This year we are celebrating Studio Giggle’s 15th Birthday. Like all great British ideas, the company was conceived in a pub over a beer. It was born out of a desire to create work on the cutting edge of technology and creativity, which is still at the very core of what we do.
When I asked Steve about the intriguing name, he smiled; it’s a question he’s been asked many times.
“Giggle really sums up the way we work. Creativity should be fun! It is often stressful, but by keeping a sense of humour and a lightness to our approach, we can make the whole process more enjoyable for everyone involved.
The creation of The Giggle Group wasn’t a spur of the moment decision. Steve had honed his skills over ten years, starting in theatre then working for various production companies as an editor, director and writer. He met James Carnaby and Adam Castelton, who helped him set up the company and whose continued support and advice are always welcomed. It was this experience that prepared Steve to open The Giggle Group in 2006.
In 2013, two worlds collided as Steve met Jonathan Brigden on a flight to Dubai as part of a UKTI creative industry mission. Jonathan had been running his own company, Knifedge, for 19 years. Knifedege created immersive and innovative events and groundbreaking projection content for an impressive list of global clients. It was evident that Steve and Jonathan shared similar creative ambitions, a love of immersive and live events and most importantly, a sense of humour. We also moved to our current home in the heart of Bristol’s creative community at The Paintworks.
In 2014 when Jonathan and Steve decided to merge their companies, they could create one cohesive animation and event machine.
In 2017 a new era of Giggle began when we rebranded from ‘The Giggle Group’ to ‘Studio Giggle’. This better reflected the growth and transition of the company over the years, from film to animation to creative studio. The “Studio” part of the name was to draw attention to the incredible team, which enabled us to deliver our award-winning work.
In its 15 years, Giggle has weathered some major global events. In 2008 Giggle overcame the financial crash by switching the company’s focus to animation over film production. In more recent years, the Giggle team showed extraordinary skill and creativity during the early days of the COVID19 pandemic. This was a challenging time for the company as we shifted to a remote working model and pivoted our production pipeline to deliver virtual events. This resulted in our most successful year to date. We won Manchester United as a new client, we hired 4 new staff members and developed XR and Virtual production solutions, all in just 6 months.
Studio Giggle in 2021 is a very different company from The Giggle Group of 2006. We now have offices in Bristol and Brighton, with our own Green screen virtual production studio which doubles up as our R&D test space. We can deliver live and virtual events anywhere globally, producing work for some of the biggest brands on the planet. As 2021 comes to an end, and we take a moment to celebrate 15 years of Giggle, we also look to the future. We intend to continue to create spectacular content for both live and virtual events, combined with beautiful animation and film with storytelling at their heart. We aim to always be at the forefront of our industry. We will continue to research and develop new technology solutions that can enhance the work we create for our clients.
We would like to take this momentous occasion to thank all of our team, suppliers, partners, freelancers, family and friends but especially our clients. Their continued trust and belief enable us to evolve and grow in ways we could never have imagined.
Roll on 2036 for our 30th Birthday!
If this has inspired you to work with us then please contact [email protected] or call 0117 972 0081.
Lockdown puppies. Admit it. You considered one. A little companion to keep you company working from home, a playmate for the kids and a reason to get out for your 10,000 steps each day. And if you did end up getting one? You’re not alone.
According to the BBC more than 3.2 million more pets were bought during lockdown. Veterinary charity PDSA’s research shows nearly 2 million of these were puppies, with many owners saying it was the first time they had owned a pet.
Over the same period 1.4 million more claimants registered for financial support as the pandemic effectively stopped people being able to earn a living. More pets, more first time owners and more economic uncertainty. A perfect storm for PDSA who treat the pets of owners who cannot afford veterinary treatment.
PDSA turned to CRM specialists Flourish to develop a campaign to raise awareness and money to meet the forecast jump in demand for their services. The resulting Give Pets a Fighting Chance campaign went live in late November 2021.
An initial priming film was shared on social and via email underlining just how much pets mean to us and have enriched our live during lockdown. This was followed by a fundraising phase on social, email and via direct mail to existing supporters.
The campaign celebrated pets, paying homage to just how amazing they are for our physical and mental wellbeing. This celebration provided the platform from which to ask for donations witch communications suggesting that: “For all pets do for us, they deserve a fighting chance.”
The response to the campaign has been incredible, with celebs including Ricky Gervais, Michaela Strachan, Alesha Dixon and James from the Vamps showing their support on Twitter.
