Students Make A Splash with Jubilee Pool Animations

Animation & Visual Effects students have been connecting with the community, discovering local heritage and getting great experience, working on a project with the Jubilee Pool in Penzance.

Working as part of a project celebrating the past, present and future of this remarkable facility, the students have been creating a set of 90 second animated films, promoting the pool’s exciting new renovation project.

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BA(Hons) Animation & Visual Effects

The stunning Art Deco lido is experiencing a modern transformation, as work has already started on drilling a geothermal well which will provide enough renewable energy to heat a section of the water to 35°c all year round.

Katharine Nicholls, Senior Lecturer on BA(Hons) Animation & Visual Effects, initiated the collaboration. She explained: “Each year we run ‘live briefs’ for our Level 2 students, in which we select from the projects that come our way. We are always looking for a live brief that has something more than a business outcome – for example, that could be a project that is meaningful for a community or one that helps to promote an important cause.”

The students’ films uncover and explore the pride of the community feels for the pool, as well as its history and heritage. The films use aural history interviews that were originally recorded and edited by Penwith College students, which capture local memories.

Katharine told us: “The voices were amusing and at times touching. The animation students were asked to work in groups to interpret these memories of the Jubilee Pool as short films and to bring them to life in the unique way that only animation can.” 

The films are a part of the wider Jubilee Pool Stories project; an intergenerational, community-focussed, heritage project that will collate, digitise, interpret and share a rich cultural archive. The project is working with community groups, volunteers, schools, experts and artists and has been funded by Heritage Lottery, Arts Council England, the Tanner Trust and Falmouth University. 

Lucy Gatenby was one of the second year BA(Hons) Animation & Visual Effects students working on the project. Her main role was as a Producer on one of the films, which meant organising weekly meetings and keeping track of her team’s progress on the film. She was also responsible for compositing, creating the layered background and the splash motifs. 

Lucy told us: “I really loved the idea that we were painting on the memories of the pool and building up the scenes as they tell their story. It was quite challenging at times [but] the final result is extremely rewarding.”