Final-year BA (Hons) Filmmaking student recently created stunning visuals for Manchester Psych Fest as part of their internship with the festival.
Charlie Andrews, a BA (Hons) Filmmaking student from School of Digital Arts (SODA) recently completed an internship with Manchester Psych Fest, an annual city-wide festival which attracts 6,000 attendees. The internship offered the chance to work closely with the festival’s Video Editor to create visual artwork to promote the festival and to act as visual backdrops during the event.
Charlie explained that the experience of working with a major brand was both exciting and challenging: “A crucial challenge I found was, working with an already established and beloved Manchester brand and giving it something fresh and distinctive, while still retaining the, iconic, essence of the festival. Finding that balance, and stepping slightly out of my comfort zone with video design in a music festival context, was tricky but incredibly satisfying”.
Throughout the course of the internship Charlie was tasked with matching the festival’s visual identity of fast paced, chaotic colour and overlapping textures while also injecting his own artistic influence. Charlie commented on how he balanced this: “I’m really drawn to visuals that feel immersive and tap into sensory filmmaking; basically the kind that fully envelops you within work. I’m inspired by data moshing, vibrant colour grades, and layered textures. Anything that creates a sense of atmosphere that lingers, really resonates with me. Specific work that has inspired me throughout this placement would include Michel Gondry’s music videos for their distinct surrealism in tone and pacing. During this placement, I came to understand that while it is essential to adhere to your brief, if you handle the work with empathy, the brief can also provide creative freedom”.
Having created a library of promotional social media videos leading up to the festival, Charlie’s internship culminated in creating larger video pieces to be displayed during the festival. Charlie explained he felt this was a great progression of his work: “The work I have most pride in would be the final installation piece, purposefully made for the festival’s main stage and a separate piece for the SODA LED screen, on display throughout the festival. It felt like the perfect end to the whole process”.
Charlie added that he will be taking lots of the experience from this internship into his future career: “Now that I’ve completed my undergraduate degree, I’m eager to take my creative skills into more projects like this in the working environment. This invaluable experience has helped me mature and hone my practice towards my professional goals in post-production and video design”.