Preliminary results are incredibly encouraging with the campaign being well on track to meet its financial targets to make sure any increase in need for PDSA services will be met.
Laura Tovar Senior Account Director at Flourish said: “The potential increase in need for PDSA services had to be addressed, and quickly. We’ve been working with PDSA for 3 years now and in that time our campaigns have always hit their targets and often smashed them. Our Give Pets a Fighting Chance campaign has been well-received and I have no doubt that many pets lives will be saved as a direct result of it”.
If you have a CRM project you’d support with, you can get in touch with Flourish by contacting Steve Davis. Alternatively take a look at some of our work.
*Aardman Director to support The Grand Appeal this year with exciting content exclusively for Jingle Jam gamers*
The world’s biggest games charity event, Jingle Jam, brainchild of Bristol-based gaming company, The Yogscast, is back today for its 10th anniversary, and better than ever, raising vital funds for Bristol Children’s Hospital dedicated charity, The Grand Appeal.
Each year, Jingle Jam raises millions for charities around the globe through its Games Collection, which is available for fans to get their hands on in return for a donation to their chosen cause.
This year, Jingle Jammers will have the opportunity to jump into the world of Aardman with Director & Designer, Gavin Strange. Creative power-house Gav will be doing a dedicated stream allowing fans to have a sneak peek into life at Aardman and provide the opportunity to ask him any burning fan questions. Audiences will also be able to receive the Games Collection in return for donating to The Grand Appeal.
Fans can get hold of the stream on Sunday 12th December as part of this years much anticipated Jingle Jam charity event which goes live today on 1st December at 5pm on the Yogscast Twitch channel. It finishes at midnight on 14th December.
Jingle Jam has raised a massive £15m for numerous different charities in the last 10 years. Previous Jingle Jam Games Collections have featured dozens of games worth hundreds of pounds, with this year’s bundle worth over £600. Organisers are aiming for the Jingle Jam Games Collection to be the number one gifting purchase for Christmas this year, with the aim to raise thousands of pounds for each of its 14 chosen charities.
The partnership with The Yogscast has raised over £1.1 million for The Grand Appeal since 2017 to fund a ground-breaking new development for Bristol Children’s Hospital. The pioneering new patient development will be one of the first of its kind in the UK for sick children and their families.
Nicola Masters, director of The Grand Appeal, commented: “The Jingle Jam is a fantastic and much-loved event across the globe that raises an incredible amount of money for worthy causes each year. The Games Collection is exceptional value for money, and we’re always blown away by the incredibly generous support we get for The Grand Appeal from the gaming community.
“This year, we are very excited to have the opportunity for Grand Appeal supporters to get involved with Jingle Jam by streaming their own content and where fans can purchase the Games Collection directly from. We are honoured to have Gav’s involvement and no doubt it will be hugely popular, and that Jingle Jam 2021 is going to be a roaring success for everyone.”
Gav Strange, Director and Designer at Aardman added: “Jingle Jam has become one of the key calendar dates for gamers in the UK and globally. Creating fantastic gaming content all in the name of raising money for charities like The Grand Appeal is a brilliant initiative and I’m really stoked to be able to do my bit to help this year.’
During the first two weeks in December, more than fifty Jingle Jam streamers are involved in special events – such as cooking, painting, poker, karaoke and more. For the first time this year, any creator keen to join in with the Jingle Jam can set up their own fundraising streams, with their audiences also able to receive the games collection in return for donating to charity.
Jingle Jam was the brainchild of Lewis and Simon of Yogscast in 2011, when they asked fans to donate to Oxfam via a Just Giving page, rather than send them Christmas presents. As the largest YouTube gaming channel at the time, Jingle Jam rapidly grew to include, live streaming, unique content and the introduction of specially curated bundles known as the Jingle Jam Games Collection.
The new ‘Intro to Game Art’ short course will give you an insight into the world of game art, exploring the range of roles and essential skills needed to get you started when exploring a potential future career in game art. There is a host of exciting modules that your tutor will guide you through, including:
Planning and producing work to a design brief.
Working in the games industry
Concept art for computer games
Modelling for computer games
This new and exciting programme is designed to equip individuals (aged 19+) with the technical skills, knowledge and understanding needed to produce digital content across several platforms, ensuring you can use social media most effectively for your small business, sports team or trade.
