Jammy Custard Animation

'Finding the right level of animation can be overwhelming if it's not something you've done before, but we'll help you find the right level and no matter what will make sure whatever you need to say reaches your audience.' 

- Carla Slack, Lead Animator

Whether you need characters to connect with your audience or snappy motion graphics that grab their attention, it starts by supporting you through the production process to create the best possible video for your project! 

We're always on hand to guide you to the best possible outcome. Click the link in our profile to check out our website and read more about how we can help you, or use our Free Project Brief Assessment to find out how to get the most out of your project.

👀 We’ve got a new look, a new showreel and new ideas. We’re ready to help make lives better with the power of animation! 

Get in touch now to find out how we can help you spread your message 📨

Did you know as well as apps for buying secondhand clothes there are apps for swapping clothes? As Seren ⭐ discovers sometimes you can find hidden gems in return for something you hated!

👕🧦👚 Clothes swaps can also be a great event to run in your community to meet new people and a new wardrobe! Why not see what's around in your area?

Head over to Kickstarter to find out what special item Seren gets in a clothes swap, or get some other sustainable fashion ideas from Friends of the Earth Cymru!

https://foe.cymru/amdani/sustainable-fashion/sustainable-fashion-things-we-can-do

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A wyddoch chi, yn ogystal ag apiau ar gyfer prynu dillad ail law bod yna apiau i gyfnewid dillad? Fel y mae Seren ⭐ yn darganfod, weithiau gallwch ddod o hyd i berlau cudd yn gyfnewid am rywbeth yr oeddech yn ei gasáu!

👚🧦👕 Gall cyfnewid dillad hefyd fod yn ddigwyddiad gwych i’w gynnal yn eich cymuned i gwrdd â phobl newydd a chwpwrdd dillad newydd! Beth am weld beth sydd o gwmpas yn eich ardal chi?

Ewch draw i Kickstarter i ddarganfod pa eitem arbennig y mae Seren yn ei chael ar system gyfnewid dillad, neu i gael syniadau am ffasiwn cynaliadwy eraill gan Gyfeillion y Ddaear Cymru!

https://foe.cymru/cy/amdani/ffasiwn-gynaliadwy-pethau-y-gallwn-ni-eu-gwneud

Working towards something together is what 'Dear Seren' 🌟 is all about, and this week's 'Seren's Scheme' is all about looking for the places where a little of your time can make a big difference. 💪

Why not see if there's a community garden where you live, they can be great ways to meet people, practice a little mindfulness and help create a fresh supply of local fruit, veg or even flowers! With a lot of hands to help it won't be long before your garden and your community are blossoming! 🌸 🍅 🍏 🍎

Find out how Seren's community grows up with her on Kickstarter and what you could do to help green spaces in your area using Friends of the Earth's handy page

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Gweithio tuag at rywbeth gyda'ch gilydd yw hanfod 'Dear Seren'🌟 , ac mae 'Cynllun Seren' yr wythnos hon yn ymwneud â chwilio am lefydd lle gall ychydig o'ch amser wneud gwahaniaeth mawr. 💪

Beth am weld a oes gardd gymunedol lle rydych chi'n byw, gallant fod yn ffyrdd gwych o gwrdd â phobl, ymarfer ychydig o ymwybyddiaeth ofalgar a helpu i greu cyflenwad ffres o ffrwythau, llysiau neu hyd yn oed flodau lleol! Gyda llawer o ddwylo i helpu ni fydd yn hir cyn i'ch gardd a'ch cymuned flodeuo! 🌸 🍅 🍏 🍎

Darganfyddwch sut mae cymuned Seren yn tyfu gyda hi ar kickstarter a beth allwch chi ei wneud i helpu mannau gwyrdd yn eich ardal chi gan ddefnyddio tudalen ddefnyddiol Cyfeillion y Ddaear

It can be hard to know how and where to start making a difference.

One of the most important parts of Seren's journey is the small steps she takes that make a bigger and bigger impact. That's why every Monday until the end of our kickstarter we'll be sharing a scheme from the film and resources from Friends of the Earth Cymru / Cyfeillion y Ddaear Cymru to help inspire you to make small steps to become a bit greener!

