ScreenSkills invites training providers or industry professionals to tender for new training designed to address skills shortages and gaps and to help build a more inclusive workforce in animation.
Training for the UK animation industry is supported by the ScreenSkills Animation Skills Fund (with contributions from productions companies, broadcasters and SVoDs in the UK).
The Animation Skills Fund is looking for an organisation or individual/s who can design and run an animation layout training programme for ten participants.
Who can apply?
ScreenSkills welcomes applications from individuals, partnerships or organisations that have a proven track record of delivering successful industry-standard training projects.
We particularly welcome applications from providers based in the UK nations and regions, including partnerships between organisations and/or in partnership with freelancers who have worked in layout/visual development roles in animation.
The successful applicant will need to demonstrate their understanding of animation training requirements, including the diversity challenges facing the industry and must clearly demonstrate that they have the resources to track the career progression of participants beyond the life of the programme.
Applicants must:
- demonstrate evidence of appropriate, recent engagement with the industry in the design and delivery of the programme
- meet critical diversity aims as outlined in this tender, including:
- making reasonable adjustments to the training (whether face-to-face, content or online and including during the application process) to make it accessible to a diverse audience – we will ask for evidence of your approach and implementation.
- having an equality policy in place as an employer
- having a monitoring system in place to track the diversity of the delegates, see this guide
- providing diversity and inclusivity training to facilitators – (see free ACAS online training).
- gather long-term destination data from the delegates to prove impact of training utilising the ScreenSkills monitoring questionnaire.
- develop a clear structure for the training, ensuring that it is outcome focused.
- discuss and agree with those taking part in the programme that they will provide feedback on the training if requested which could include providing ScreenSkills with a quote on their experience of the training
Key requirements
The applicant must design, manage, market, recruit and deliver an animation layout training programme for ten participants over a maximum of three days.
The training should be aimed at experienced - mid to senior career level.
The training should offer classroom training and optional mentoring with potential external practitioners to give the participants the skills and knowledge needed to succeed as layout artists in animation:
The training should include:
- composition: rule of thirds, leading lines and framing
- perspective: one-point, two-point and three-point perspectives
- staging: clarity, silhouette, depth and layering
- camera angles and movement: shot-types, camera movements and continuity
- lighting and shadow: light source, shadows and highlights, contrast
- environment and background design: world-building, consistency, interaction
- character and prop placement: integration, proximity, silhouette, and overlap
- storytelling: emotion and mood, visual hierarchy, subtext
The Animation Skills Fund is interested in hearing interpretations of how this programme can be delivered and encourage applicants to recommend further topic areas to enhance this training.
We expect that this training and any related events should be delivered by no later than December 2024.
The training provider will be expected to create a pack of resources and information at the end of the course for all participants and signpost opportunities.
Participant aims
The training should be for a minimum of ten participants based across the UK and should target professionals who have worked in a visual development/animation department for at least one year across one or more animation productions.
The following are the minimum diversity aims for this programme:
- At least 50% of beneficiaries based outside London
- 20% minority ethnic groups (ethnicity aim)
- 50% women (gender aim)
- 10% disability (disability aim)
- 10% LGBT (sexual orientation and gender identity aim)
ScreenSkills aims to go beyond legal diversity requirements and considers additional measures of inclusivity, including:
- employment status
- whether a person is returning to work following leave
- geographical location (including representation of nations and regions)
- socio-economic background
Providing access to diverse crew and talent is key to our delivery objectives. All trainers and companies delivering programmes that are funded by the Animation Skills Fund must meet the identified diversity requirements. If they fail to do so, they must show robust evidence of why a target has not been met. If diversity targets are not met, the project could be at risk of losing funding.
We require all funded programme participants to set up a ScreenSkills profile via our website which allows us to gather data and track beneficiaries.
Participants must complete their profile and diversity data before the training begins.
How to apply
At this stage we are requesting an expression of interest. Please complete this brief document outlining the key aspects of the proposed programme, how the key requirements of the training sessions will be met, information about the company and the provider’s capacity to deliver training.
If you have access requirements and would like an alternative way to submit your application, or would like any support in completing the expression of interest form, please email kieran.argo@screenskills.com or matt.brothers@screenskills.com who will be happy to help.
How much can you apply for?
We are looking for bids of up to £15,000
All our funds are treated as grants and therefore are not applicable for VAT
Deadlines
Please save your completed form with this naming convention: ‘EOI –Animation layout training programme'
Then submit the form via the register interest button below by 28 July 2024
If you are successful in being shortlisted, you will be required to submit an online application form and a budget.
Other useful information
If you progress to full application, we will expect you to detail your plans for ensuring the programme and application process are accessible including, but not limited to, alternative application formats, marketing and the delivery of training.
As part of accessibility, we expect your budget to include a reasonable bursary allocation for delegates who risk being excluded due to costs including, but not limited to, travel and caring responsibilities.
Please ensure that, where applicable, costs are shown in your budget inclusive of VAT.
If you would like to discuss any aspect of this tender, or your proposal, before submitting your Expression of Interest, please contact: kieran.argo@screenskills.com