This course will provide a great opportunity for you to develop media production techniques, such as camera operating (on mobile devices, DSLR cameras and broadcast cameras), video editing, graphics and motion graphics to produce content for Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and more. There is a host of exciting modules that your tutor will guide you through, including:
Planning your Project
Camera Production Techniques
Sound Recording Techniques
Editing Techniques
boomsatsuma launches a new BA (Hons) Visual Effects Degree, with the appointment of John Rowe as Head of Animation and Visual Effects, Nov 21.
Extending boomsatsuma’s Higher Education skills training into the expanding Creative Industries sector, the new BA (Hons) Visual Effects, and newly announced BSc (Hons) Web Design and Development Degrees, are in-line with the national strategy for digital skills training, with transferrable skill sets that cross over into many industry sectors.
John Rowe has written the Visual Effects focussed course content, with industry support and approval, and he will lead its delivery to students from September 2022. He brings extensive experience and expertise in 3D visual effects, including his previous role creating digital courses at the National Film and Television School. John states:
“This course will give students the skills they need to gain employment in the expanding creative industries. It is driven by the needs identified by employers, both now and in the future, so we are listening closely to our commercial partners when constructing course content. It is particularly focused on training and empowering the storytellers of the future, using state-of-the-art technologies and software.
“boomsatsuma has a proven history of connecting the diverse communities across the West Country with creative companies, through education pathways that empower students to find their own voices, which I am delighted, and proud, to be a part of.”
The new Visual Effects degree supports boomsatsuma’s ambitious plans to develop socially diverse talent for the creative and tech sectors. It complements boomsatsuma’s existing degrees in Filmmaking (Production and Post Production) and Game Art and will be designed to encourage people to think about visual effects and game engines not just for the creative industries, but also for other sectors – from health to architecture.
For more course information and details on how to apply follow the link to https://www.boomsatsuma.com/visualeffects.
Vegan charity Viva! has launched its first-ever TV ad, with a brave concept by Bristol video production agency, Skylark Media.
The renowned vegan charity hopes to raise £40,000 to screen the advert to more than 16 million people on Channel 4.
The ad follows a meat-eating couple ordering a takeaway online from ‘Just Meat’, a fictional delivery app. They order ‘pulled pork’ and are shocked to discover a small piglet, with the delivery driver holding a butcher knife. Voiced by actor Peter Egan, the ad centres around the lost connection between animals and our plates – and leaves the viewer with a dilemma: would you kill the pig?
Skylark worked collaboratively with Viva! founder Juliet Gellatley and Canpaigns Manager Laura Hellwig. Skylark’s concept took its inspiration from the popularity of food delivery apps, and the disconnect between the nation’s love of pets and farm animals. Juliet says, ‘We worked with Skylark on some smaller projects and we were so impressed that I felt really comfortable going forward with this bigger project. Ultimately Viva! is about saving animals and Skylark completely get Viva! and what we’re about, and that’s been really important to us too.’
‘We wanted to reflect the passion behind the Viva! brand with an impactful creative,’ said Skylark’s MD, Jo Haywood. ‘Once we had talked to our advisors at Clearcast and got the script cleared for broadcast we could get into production, the hardest part of which was definitely casting the pig!’
The project was awarded to Skylark following the creative production of Viva!’s Vegan Recipe Club and This Is Fine campaigns this year.
For more details of Viva!’s crowdfunder: https://viva.org.uk/tv-ad/
Atomic Smash is a WordPress and WooCommerce specialist agency run by Piers Tincknell and David Darke. Based in Bristol, we’re a growing team of 17 who help businesses to improve and evolve their digital platforms through long-term partnerships.
We’ve been working with WordPress for over a decade and we’re experts at what we do. Not only do we help our clients achieve their commercial goals through constant evolution and improvement of their WordPress and WooCommerce platforms, but we’re also deeply integrated within the local WordPress and creative communities.
Adding to our WordPress credentials, Atomic Smash is now a WordPress VIP partner agency.
Offering peace of mind that your site can scale for billions of site visitors instantly, WordPress VIP is a powerful platform for enterprise. Working with WordPress VIP means our team of developers can build flexible websites with security and reliability that meets enterprise needs at scale.
At Atomic Smash, we help our clients improve their WordPress and WooCommerce sites over time so their websites are always performing at their best. This comes to life through our Always Evolving model and the WordPress VIP platform aligns perfectly with this philosophy by offering an infrastructure that can grow with your business.
With the WordPress VIP platform, we can continue to enhance our clients’ sites while:
Piers Tincknell, Co-founder and Managing Director of Atomic Smash said:
“I am really excited about working closer with WordPress VIP and bringing those benefits through to our clients. The work they are doing with the wider WordPress community is amazing and we are really proud to be part of that.”