Are there cycle paths or cycleways where you live? The next time you have some time why not hop on your bike and go exploring? The more cycle paths are used, the more they get developed for more people to enjoy, even just spending an afternoon once a month can help!

Head over to Kickstarter to find out more about how Seren changes her community one step at a time, and have a look at Friends of the Earth's Amdani! page on Transport to see what else you could do!

In Case You Missed It: Our Kickstarter with Friends of the Earth Cymru / Cyfeillion y Ddaear Cymru for our short film 'Dear Seren' goes live tomorrow!

We're so excited to share Seren's story with the world and help inspire Wales to a brighter, greener future, but we need your help!

Follow our pre launch page to make sure you stay updated with our progress https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jammycustard/dear-seren-animated-short-film

If you can't donate but would like to help then please like, share and follow us for sneak peeks and a look behind the scenes!

Coming soon: Dear Seren: Animated Short Film Seren is growing up in a small Welsh community where nothing changes but she has big ideas to lead her town towards a greener future

🎉 🎉 With Friends of the Earth Cymru / Cyfeillion y Ddaear Cymru we're over the moon to announce Aimee-Ffion Edwards as the voice of Seren! 🎉 🎉

You may recognise Aimee from Peaky Blinders, Skins, the Detectorists, Inside No 9 and a whole host of other TV, film and theatre

We knew Seren would need to be strong, fearless and kind which Aimee brought in buckets.

We can't wait to show you her full performance, head over to Kickstarter to make sure you hear as soon as we go live on 3 April 👀

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🎉 🎉 Rydyn ni wrth ein bodd cael cyhoeddi mai Aimee-Ffion Edwards yw llais Seren

Efallai y byddwch yn adnabod Aimee o Peaky Blinders, Skins, The Detectorists, Inside No 9 a llu o raglenni teledu, ffilm a theatr eraill.

Roeddem yn gwybod y byddai angen i Seren fod yn gryf, yn ddi-ofn ac yn garedig.

👀 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jammycustard/dear-seren-animated-short-film

Not long ago we shared that we were partnering with Friends of the Earth Cymru / Cyfeillion y Ddaear Cymru to go on a journey with a young person called Seren, and now we need your help on the next leg!

We're super excited to announce that Dear Seren's Kickstarter will be launching April 3rd 2024! If you've ever wanted to make a difference, big or small, please share this post and keep an eye out next week for more information on how to donate!

Together, we can take the next step of Seren's journey!

This we're saying hello to our Creative Producer Saoirse O'Connor!

Saoirse or Squish as she's known, is also responsible for scripting our projects but here she is to give you a bit more insight!

💡 What is it you do?

I'm the Creative Producer and the scriptwriter at Jammy Custard, so I wear a few hats! I work with our clients on what their video needs to say and an initial approach for a project, then develop that idea with the rest of the team.

Projects have different schedules, and we're always working on multiple things simultaneously, so I'm also here to make sure everyone knows where they need to be and when their piece of the puzzle is going to be needed!

✍ What is your favourite thing about your job?

I'm always really aware that a real person is going to sit down and watch our work at some point- working out how we can connect with them and make sure they get what they need out of the video is so satisfying.

I love working with the team and seeing something cohesive come together from everyone's talents. Conspiring with my partner-in-crime Kyle, our Creative Director, about how the visuals and the script work together is always one of my favourite parts of the job.

🌼 What has been your favourite project so far?

I'm proud of our work with the Aneurin Bevan Health Board, particularly on their Dementia Friendly Hospital Charter, where the key audience was people with dementia and their families. We created two characters: Owain who has dementia and Nye, an interpretation of the Healthboard, who have a conversation where Nye listens and acts on Owain's views on what people with dementia need- exactly what the charter was all about!

The video has had a brilliant response from the target audience, and Nye is reappearance for the Healthboard; which just speaks to the effect engaging your audience on a human level can have!

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus!

Have a wonderful St David's Day from all of us at Jammy Custard- may your daffodils bloom bright, your leeks grow green, and your Welsh cakes toast golden!

It's another Meet Me Monday and this week we want to introduce our Creative Director Kyle Abraham!

If you've ever thought to yourself 'wow that looks great' while watching one of our videos, chances are that it's Kyle you should be thanking- so here he is to tell you a little bit more about what he does, take it away Kyle!

