ART graduates are feeling a surge of pride as their re-enactment of a tsunami is about to be shown on Sky TV.
Former Cleveland College of Art and Design production design for stage and screen students will see their work come to fruition in a man verses nature experiment, with the screening of a four part series Storm City.
Under the direction of production company Pioneer TV, the six graduates who studied at CCAD’s Hartlepool campus, Jess Shaw, Kim Carr, Kris Carr, Billy Cessford, Michael Bate and Darren Miller, worked with a team of experts to recreate the impact of natural forces and investigate their effects.
They were challenged to create a purpose-built two-storey house at the Tees Barrage which was then subjected to a deluge of water to show the catastrophic effects of flooding. They then constructed a giant water tank on Saltburn pier which, using CGI film techniques, was used to recreate the effects of a tsunami.
Ex-CCAD student Billy Cessford, 33, of Redcar, who is now working as a freelance designer for film and television, said: “It was a phenomenal bit of television to be involved in – especially when they had to close Saltburn pier to recreate the tsunami.
“We had a crane with a tonne of water balloons attached to it and a giant water tank. While they were filming I could see how it was all coming together with the CGI effects and it was pretty impressive.”
Each of the students was assigned roles for the production including assistant art director, prop construction, set creator, carpenter and construction manager.
“All the building and filming was done within five weeks for our episode,” explained Billy.
“That included building a two-storey house at the Tees Barrage with specially rigged doors which we had to flood six times before finally destroying it with a massive rush of water.”
Billy, who came to CCAD as a mature student after working as a painter in a factory for ten years, now works on TV and film productions including Song for Marion, with Vanessa Redgrave and Terrance Stamp, BBC’s The Paradise and an up and coming America TV show the Royals, with Liz Hurley.
“I’ve created costumes for Madame Tussauds in London, props for the Horrible Histories film ‘Bill’, based on William Shakespeare, and even made one of the major sets for the Paralympics opening ceremony,” said Billy.
Storm City, presented by Ben Fogle, is set to air on Sky 1 on April 24.
CCAD production design for stage and screen tutor Tony Shaw added: “It is always a thrill to see the names of our students on the credits at the end of any production.
“We have had some incredible graduate successes including Tina Hicks, who has worked on the TV show Waterloo Road and is now in production with Happy Days actor Henry Winkler on a children’s TV show in Manchester; Sam Yeoman, who has worked on DCI Banks; Nick Hope who is collaborating with the Muppets; Rebecca Watson, who has been asked to apply for assistant art director on Coronation Street and has worked with Michael Palin on a production in Yorkshire; and Andy Hodgson who worked on film costumes for Batman and Harry Potter.”
For more information on opportunities at CCAD contact (01642) 288888 or log on to www.ccad.ac.uk.
