I’m Emma, and I work as a web developer in the BBC Children’s Future Media team, although I studied animation at college.
In Children’s we are encouraged to get out and meet our audience, so I was excited when the opportunity came up to help Calico Creative to make an animated information video with children from local primary schools.
The animation encourages people to help reduce congestion immediately around schools. It is intended to demonstrate why congestion is a problem and suggests walking buses or drop-offs a little further away.
Calico Creative is a Burnley-based social enterprise, owned by Calico Enterprise Limited, who aim to provide community services which can have a long lasting effect on people’s lives.
The animation is being created with a collage technique, layering characters and props over a collage background. The children will also help create the music and soundtrack for the animation.
Calico have run a number of different sessions as part of the project, which helps fit around the availability and skills of myself and other volunteers. To date, I have helped with two sessions.
The first was a thoroughly enjoyable brainstorming session with a group of children who visited us here at the BBC in Salford.
I was able to help spark and sketch ideas and listen as the children talked with enthusiasm about the walking bus they have at their school and who they were hoping to bump into during their BBC tour.
The second brilliant session was with two different groups of children at a school in Accrington.
Kelly from Calico was there to run things and explain about the project. In each workshop I was given a few minutes to introduce myself, so I had the children guess what I did for a job and was able to gauge some of what they know about different careers and learn about some of their career aspirations.
The rest of the time I was helping to make paper collage background scenery for the animation, guiding ideas from the children and also enjoying the nostalgia for my own childhood art projects.
It has been a pleasure to work with Kelly and others on the project and to be reminded again of the diversity and enthusiasm and energy of the audience we serve.
The animation is still in production and we’re all looking forward to the seeing the result of everyone’s hard work.
*BBC Outreach & Corporate Responsibility connects the BBC directly with its audiences, particularly those identified as harder to reach. Calico Creativeapplied to the department’s Community Doorway programme, which gives BBC staff an opportunity to work with various charities and community groups.
Applications are particularly welcome from organisations based in the neighbourhoods where a large number of our staff work - namely Salford, Greater Manchester and the two London boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham and Westminster - and those that work with 16-24 year olds and/or groups that are considered to be disadvantaged or socially excluded.