👨‍💻 What is it you do?

I'm here to lead and develop our creative projects, which means working with every part of the team to guide the creative vision and achieve our end goal.

Day to day that means I plan and create the look and feel of our work and run around with my lovely Creative Producer and amazing animators to produce work Jammy Custard and our clients consistently can be proud of.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 What is your favourite thing about your job?

The variety of subjects and clients we work with means we're always looking for unique ways of storytelling, and exploring different visual and creative directions is a big drive for me.

I've always wanted Jammy Custard to have a wide range of visual styles in our arsenal, and we've achieved some excellent results with videos that might not look like what you'd usually associate with a medical explainer or the law changes around physical punishment in Wales.

🐢 Dream Project?

In terms of the studio, the dream is to keep having the kind of clients that trusts us to work with them to find the best version of their video, even if it's not what they thought it could be!

Over the last couple of years, we've taken some simple ideas from clients and turned them into impactful and useful short films. Some more of that would be great.

On a personal level, working on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles one day would be a dream come true. See ya!

It's a new week and we're starting off a little differently... welcome to Meet Me Mondays where we introduce a different member of the team and what they do to help tell our clients stories!

This week it's our Founder Patrick, over to you Pad!

What's your role at Jammy Custard?

I'm the founder of Jammy Custard Animation and it's my job to ensure we stick to our mission: making people's lives better by animating stories that stick. I love problem-solving, whether that's helping our clients find ways of getting their audience active, or helping my lovely team develop their ideas! Otherwise, running around like a wet hen keeping everything going.

What's your favourite project of Jammy Custard's?

Cruel question!

But one that created a profound moment of pride for me was working with the Institute of Digital Archealogical and Oxford University on the "Arch of Palmyra" project where the IDA were creating half-scale replica of the Arch of Palmyra, which is a world UNESCO site. It wasn't a large brief and we didn't have a ton of time, but its symbolism and meaning was massive, on world-stage stuff and couldn't be more on mission for me.

Our animated short told the tale of the arch being destroyed and the city's people fleeing, before returning to bebuild the arch, and their lives. Finally, the video was then exhibited in the United Nations Head Quarters in New York as part of a key awareness exhibition. It was a message of hope for a people who's home in Syria had been ravaged by war, and their history left in pieces.

What would be your dream project?

For all their faults and issues, I'm still passionate about the automotive and motorsport industries. I believe they can still make positive contributions to the world, so working with a car manufacturer or motorsport brand is still on my agenda, perhaps exploring the stories of the past and how they can be meaningfully transferred into the future.

We're over the moon to announce that Listen to Me, the short film we created with YEPS has been nominated for a Digital Innovation award at the Youth Work Excellence Awards!

We're all super proud of this project and working with the young people of YEPS to bring their world to life is one of the biggest reasons why! Congratulations to the whole team and fingers crossed for February!

💫 And finally in the 'Digitial Innovation’ category a big shout out to the next finalist, a Mental Health Animation project from .

Congratulations! 👏

See you in Llandudno 22.2.24 when we'll be announcing the winners!

We're over the moon to welcome Charlotte to the team for the next two weeks as she completes a placement with us!

Charlotte's currently in her third year of Illustration at University of South Wales and will be working on an exciting project during her time with us, to check out her work have a look at charl.anne on Instagram! Welcome aboard Charlotte!

Starting anything new can be daunting, but creating a video is especially full-on because there are so many moving parts at each stage of production. We want to take away the anxiety and answer some of the questions that we run into a lot, starting with mood boards!

So what exactly is a mood board, and how important is it really?

A mood board is the first opportunity for us to start to define what your video is actually going to be. That might sound very vague, but that's where the magic of the mood board comes in; it's a wonderfully vague way to drill down into the emotions and style that'll connect with your audience and push them to take action.

When we create a mood board, we're looking to assemble a range of materials that evoke the feeling of a piece. It's where we begin to think about how things like colours and images can work together to help us tell a story or conversely where we discover which directions won't work.

Looking at that first collection of colours and images can feel overwhelming, but it's important to look at it holistically.

Is there anything you're particularly drawn to?

Are there any designs that you think give the right feel for your project?

