LoveLove Films’ Managing Director Georgina Hurcombe, Scriptwriter Oliver Selby and Animator JoAnne Salmon attended the Digital Wave exhibition as guest speakers at the BIC in Bournemouth, where over one thousand students gathered to explore the world of digital media and to be inspired by numerous experts in the industry.

Digital Wave, now in its third edition, took place right at the centre of Bournemouth, the UK’s fastest growing digital economy, and attracted over 1,100 students from 30 local schools and colleges.

Digital Wave is an exhibition dedicated exclusively to 14-19 year olds interested in entering the digital and creative industries and it aims to shine a light on all the degree, college, apprenticeship and career opportunities on offer in both the region and the UK.

LoveLove Films team members offered an insight into how they came to be in the industry, from what inspired them, to how they made their first steps into the sector through an insightful panel discussion, showing examples of their work and talking about life at LoveLove Films. With a particular emphasis on young people, the team were in a perfect position to inspire the youthful and talented crowd. Managing Director Georgina was just 25 when she founded the company 7 years ago, while at only 22, a year after graduating with a 1^st from Bournemouth University, Oliver has already become a great asset for the team. Animator JoAnne, too, has never let her Treacher Collins Syndrome hold her back from living her dream of becoming an animator, recently leading the team that won an award for the 2017 animation ‘We Save Land’.

LoveLove Films have always been known to inspire and encourage young talented people in the industry. They have won the prestigious VoIP Unlimited Engagement with Education Award 2015 at the Dorset Business Awards, which recognised the company’s hard work in providing local young people with the opportunity to gain industry experience and improve their professional skill-set.

Moreover, MD Georgina took part in the BOSS Talks series, a podcast series powered by Think, Create, Do and ran by radio professional Nathan Thomas who ‘finds out what the bosses are really thinking’ and is aimed to inspire young people. The LoveLove team are dedicated to providing local students and young people with the tools needed to kick-start their career in the industry. This year, we have ran workshops for Bournemouth University students that aimed to cover every aspect of the production process. Georgina also spoke at the RTS ‘Meet the Professionals’ event and is an ambassador for Silicon South’s ‘Digital Horizons’, an initiative designed to help encourage the next generation of young talent into the blooming digital, tech and creative industries located in Dorset.

LoveLove Films are extremely proud of all the links to the local community, both in Bournemouth and Dorset: “Not only are we committed to nurturing the talent of the next generation of local students, but we also understand the importance of supporting them to help them gain some invaluable industry experience.”

LoveLove’s award-winning New Talent Placement Scheme, which takes around 30 people a year and gives young people the chance to experience working within a vibrant production company environment, was a much-discussed topic at the event.

80% of the LoveLove team, including part-time, full-time and freelance, is made up from the placement scheme. The New Talent placement scheme takes an innovative and exciting approach to utilizing young talent to the greatest benefit of both the company and the young person looking for industry experience. The scheme takes an incredibly immersive approach to placement spaces and proactively assists with growing the professional knowledge, practice and experience of each placement student.

For the past two years as part of Digital Wave, LoveLove Films have run a ‘Win a Placement’ competition, where students of all ages designed their very own character during in the hope of winning the opportunity to create the animation in full at the LoveLove Films studio. Last year’s competition was won by Caitlin Holloway from Blandford as she became one of the 30 placement students a year to join LoveLove team.

The team was delighted to take part once again at Digital Wave and hopes to have inspired a new wave of young and aspiring members of the digital media world.

For more information on Digital Wave, visit: http://digitalwave.org.uk/