Spark Tees Valley

Here is what Neil Bushnell does, explained just for you!

Who is Neil? Neil works at a company called Atom Hawk Design. He has a very fancy job title-“cinematic discipline lead”- but that basically means he is the boss of the animation team. He helps other people animate cool things and spends time talking to games companies all over the world.

What games has he made? You might have heard of some of the huge projects Neil has worked on!

• Mortal Kombat 1: He worked on this fighting game for over two years.

• Warhammer: He does animation for Games Workshop, the people who make Warhammer figures and games.

• Lots of others: If you think of the top 20 video games in a year, Neil’s team has usually worked on a handful of them!

What do you need to be an animator? If you want to do Neil’s job one day, here are the skills he uses the most:

• Storytelling: You need to be able to tell a clear story just by moving characters around.

• Creativity: You need to have good imagination.

• Movement and Acting: You need to understand how things move and how to act.

• Drawing: It helps if you can draw, but you don’t have to be a brilliant artist.

How did he get the job? When Neil was at school, he used to stare out the window and dream about drawing comics. He tried making comics for a bit but found it quite hard. He actually fell into animation by accident! A friend told him to show his portfolio (his folder of drawings) to a studio, and he ended up staying there for five years, learning the job from the people around him.

Neil loves that his work is always different. One day he might be working on spaceships and science fiction, and the next day he is working on fantasy characters or fighting games.

But, he says the very best bit might actually be the nice range of biscuits and chocolate they keep in the kitchen at work!

To help you understand, think of Neil like the director of a school play, but instead of telling actors where to stand on a stage, he tells computer artists how to make video game characters move and act on a screen.

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Meet Andrew Whitehurst! He is a Senior Visual Effects Supervisor at a famous studio called Industrial Light and Magic.

What are some famous movies he has worked on? You might have seen his magic in films like Paddington and Harry Potter. He has also worked on James Bond films and the recent Indiana Jones and the dial of death.

What does he actually do? Andrew describes himself as the link between the people in charge of the film (the director and producers) and the artists who create the pictures. His job changes depending on what stage the movie is in:

• Before filming: He talks to different teams to decide who will do which jobs.

• During filming: He makes sure the cameras are filming in a way that allows special effects to be added later.

• After filming: He works with artists and editors to create the final amazing shots you see on the big screen.

How did he get this cool job? When Andrew was about eight or nine, he loved painting, drawing, and making models, but he didn’t know he could do that for a job. Then, he saw a documentary on the BBC about how the visual effects for an Indiana Jones movie were made. He realised that the paintings and models he loved were actually used to make his favourite films.

He studied Fine Art to learn how to look at things and draw better. For his final college project, he built puppets and models and mixed them with computer backgrounds. He started working at the bottom as a “runner” and worked his way up for about 12 years to become a supervisor.

What is the best part of his job? Andrew loves that he gets to work with brilliant people, like artists, writers, and engineers. Even though he is nearly 50 years old, he says he is still learning new things all the time. His favourite treat is sitting in a cinema and watching the audience react to the work he helped make.

Think of it like this: Imagine making a movie is like building a giant, complicated LEGO castle. The Director decides what the castle should look like, but they need a Master Builder to help the team actually put the bricks together correctly so it doesn’t fall down. Andrew is that Master Builder- he helps the artists (the builders) understand the plan so the final castle looks perfect!

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In Summary:

Vanessa is a marine biologist, which means she studies ocean life. She works in a place called Svalbard, specifically in a fjord, which is a big, long area filled with sea water.

What does she do? Vanessa spends a lot of time in a laboratory that looks just like the science labs you see in movies or cartoons. When she isn’t in the lab, she drives out of town to explore the outdoors.

She studies tiny, microscopic animals that live inside sea ice. Even though sea ice looks like nothing is living there, it is actually home to a whole ecosystem. Vanessa says these tiny creatures look like aliens or movie monsters!

Do you want to be a scientist? Vanessa knew she wanted to be a marine biologist when she was nine years old (that is very close to your age!). At first, she loved sharks, but then she fell in love with the tiny animals in the ice.

If you want to do this job, Vanessa says you should:

• Be organised: It is very important to keep track of everything happening around you.

• Be creative: If you enjoy art, that is a great skill because it helps you show other people what you are studying.

• Be a team player: Vanessa works with a team of great people, so making friends and working together is essential.

The best part of her job is seeing unique animals that very few people in the world ever get to see.

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In Summary:

Robynne is a scientist known as a marine biologist. She is currently doing a big science project (called a PhD) at the University Centre in Svalbard. She lives in a town called Longyearbyen on an island that is very, very high up in the world, almost near the North Pole. Because it is so far north, it is a very cold place to live.

What does she do all day? Robynne’s job changes a lot from day to day.

• Adventures at Sea: Sometimes she goes on special ships called icebreakers for a whole month! While she is on the Arctic Ocean, she collects the very small animals she studies.

• In the Lab: On other days, she works in a laboratory with her tiny animals, perhaps using equipment like a microscope.

• Writing: Sometimes she spends the day on her computer doing lots of writing about what she has discovered.

