Playable City, in partnership with the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England gives current students and recent graduates from both universities the opportunity to work as interns on the award. Stephen Hartill and I are working on this years Playable City Award winner, Urbanimals.
I am Tanya Charteris-Black, this years communication assistant. I will be involved in aiding with the promotional material for Urbanimals, and assisting with the documentation and evaluation of the project as a whole. I am a current student at the University of the West of England, about to enter my third year of Filmmaking and Creative Media. I decided to get involved with this project because I admire the idea of using interactive media to bring people together. Urbanimals will create shared experience of play and spark conversations between friends and strangers, creating a more fun and united city. I was drawn to this internship as I wish to peruse a career in content creation, be that in filmmaking or creating interactive pieces. This experience will give me a great insight into the industry and teach me many valuable skills needed to peruse my career.
Stephen Hartill recently returned to Bristol after he had been travelling for eight months in New Zealand. He graduated from his MA in Classics and Ancient History while at the University of Bristol. There he became involved in improvised and immersive theatre with student societies, professional productions and the early stages of the Bristol Improv Theatre. He also came to the Watershed to catch as many films as he could, and discovered the Pervasive Media Studio through attending a lunchtime talks. Stephen also played along with both of the previous Playable City projects, and was keen to get involved with 2015’s commission as a result. In particular, the concept of play and collaborative play in an urban environment matched up with a lot of Stephen’s goals from improvised theatre. Stephen’s Production Assistant role will be general catch-all of assistance to the Playable Producer, Hilary O’Shaughnessy. Currently he is working on location scouting for the project, finding the ideal spots in the city to set up the Urbanimals.
Urbanimals will launch in Bristol on September 15. You can follow us on on twitter and instagram @playablecity for updates.