The BFX Competition returns in 2015 with this year’s videos to be produced for Anthony Nolan and Dyslexia Action.
The competition is run as a part of the BFX Festival, which takes place each year in Bournemouth. The competition was launched at BAFTA in 2012 and invites students and recent graduates from around the country to compete against briefs to create animated videos under the watchful eye of industry practitioners from some of the best visual effects companies in the world, including Framestore, MPC and Double Negative, who just won the Visual Effects Oscar for their work on the film Interstellar.
This year, the BFX team have partnered with media accountants Kingston Smith to develop their Creative Vision Award, which allowed charities to apply to be the subject of the animations created during this year’s BFX Competition.
Anthony Nolan and Dyslexia Action were awarded the prize, and will be the recipients of the winning animations. Bournemouth University scriptwriting students have worked to create a number of scripts that will make the basis of the animations, made in line with the charities’ brand guidelines, ethics and creative concepts.
Festival Director Sofronis Efstathiou said “This is the first year the BFX Films will be made to directly benefit two fantastic charities. It gives the competitors an amazing opportunity to work on a live brief whilst being mentored by some of best studios from around the world. We are very excited and can’t wait to see what our teams create this year!”
Emma Malcolm, Director of Fundraising and Marketing at Dyslexia Action, commented: “We are delighted to have won the Kingston Smith Creative Vision Award. One in ten people in the UK are affected by dyslexia and its impact can be extensive, as so much of what we do both at school and throughout life requires us to have the skills to be able to read fluently and accurately.
“This film will give us a real opportunity to raise awareness about the difficulties that someone with dyslexia may face, as well as communicate how we can help children, young people and adults with dyslexia, so that it need not become a barrier to achievement.”
Richard Davidson, Communications Director at Anthony Nolan, added: “Everyone at Anthony Nolan is thrilled that we won the Kingston Smith Creative Vision Award. The prize will be a fantastic tool in helping us reach out to more potential lifesavers.
“Videos have proven to cut through the noise online – and we know that the young audience we’re trying to reach engage with video more than anything else. This film will really help us shout about the truth of stem cell donation.”
Other production houses involved in the competition include The Mill, PsyOp, Realise Studios, Hibbert Ralph Animation, Outpost VFX, Glassworks and Blue Zoo.
The winning teams, and their animations, will be announced during the BFX Festival, which takes place from Monday 28 September to Sunday 4 October 2015 at the Bournemouth International Centre.
The BFX Festival celebrates the best in talent and creativity in the animation, computer game and visual effects industries with a series of events and workshops by some of the world’s best visual effects artists.
For more information about the BFX Competition, and the BFX Festival, visit www.bfxfestival.com.
