Lecturer’s BBC Experience Benefits SERC Students

A @S_ERC (SERC) art and design lecturer who has been working on an animation for the @BBC says the experience has far reaching benefits beyond her own career.

Ann Harrison, who lecturers on the Level 3 Art and Design course at the College’s Bangor Campus, and her husband John Clerkin, originally from Monaghan, who freelances in video editing and motion graphics, made a successful pitch through the BBC 2-Minute Masterpiece Animation Scheme to produce a short which deals with the theme of connection. Their short animation, recently completed, entitled Lockdown Blues, inspired by Ann’s mother Sue and all the things she has had to deal with during lockdown, is set to air this September.

Ann, who studied animation and illustration at Solent University said, “John and I were delighted to be selected for the project and hugely enjoyed the experience. We are looking forward to the film premier date in September so our friends and family can finally see what we were working on during the lockdown period. It was a great feeling to complete the project to deadline and hand over to the BBC.

“As a lecturer, I am looking forward to sharing this experience, and what I have learnt from it, with my students. Being able to give them an insight to how this industry works, and the skills needed, not only to secure a successful pitch, but to complete the project on time, will make lessons and assignments relevant to their ambitions

She added, “I was struck by how much our Project Based Learning (PBL) curriculum at SERC echoed the processes and methods followed in industry today and how important those skills are to our students. My experience offers a real-life case study which illustrates PBL in action. This ensures all students at SERC continue to get the best opportunities to gain and improve the skills they need to succeed in future, whether they wish to progress to further study or to workplace.”

Ann and her husband John’s Celtic Dragon Studios, make animations, comics, illustrations, and films. John who studied English and Politics at Queen’s University Belfast, worked in a variety of jobs before returning to education when he completed the HND in Creative Media from SERC’s Northern Ireland Film School. The couple work on a range of animation, illustration and film projects including the web comic Bunsen Bunnies.