David Darke, Co-founder and Operations Director of Atomic Smash said:
“Gaining access to the WordPress VIP ecosystem is going to be an amazing resource for our current and future Enterprise level WordPress clients.”
Jeff Mills, Partner Director, EMEA at WordPress VIP said:
“I am pleased to welcome the Atomic Smash team to the expanding WordPress VIP Partner Program. Their extensive knowledge with Enterprise WordPress combined with their ‘Always Evolving’ mantra ensures a great, strategic approach to building websites. They are an amazing asset to the whole WordPress community.”
Through our partnership with WordPress VIP, our clients will be able to create even more impactful digital experiences for their customers while driving better results for their businesses.
Are you interested in knowing how we could support your business by making your website work harder? Let’s talk.
Bristol Institute of Performing Arts
Our team is made up of industry professionals from all corners of the creative industries. Performers will be put through their paces by our academic team of performers, directors and choreographers which is supported by our Student Experience and academic support teams.
Our Purpose Built Campus
The Bristol Institute of Performing Arts is based at the SGS WISE Campus a £17.5 million pound campus designed for sporting, performing and visual arts excellence.
Olympus Theatre
The Olympus Theatre based at the Bristol Institute of Performing Arts/SGS WISE Campus has been producing and receiving theatre on a local and regional scale for almost 15 years. Since opening in 2005, the cultural and creative significance has exceeded expectations, making The Olympus a premier destination for theatre performance and education in the South West region.
Our Students perform in our 250 seat auditorium which holds over 35 productions a year through our in house production team.
Studio 22 Theatre
The Studio 22 Theatre is our most diverse performance space, kitted out with fully flexible seating which allows a variety of production design styles. Students will be immersed into a space designed for intimate productions, showcases and cabaret performances. The Studio 22 theatre can accommodate an audience of up to 80.
10 Studios & Workrooms
All our dance studios are equipped with sprung flooring, mirrors, barres and a speaker system. Our rehearsal rooms also feature a range of equipment and speakers
Studio 1 – Dance StudioStudio 2 – Rehearsal StudioStudio 3 – Dance StudioStudio 4 – Dance StudioStudio 5 – Dance StudioStudio 6 – Rehearsal StudioStudio 7 – Rehearsal StudioStudio 8 – Rehearsal StudioStudio 9 – Rehearsal StudioStudio 10 – Practice RoomWorkroom 1 – Scenic Design WorkshopWorkroom 2 – Technical TheatreWorkroom 3 – Costume & Scenic Store
Since opening in October, Gather Round Brunswick Square is already home to a bustling creative community. For a limited time only, Gather Round are offering a free day pass so you can try out the new space for yourself.
Designed for creatives, by creatives
Bristol-based Gather Round is a growing family of unique, soulful, creative workspaces, purposefully designed for creatives by creatives. Its mission is to build remarkable co-working spaces where creative thinkers and doers can connect, collaborate and thrive.
Founded by Fiasco Design owners, Ben Steers and Jason Smith, Gather Round’s flagship workspace in the Cigar Factory, Southville, opened its doors to Bristol’s curious creative community in 2019. The second space on Brunswick Square, St Pauls, opened last month and supports up to 90 professionals; freelancers, self-employed and micro businesses, from the surrounding areas of St Pauls, Montpelier, Easton, St George, Kingsdown and more.
Split over three floors, the beautiful Grade II listed building provides flexible areas with fixed and casual desks, private studios, meeting rooms, hang-out areas, communal tables and quiet areas for contemplation. It also boasts a dedicated private event space with a 60-person capacity.
A community of creatives
Its members are a truly eclectic and talented bunch; designers, writers, filmmakers, publishers, photographers, brand strategists and more. The supportive, collaborative community is valued as highly by members as the beautifully designed workspaces themselves: “Collaborating with exciting and interesting individuals is what gets me out of bed in the morning. – Gareth Rutter, Founder and Creative Director of Bellow Studio.
Gather Round offers private studio, resident and co-working membership options, with part-time flexible co-working costing £110 per month (plus VAT), and full-time memberships from £195 (plus VAT).
Get Your Free Day Pass Today
Knowing that signing up to a co-working space can feel like a big step, Gather Round are offering a free day pass* for Brunswick Square so you can try out the space for yourself. Get your free day pass here.
*For November only.