What do you need to be a scientist? You might think you need to know everything already, but Robynne says the most important thing is curiosity. To be a scientist, you just need to look at the world and wonder, “Hmm, I wonder how that works?” or “Why is that doing that?”. You can learn the other skills, like how to use science equipment, as you go along.

How did she start? Even though she works in the freezing Arctic now, Robynne actually grew up in Florida in the United States, which is a very warm place!. She lived near the sea and thought the ocean was incredible. She decided she wanted to be a marine biologist when she was just 5 years old because she thought the ocean was “super cool”.

Why does she love her job? Robynne’s favourite thing is that she gets to follow her curiosity every day. If she has an idea about why the little animals are doing something, her job is to do research and find the answer. She also feels very lucky to explore her passion in such a beautiful, snowy place.

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In Summary:

Katie grew up in Middlesbrough (in the North East of England), but now she lives in a very different place called Svalbard. Svalbard is way up north, almost at the North Pole! She works as a space physicist, which means she is an expert who studies space. right now, her main job is researching the amazing Northern Lights.

Life near the North Pole is very strange. In the summer, it is sunny all the time. But in the winter, the sun goes away for three whole months!. It is dark all day long- even at 9 o’clock in the morning and 4 o’clock in the afternoon.

• Why is this good? Katie loves the dark because you can only see the Northern Lights (also called the Aurora Borealis) when the sky is black. Because it is dark 24 hours a day, she can watch the lights anytime she wants.

Since there is snow everywhere and hardly any roads, Katie doesn’t drive a car to work- she drives a snowmobile! She goes up mountains to use cool gadgets:

• “Fishbowls”: These are special observatories that look like fishbowls, but instead of goldfish, they have cameras inside pointing at the sky.

• Radars: These are huge dishes that “listen” to the Northern Lights. Radars are brilliant because they can see the lights even when it is cloudy. Once, Katie even slid down a giant radar dish on the snow just for fun!

Could You Be a Scientist? Katie spends a lot of time on her computer looking at data, but she also gets to go outside, climb towers, and build instruments. She thinks you would make a great scientist if:

• You are good at jigsaw puzzles.

• You like playing video games and figuring out how to get to the next level.

Katie always loved looking at stars and planets through her telescope. She went to the University of Leicester to study space. She decided to work in the freezing cold after she met another girl from Middlesbrough who was already a scientist at the North Pole. Katie thought, “If she can do it, why can’t I?”.

And guess what? She did! Now she gets to chase the Northern Lights and fix giant radars in the snow.

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In Summary:

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to work in a museum or hunt for dinosaurs? Meet Rebecca, a real-life scientist called a palaeontologist who works at Gallery Oldham in Greater Manchester.

Here is what her exciting job is like:

• Opening Treasure Boxes: Rebecca works with the museum’s collections. She gets to open big, heavy boxes and discover amazing fossils from all over the world. It is like a surprise every time because she never knows exactly what she will find inside.

• Creating Displays: She helps put together exhibitions so that people like you can come and see the cool things the museum has found.

• Solving Mysteries: Part of her job is researching where a fossil came from and even fixing things that might be broken.

• Using Cool Tools: To do her job, she uses photography to take pictures of the fossils and computers to keep track of everything.

• Sharing Stories: She loves talking to people and explaining complicated science in a way that is easy to understand. She thinks it’s brilliant to show people the fossils and history that are right where they live.

How did she start? Rebecca grew up in Whitby, where she loved finding fossils on the beach when she was a kid. She studied science in school and then went to university to learn about geology (rocks) and biology (animals) to understand how creatures lived millions of years ago.

The most exciting thing for Rebecca is that every day is different. She loves the feeling of being the first person in a very long time to look at a special object and then getting to share that discovery with the world.

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In Summary:

Meet Adam, who has a very cool job as a Producer for a video game called Rust Console Edition.

His main job is to make sure everything runs smoothly at his company, which is called Double 11. Every day, Alan holds quick meetings called “standups” where he talks to his team to see if they have everything they need to finish their work. He helps them stay organised by using computer software to track “tickets,” which are like little lists of tasks they need to complete.

To be a great Producer, Adam says you need to have these skills:

• Clear communication: Being able to explain things well.

• Problem solving: Fixing things when they go wrong.

• Being approachable: Being friendly so that people feel happy coming to you with their worries.

Adam didn’t start out as a boss! When he was a young boy, he just really loved playing games. When he first started looking for work, he didn’t have many skills yet, but he really wanted to get into the games industry. In 2009, he got his first start in QA (which is testing games to find bugs) at a company called PopCap Games. He worked very hard for many years to work his way up to being a Producer. Now, he gets to work with amazing people to help build exciting experiences for players to enjoy.

Think of a Game Producer like the conductor of an orchestra. They don’t play every single instrument themselves, but they make sure every musician has their music and knows exactly when to play so that the whole song sounds perfect.

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In Summary:

Kyle works at Teesside University. He has a very cool job because he gets to make video games all day and teaches other people how to make them, too.

What are his jobs? Kyle actually does three different things:

• Teacher: He is a “lecturer,” which is a teacher for grown-ups at university. He teaches them game design.

