promote a new sports app that digital sports agency 13 Strides is developing for the market.

A total of 15 teams from the School of Computing pitched their ideas to a specially selected panel of judges, headed up by Shelley Page, Head of International Outreach for DreamWorks Animation, who made the visit to Teesside University to lend her expertise to the project.

After careful deliberation Spirit Animations, made up of Ewa Lipinska, Leon Zura, John Howard, Jamie Blyth and Katherine Terzieva, were chosen as the winners.

Spirit Animations’ innovative concept was to produce an animation that replicated exactly how different sportspeople move. All 15 Teesside University teams will now go away and produce work based on Spirit Animations’ concept.

Leon Zura, Creative Director, said: 'We are all delighted that our animation has been chosen as the winning concept. It was a really positive experience being able to pitch to professionals and to know that our work will now be taken forward by 13 Strides is fantastic.

'We worked for 14 hours a day for four days to produce this animation and we are all extremely proud of it.'

13 Strides started life as an incubated business at Teesside University and is still based in the Phoenix Building. Its clients include Channel 4, Microsoft and Great Run and the firm employs a number of Teesside University graduates.

Director Anthony Borsumato, said: 'Teesside University was the perfect platform for us when we were setting up the business and we are always really impressed with the talent which comes out of the creative courses.

'When we started thinking about an animation for our new sports app, it made perfect sense to work in partnership with the University and we were extremely impressed with all the ideas. Spirit Animations’ concept really grabbed our attention and we can’t wait to take things forward.'

Shelley Page, a regular visitor to Teesside University’s annual Animex festival, was hugely impressed with the students’ work.

She said: 'I believe in the value of the pitch and being able to present work in a professional, concise and articulate manner is vital. The fact that graduates from Teesside can be found working in the major studios in the UK and abroad speaks volumes about the standard of this University.'

• Tickets are now on sale for the fourteenth Animex international festival of animation and computers games, which takes place from 18-22 February.

---

For ticket information, visit the Animex website