RTS award-winner to set up animation film company

A Bristol man is planning to set up an animation film company, after winning an award from the Royal Television Society for a film he made while studying at the International Film School Wales (IFSW).
Luke Oram, who comes from Wick near Bristol, won the award for best student animation film in Wales and the West of England for his movie, ‘Brand Wars’, which he describes as a darkly comic vision of a future dystopia. He is now working with two other IFSW graduates to set up the independent animation production company in Newport.
“It was really good to be given an award for something I enjoy doing,” said 23-year-old Oram. “I spent a year making this film at the University of Wales College, Newport (UWCN), and it’s nice to have the recognition for all the hard work that went into it. My film will now go through to the national RTS awards to be held in London in May.”
In the meantime, Oram and his fellow ex-IFSW film entrepreneurs, Daniel Startup and James Smith, are having a series of training and mentoring sessions to prepare them for setting up their own business.
Oram continued: “After graduating, we decided that the best thing to do was form our own company. Money is the biggest problem with setting up any company, and we’re very busy trying to get whatever funding we can, including hopefully some sponsorship from the Prince of Wales Trust.
“We haven’t decided on a name for the company yet, but we do know we want it to incorporate everything we can do – from short films to concepts for television series. We are already shooting a music video for up and coming local band Snorkelmaiden, and are planning two other projects. We hope eventually to make animation feature films.”
Oram is convinced that film-making has a big future in Newport, especially with UWCN’s plans for a brand new £60 million city centre campus which will feature a state-of-the-art design and media school.
“We hope our new company will work closely with UWCN, and once the new city centre campus is established we’ll have a flourishing culture of animation and filmmaking in Newport.”
UWCN boasts a growing number of award-winning filmmakers whose work is gaining a large audience worldwide. Budding filmmakers can find out more about the range of film courses on the University website at www.newport.ac.uk.
(GB)