A mood board isn't about putting a pretty picture together; it's getting us started in the right direction. We need to think about what the people watching will respond to and how we can make it as easy as possible for them to engage. It's easy to be pulled towards images that suit our personal taste, but keeping brand and audience at the heart of our evaluation keeps the focus on the end goal right from the beginning of production.

The mood board isn't about deciding anything for definite but engaging with it can point us in the right direction and give us more avenues to explore to find the right feel for a video.

Can you see how these mood boards helped set the video style?

We've been on the lookout for a project which could feature Dewi the animation dog and it's finally happened.

This happy little chap will be trotting into an important video soon so be on the lookout! Well with a face like that how could we refuse?

Normally, we wait until we have a signed-off script before storyboarding starts, but we realised this project with Swansea Uni needed something a little different. The video focused on deaf people's experiences with healthcare, and we realised that simultaneously storyboarding and scripting meant we could integrate the key messages into the visuals right from the beginning.

Coupled with some strong sound design, this way of working helped create an impactful video where every frame helped give an insight into how we can make accessing healthcare easier for Deaf people!

How do you adapt your process to suit a project better?

Character design is always super important, but particularly when you're bringing a real person to the screen!

Developing the right look for Peter Crouch took time because we needed to be careful not to stray into caricature, but we love revisting the result!

It's easy to think that lots of motions and fancy transitions will keep your audience engaged, but bells and whistles can distract from the important thing: your message and the action your audience needs to take.

This project with Hugh James used only two colours and very little movement, but the simple colour scheme kept the focus on the scenarios and how Hugh James could provide support on probate matters.

Sometimes, keeping things simple makes for a more powerful message!

It's not just about how information flows, the look of your video is crucial to your audience connecting with your key messages. The visuals and the information have to compliment each other for your information to be engaging, especially important if you're using characters.

This project with the Aneurin Bevan Health Board about the Neurodevelopment Service's referral process is a great example of how important it is to keep your audience in mind while you design your characters.

The audience here were potentially autistic children and young people, so we needed to make the character relatable while keeping them as gender neutral as possible so both boys and girls could see themselves in the character's journey. We created the initial concept below, then worked with the client to slowly refine the character into an engaging and believable spokesperson demystifying the referral process.

We love seeing a video come to life, and storyboarding gives us the space to make sure the foundations are strong so we're ready to move forward.

You might think storyboarding will be the first chance to see what your finished video will look like, but most of the time they look quite rough- like this example from a project with the Aneurin Bevan Health board.

But keeping it rough is actually what keeps us focused on the really important part; the story and how the information flows through the video. Often things change because we see a way to make the message clearer or keep the audience engaged!

We have big news! After 12 years of adventures, our co-founder, Matthew Creed, will leave Jammy Custard Animation to embark on a solo quest at the end of September.

Patrick and Matthew began working together as freelancers in 2008, creating music posters for the legendary TJ's music venue in Newport. Today, Matthew's legacy spans hundreds of projects with clients worldwide and is seen by millions on screens, big and small. He leaves us as we conclude our first computer game commission, a project close to Matt's heart, and as we produce films for some of the most critical messages audiences need to hear about the world.

So, while Matt finds new challenges, he can look back knowing he's achieved something special here. The incredible team he has helped create is excited to take the studio forward and to see Matt's future develop.

Patrick Hathaway will remain CEO, and he and the team are ready to make the most out of this seismic shift to grow and renew our mission to be one of the most enjoyable creative studios in Wales. Matthew will still help to review productions and processes through one of the board appointments Patrick is making to hit growth plans.

The team looks forward to revealing changes over the coming months. We have already reviewed the opportunities ahead of the company, are developing a new structure and look forward to changing how we all see the world one story at a time- just as Matt and Patrick set out to do back in 2010 when Jammy Custard was an idea.

For now, though, a huge and heartfelt thank you to Matthew for his dedication, time and care over the years. For getting Lego everywhere and for being Mr. Jammy/Custard - we never worked out which one.

Jammy Custard is pleased to announce Dear Seren, a short film created with Friends of the Earth Cymru / Cyfeillion y Ddaear Cymru.

Voiced by Aimee Ffion Edwards, Sue Terry Voices Ltd, Seren is a small girl about to make a big change to her community.

Follow us on social media to come on the journey with her!

We're working on some lovely website updates.
As you can see, the team photography is going well.