• Producer: He helps small game companies (called indie companies) take their ideas and turn them into real games.

• Sound Designer: He creates the noises you hear in video games! This means he has to figure out exactly what it should sound like when a character walks down a street or steps on grass.

His Super Skill: Problem. Solving Kyle says the most important skill for his job is problem solving. This means when something goes wrong or is hard to do, he has to find a clever way to fix it, just like solving a puzzle. He uses this skill to pick the right music for a game or to help his students learn.

Did he always want to make games? No! When Kyle was in school, he actually wanted to be a rock star. He played in bands and toured around the country playing music. But when he went to university, he took a class on making sound for games and loved it. Even though he didn’t have all the normal qualifications at first, he was allowed to study game design because he was so passionate about it.

Kyle thinks he has the coolest job because he gets to be creative and make games every day. But the very best part is that in his spare time, he plays video games and calls it “research”—so he gets paid to play the games that everyone else wants to play!

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In Summary:

Here is the story of Judy and her exciting job.

Judy runs her own business called Through Film. She actually has two job titles: Director and Filmmaker.

• The Director side: This is where she runs the business and has to be good at solving tricky problems.

• The Filmmaker side: This is the fun, creative part where she gets to go out and make films!.

What happens on a normal day?

Judy says that every day is different.

• Some days, she is out in nature filming beautiful scenery.

• Other days, she goes to construction sites to film big machinery and diggers.

• Sometimes, she stays inside all day doing editing.

Putting the Puzzle Together

Judy uses two main skills: problem solving and creativity.

She says making a film is a bit like doing a big jigsaw puzzle. When she is filming, she doesn’t always know what will happen, so she has to think fast. When she is editing, she takes all the different video clips she has made and fits them together to make a short film.

How did she start?

When Judy was your age (about 8 or 9 years old), she went to the cinema for the very first time. She absolutely loved it and knew she wanted to work in movies.

At first, she thought she wanted to be an actress, but she soon realised she preferred the technical side. She wanted to learn all about cameras and lighting instead.

When she got older, she studied film at college (doing her A-levels) and at university. She even got to go to Hollywood in America to visit famous studios like Warner Brothers!.

Why she loves her job

Judy loves her work because:

• She gets to play with cool camera kit (equipment).

• She travels all around the country to see places she has never been to before.

• She meets lots of different people with inspiring stories and helps share them with the world.

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In Summary:

Sian works at a company called Through Film. She has two main jobs: she is a filmmaker and a company director.

What does a Filmmaker do? Sian says this is the “fun bit” of her job!. She makes films for charities and businesses who want to show people the work they do. Her days are always different:

• Filming Days: She goes out to meet people and film interviews with them. She also films events while they happen- she calls this footage “B-roll”.

• Editing Days: She sits at her computer and puts all the video clips together to make a short film that is usually 2 or 3 minutes long.

What does a Company Director do? Because Sian helps run the company, she also has to do office work. This includes looking after the money (finances), replying to lots of emails, and organising the film shoots.

What skills do you need? Sian uses two big skills every single day:

1. Creativity: She has to use her imagination to think of cool ways to make films that her clients will like.

2. Communication: This is all about talking and listening. Sian talks to people to make them feel comfortable and relaxed when they are in front of the camera. She also uses communication skills to send emails.

How did she get started? When Sian was 16 years old and in school, she chose to do a GCSE called expressive arts. This was a mix of drama and filmmaking. Even though she had never made a film before, she jumped at the chance and has been learning and building her skills ever since. Now, she runs her own company with her co-founder, Judy.

Sian’s favourite part of the job is meeting so many different people and hearing all about their stories. She loves turning those stories into films for people to watch.

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Meet Jen! She has a brilliant job as a visualisation supervisor for films and TV.

Imagine you are making a huge film with aliens or a big swarm of monsters. Those things aren’t real, so they won’t actually be on the film set when the cameras start rolling. Jen helps the directors plan exactly what will happen by creating a computer animation of the scene before they film it for real. This allows the film crew to play with ideas and plan their shots carefully.

Jen has worked on famous projects like Star Wars, Dumbo, and Game of Thrones. Her job uses animation, lighting, and special effects, but it is mostly about understanding cameras and lenses to tell a story.

When Jen was younger, she loved Disney and wanted to be an animator. She was quite clever at school, especially in Maths and Science. She felt a bit of pressure to focus on those subjects because they seemed “more important,” but she decided to listen to her heart because she loved Art and stories.

She worked very hard and didn’t give up on any of her skills. When she did her A-levels, she studied Maths and Science, but she kept doing Art as well. Later, she went to university to learn about visual effects and animation.

You will never actually see Jen’s work on the cinema screen. Her work is like a “rough pass” or a practice run. She has to be very creative to solve problems quickly- like figuring out how to show a magic effect or where to put the camera- without spending a long time making the picture look perfect. It helps the team answer big questions before they make the final movie.

Think of Jen’s job like writing a story in your rough book at school. You scribble down your ideas to plan exactly what happens and fix mistakes quickly. Once the plan is perfect, the filmmakers can then write it out neatly in their “best book” (the final movie).