CAREERS TALK - WORKING IN ANIMATION WITH JAMES BUTLER WHO HAS WORKED ON BAFTA WINNING SHOWS

On Tuesday we were very fortunate to welcome James Butler who has over 20 years’ experience in the Animation and Creative industry.

Since 2006, James has worked on BAFTA and Emmy winning shows including Peppa Pig and Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom. He also has experience of working on feature films, commercials and animation series.

We learnt how there are 2.2 million jobs in the creative industry and the whole industry generates £108 billion per year to the British economy.

James talked about his journey into animation from having to drop Art in Sixth form as it clashed with Maths, to going on to do a degree in Electronic Imaging and Media Communications.

James explained that it takes one whole day to produce 4 seconds of Peppa Pig and three years to make a new series. Students were taken through the fascinating process of script writing, storyboard, voice recording, layout, animation and sounds FX, Edit and Music.

Within the Animation team there are over 40 roles, including designers, art directors, producers, accountants, editors and writers, many being neurodivergent.

Students then asked James many interesting questions about his career. We would like to thank Speakers for Schools for matching us up with James. Speakers for Schools, a charity, is helping us make sure our students can access inspirational opportunities and experiences to fuel their ambition and raise their aspirations.

“James was very informative about the process of animation and the many different jobs within the industry.  I was impressed by everything that he had worked on previously, and he explained very well how he started out, the barriers and positives of being involved in animation”. Summer (11SAM)