Spotlight on Mike Mawbey, Portfolio Risk Manager
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Throughout the past year, Creative Enterprise Evolve has been working closely with a cohort of exciting start-ups, each of which is making waves in the UK’s screen-sector. As the programme nears its end, many of our founders will soon pitch their concepts and plans to scale to a batch of potential investors. To shine a light on the cohort during his key moment, we thought we’d take you on a whistle-stop tour of each team and the amazing work they’re doing in shaking up the media and entertainment industries. Let’s take a look…
Enter The World of Spatial Audio with Kinicho
Familiar with spatial audio? You soon will be. Kinicho has developed a solution for headphone manufacturers that gives users a real-time way to experience audio as if they were not wearing headphones at all. By simulating the way soundwaves radiate, their concept gives headphone wearers the illusion of sound that is in the world around them. It doesn’t matter how much they move their head, the sound stays mapped to the world – just like it would in real life. Audio might be attached to an object such as when watching a movie it is coming from their screen or even multi-speaker surround set up like in the best cinemas. A soldier on the battlefield can receive reconnaissance information with precise, life saving spatial accuracy. With the smart headphone sector tipped to be the next big media boom, Kinicho are perfectly placed to ride a wave of success. Find out more by visiting their website.
Choose Your Own Adventure With Charisma.ai
Yelling at the telly after your favourite Bake Off contestant is sent home prematurely? What if the telly yelled back? It’s this two-way viewing experience that Charisma.ai hopes to shepherd into homes across the world by giving storytellers the tools needed to create their own interactive features. Series like Black Mirror and its choose-your-own-path Bandersnatch episode showed streaming services the potential this type of engaging entertainment holds, and with lockdown fuelling our reliance on gamified media, its popularity is only going to increase. When it does, Charisma will be leading the way. Discover more by visiting their website.
Discover Your New Favourite Comic with The Comedy Crowd
The Comedy Crowd hooks broadcasters and brands up with tomorrow’s next big comedy talent. Their open, community driven approach features over 9000 different creators who they work with to showcase and develop new content. It’s a service that not only helps new makers find their voice but one that broadcasters and brands can use to harness the power of comedy in an ever-changing industry. With lockdown keeping comedy clubs closed, the Comedy Crowd thrived as a way for comics looking to connect with new audiences, leaving it perfectly poised for post-COVID success. Find out more by visiting their website.
Enjoy Musical Theatre With Stagescreen Ltd
Stagescreen Ltd aims to bring the glitz and glamour of a night at the theatre to your sofa and movie screen by broadening the horizons of Event Cinema. While much of this fast-growing sector focuses on replicating the opera or NT Live experience, this new take focuses on West End and Broadway musicals, giving viewers a front-row seat for shows like Riverdance, Oklahoma! and more. All musicals shown in event cinema have made profits, and demand exceeds supply. Stagescreen’s expertise came into its own during lockdown, with viewers stuck indoors and longing for live entertainment – what we couldn’t see in theatres we streamed in our homes, creating an exciting new market for the company. With a library of titles ready and waiting to be shown – and an eye on tackling the live-music sector next – the future for Stagescreen Ltd looks bright. Find out more about its founder Chris Hunt here.
Access Diverse Production Talent with Gritty Talent
Gritty Talent is an ai tool and app designed to change the way the UK’s Production Services sector sources creative talent. By using algorithms that prioritise people from BAME, disability or low-income groups, it gives a diverse range of new faces the foot-in-the-door they need to secure their dream roles, both in front of the camera and behind it. On the flip side of the coin, it offers recruiters an array of features that replicate the all-important networking and workflow methods that were snubbed out during lockdown. Helping new talent start their careers and broadcasters meet their diversity targets – it’s a win-win. Learn more by visiting the Gritty Talent website.
Step Into a New World With Moonraker VFX
The award-winning Moonraker VFX specialises in creating eye-popping visual content. As approved creators for big-name streamers like Apple and Netflix, they can typically be found making stunning visuals for science and natural history-themed movie and TV projects, alongside creating immersive educational features for museums, visitor attractions and family entertainment centres. Comfortable working on 60-foot cinema screens and tiny VR headsets, they recently secured £500k to create their first film to be played on giant screens around the world. They’re now starting to use their skills to create their own IP – they’ve already teased flying meteors and erupting volcanoes – and we can’t wait to see what they dream up. Explore their work by visiting the Moonraker website.
Revolutionise Advertising and entertainment with Interflix
Interflix creates interactive films that directly engage audiences and have huge potential for clients and advertisers. Imagine having clickable, decision based adverts that reflect your preferences. Discover the computer that suits you best, select the type of Gin you prefer or even which car James Bond should drive. At the end, the products can even be added to your cart, all whilst unobtrusively collecting this data for the Brands to better understand their consumers.
These brands can then appear as product placements in Interflix’s short interactive films. It’s a service that harnesses our love of interactive content and gamification – and repackages it in a way that benefits advertisers. See more by visiting their website.
Experience Stories From New Audiences with Parity Pictures Ltd
Parity Pictures works with diverse storytellers across the UK to ensure stories created by unrepresented demographics reach mainstream audiences. They aim to connect the dots between new voices and the people who commission stories, and help fresh talent package their work and perfect their pitch. It’s a service that feels all too timely – especially following 2020’s Black Lives Matter movement and the stark lack of diversity that sadly still exists within mainstream media. Following this seismic cultural shift, content commissioners are desperate to engage with untapped talent from new backgrounds – and Parity Pictures provides that exact service. The company is a commercial spin-off from Resource Productions CIC – learn more by visiting their website.
Push the Boundaries of Visual Effects With Topaz Virtual Productions
Shows like Disney’s The Mandalorian are pushing the boundaries of green-screen virtual set creation, and companies like Topaz Virtual Productions will help them do it. Aimed at advertising, film and high-end television projects, their studio will be a hub for all those looking to create cutting edge visual effects. Boasting an LED green screen stage, XR stage and volumetric capture facilities all in one-space, Topaz will be a one-stop-shop for productions large and small, giving them space to create and transform their ideas into reality. Learn more about their Director Ian Armstrong here.
Hit Play With Expanding Game Developers Radical Forge
Since 2017, games company Radical Forge has been creating and developing titles for a range of well-known consoles including PC, XBox, Oculus Quest, iOS, Android and Nintendo Switch. In 2020, they shifted their priorities to focus on the creation of their debut IP Bright Paw – a narrative puzzle game which put players into the fuzzy feet of an evil supervillain’s pet cat. During a time where home entertainment has become a hot commodity, a team with adventure, innovation and flair as their driving force is surely one to keep an eye on. Browse their work by visiting their website.
Create Insightful Branded Content With Nemorin
From conception to delivery, Nemorin creates bespoke branded video content for commercial clients such as giffgaff. With their wealth of experience in this sector, they have came up with a new idea which will revolutionise media advertising. For marketing teams, their new artificial intelligence-powered platform provides unrivalled insights into how your video performed and why – helping to accurately measure return on investment. Find out more about Nemorin’s service by visiting their website.
The Pitch event is open to investors and will take place on April 15th. The session will comprise of pitches, interactive demos and a chance to talk to the founders themselves. If you’d like to attend, please register your interest here.
