Route To Olympics Puts Animated Film-Maker On Road To China
27 November 2012
(Left to right) Professor Chris White, University of Derby Head of the School of Art and Design, with Animation degree student Harriet Farren at the Sino-UK Higher Education Symposium On Creative Media Industry in China.
Animation degree student Harriet Farren.
A short animated film about British excitement in the run up to the London 2012 Olympics won a University of Derby student an international prize - and put her on a plane to China.
Harriet Farren, a third-year student on the University's BA (Hons) in Animation degree, mixed modern Olympics related audio and video footage with a sports countdown clock running from 1948 - when the last London Olympics were held - to 2012, for her 40 second animated film Anticipation.
Her animation, and work by another UK student and two Chinese entrants, has now won a British Council competition to mark the cultural exchange between British and Chinese Universities in celebrating the 30th Cultural Olympiad. The British Council promotes UK culture abroad as a way of building bonds with other countries.
As part of her prize Harriet flew to China for a one week 'Sino-UK Higher Education Symposium On Creative Media Industry'; with planned visits alongside staff from the University's Faculty of Arts, Design and Technology to Guangzhou, China's third largest city, and the Sun Yat-Sen, Peking, Zhejiang and Shanghai Jiao Tong universities.
In return, two Chinese winners of the contest will join their country's university officials in visiting the UK next March (2013).
Harriet, 20, originally from Bristol, said: "This is an immensely exciting opportunity for me. I made Anticipation to reflect my own excitement, as a British citizen, over the preparation and build up towards this year's Olympics.
"In effect, we'd been preparing for this moment since 1948 and I feel our pride has been revitalized by London 2012.
"I'm not sure how many people will notice but, within the animation, it's 9.58 seconds between the sound of the starting gun you hear on it and the end of the animation; which was the sprinter Usain Bolt's 100m world record from the 2008 Beijing Olympics."
To see Harriet's animated film go to website http://youtu.be/dQgjIO_04jI
Richard Levesley, University of Derby Programme Leader for Visual Communication programmes, added: "We were delighted to hear that Harriet had won first prize in this exciting competition.
"Harriet's work successfully captured the dedication and commitment of Olympic athletes, and also showed that of our students. She is a dedicated student and I am sure she will make the most of this opportunity."
For further press information please contact Sean Kirby, University Press and PR Officer, on 01332 591891 or email: s.kirby@derby.ac.uk
