Makematic address the leap to online teaching and associated skill gap with online development course TOM.

Makematic have developed an online professional development course, TOM, and an accompanying Whitepaper to support educators worldwide with the challenges of online teaching. The project aimed to support the millions of educators worldwide that have had to make the leap to online teaching overnight - and the edtech industry supporting them - through a well-researched set of best practices for online teaching and the development of associated products and content. For the R&D project, Makematic researched and produced a Whitepaper and accompanying explainer animations.

For more information on TOM click here.

Makematic is one of the UK’s largest producers of educational video and animation. The Derry-based company delivers hundreds of shorts films each year for clients including Adobe, Microsoft, Unity, the BBC, Crayola, Scholastic, Oxford Univ Press and Macmillan. 

For more information on Makematic visit: https://makematic.com

TEAM

Tara Walsh, (MEd), Director of Engagement, Makematic, Project Lead/Researcher.

Brian Shaw, Director of Production, Makematic, Producer.

Co-Investigators: 

Dr James Nelson, Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work, The Senator George J Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, Queen’s University Belfast.

Dr Jennifer Roberts, Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work Centre for Evidence and Social Innovation, Queen’s University Belfast.

This project was funded by a Future Screens NI Rewriting the Narrative award.

Nice One Productions develop Pixel Perfect, a TV competition show to create original games in just 48 hours.

Nice One Productions have recently completed Research & Development on a project seeking feasibility of a TV competition show for teams of independent video game developers to develop original content. Similar in structure to such popular programmes as The Great British Bake Off or Project Runway, the project, Pixel Perfect, would seek to showcase indie games, niche video games developed by small independent developers, highlighting homegrown talent and the impact of game production on the national and international economy. Following their conceptual research, the team has put together a Format Bible to guide production companies from international territories to purchase the rights to make their own local version and a sizzle reel highlighting the impact of game development on the economy, creative industries’ input and public interest in the project.

Nice One Productions is a television production company based in Belfast. They create, collaborate, and produce formats and scripted comedy from a base in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

TEAM

Chris Jones: Founder, Nice One Productions.

Alex McMillan: Development Researcher and Writer, Nice One Productions.

Co-Investigator: Frank Delaney, Senior Lecturer, School of Arts, English and Languages, Queen’s University Belfast.

This project has been funded by a Future Screens NI Research & Development award.

Small Town Big Dreams presents an audio documentary exploring personal stories on the impact of Covid on the NI creative industry sector.

Small Town Big Dreams have completed a 4-part audio documentary exploring personal stories of how the Covid-19 crisis has impacted on the work, communities, networks and health of creative entrepreneurs, freelancers and workers within the creative industry sector in Northern Ireland. Titled “The World Turned Upside Down” the documentary sought the personal stories of how the Covid-19 crisis has impacted on the work, communities, networks and health of creative entrepreneurs, freelancers and workers within the creative industry sector. The production team consisted of project management from Blick Shared Studios, with the podcast produced, written, recorded and edited by Graeme Watson and Karishma Kusurkar.

Blick Shared Studios is a social enterprise that has been supporting creative entrepreneurs in Northern Ireland since 2007. They offer the provision of affordable flexible workspaces, meeting rooms, gallery and events spaces alongside providing business advice and support, networking and promotional opportunities. Blick Shared Studios currently provide space for nearly 60 creative businesses in Belfast offering affordable virtual business services to over 90 creative businesses. 

For more information on Blick Shared Studios visit: https://www.blickstudios.org

TEAM

Christine James, CEO Blick Shared Studios​, Project Management. 

Graeme Watson, Creative Director, ​The Infinite Jest​ & Karishma Kusurkar, Director & Designer ​Karishma’s World​, Interviews and Narration. 

Co-investigator: Dr Brian Dixon, Course Director, MFA Design, Belfast School of Art, Ulster University

The project was funded by Future Screens NI and Northern Ireland Screen as part of the Rewriting the Narrative fund.

esc films seek to develop XR to assist in Transforming Trauma in a Virtual World

A new Research & Development project titled “Transforming Trauma in a Virtual World: new tools for transformation – self-paced trauma recovery through immersive technologies” seeks to import a successful filmmaking workshop within forensic mental health to Expanded Reality technology. Drawing on their workshop success with Second Chance for Change (SCFC), esc films have begun R&D into a project to process and transform trauma in a virtual setting. 

Esc films have over 17 years of experience developing creative processes with therapeutic benefit to those within marginalized populations. Their R&D project aims to use Virtual Reality/Immersive technology as a delivery mechanism for the existing SCFC programme whilst exploring further therapeutic intervention potential. The project intends to explore different ways of drawing out and visualizing people’s stories for them to benefit from self and peer validation and gain a new perspective on the turning points and traumas in their lives.

The team’s belief is that VR / Immersive technology could provide accessible means to share therapeutic services with more people, locally, nationally and globally through remote access. Furthermore, immersive storytelling could prove to be a better platform to aid recovery, implemented remotely, in a shorter time, and prove more cost effective than standard face-to-face programmes. 

esc films is an award-winning culture and arts education charity based in Belfast. They use storytelling, drama and film to change lives, challenge perceptions and tackle social exclusion, stigma and discrimination. Their overall aim is to transform the lives of socially excluded people through film-therapy, exploring new and innovative ways of digital storytelling.

TEAM

Dr Kirsten Kearney, CEO, esc films 

Tom Magill, Artistic Director & co-founder esc films

CO-INVESTIGATORS

Dr Declan Keeney, Director of the Ulster Screen Academy, Ulster University

Nigel McAlpine, Immersive Lead, Digital Catapult

Dr Paul Best, Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work

Dr John Ferguson, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Belfast Trust

Conor Brown, former participant, Second Chance for Change) 

ADVISORY PANEL

Prof. Gavin Davidson, School of Social Sciences, Education & Social Work, Queen’s University Belfast

Paul McAleer, Lecturer, School of Nursing & Midwifery, Queen’s University Belfast

Laura Ornsby, BHSCT, Lead Occupational Therapist, Medium Secure Psychiatric Unit, Shannon Clinic

This project is funded by a Future Screens NI Research & Development award.

JamBird Marketing’s new R&D project aimed to assist in future proofing independent music artists.

JamBird Marketing have started a Research & Development project developing an app for independent music artists to assist in audience development and key industry expansion in an affordable package. The app will engage with fan bases through animations and fan avatars to assist drawing in crucial data for future projects. The software will collect data drawing from demographic, transactional, psychographic and behavioural content with AI Analysis to provide a deep knowledge of the musicians’ fan base. The data packages can then be presented to industries for musical endeavours in the likes of fashion, film and television expanding commercial opportunities and freeing artists to focus on their music.

JamBird Marketing is a new, Belfast-based, music-specific marketing company dedicated to helping unsigned, independent artists monetise their music through consultation, coaching and new technology development. They are CIM-qualified digital marketers with 20+ years’ experience in the music industry and 40+ years’ combined experience in marketing, sales, business development, project management and training. 

TEAM

Co-founders/ Directors: Amanda Hickman and Caroline Fleck.

Co-investigator: Dr Darryl Charles, Senior Lecturer, Computer Science Research Institute, Ulster University.

This project is funded by Future Screens NI Research & Development award.