Students on the Animation BA Honours, Illustration and Visual Communications BA Honours and Graphic Communication Design BA Honours courses have produced the title sequence for this year’s Royal Institution Christmas Lectures hosted by the BBC.
Students from the University of Westminster have produced the title sequence for the Christmas Lectures for the second year running, with Animation BA Honours students producing the title sequence for the 2020 programmes in just ten days.
In the 2021 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam was joined by a host of top UK scientists to take a deep dive into the science of viruses. In the three lectures, Van-Tam discussed viruses, and revealed why discoveries and advances made during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic mean that biological science will never be the same again.
University of Westminster students who are studying Animation, Illustration and Graphic Design worked collaboratively to produce an animated title sequence for the three programmes.
Every year the BBC hosts the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, and with an audience of two million, the lectures are something of a Christmas tradition. Apart from a four-year break during the second world war, the lectures have been held every Christmas since 1827, when renowned scientist Michael Faraday delivered the first one from the famous lecture theatre of the Royal Institution.
The links between the Royal Institution and the University of Westminster go back a very long way. In 1847, Professor John Henry Pepper became the first director of the Royal Polytechnic Institution, which was the antecedent organisation of the University, and began delivering his own series of scientific lectures to the working people of London, from the Royal Polytechnic on Regent Street.
Professor Pepper is best-known for this stage illusion ‘Pepper’s Ghost’, which was the origin for the modern stage hologram. Michael Faraday took a great interest in the Ghost Illusion, and Professor Pepper gave him a behind-the-scenes tour to explain its secret. Pepper’s Projection Theatre is now the University’s Regent Street Cinema, which hosted Britain’s first film screening in 1896. Both institutions have continued in their mission to educate, inform and entertain to this day.
Talking about creating the titles, Animation student Charly Korda said: “We had such a large team this year and it was quite an exciting feat to produce and coordinate with this many people. I am really thankful for the team’s quality and ability to adapt along the way. I hope everyone enjoyed watching it as much as we did making it!”
Stephen Ryley, Course Leader for the Animation BA Honours course, added: “I am extremely proud of our students; they have been able to deliver a really dramatic title sequence, operating effectively as a dynamic and proactive team. They were working for three clients at once; the production company, the Royal Institution and the BBC – so to keep them all happy is a great achievement.”
Filmed in the iconic lecture theatre at the Royal Institution, the lectures were broadcast to an estimated audience of over 2 million viewers on BBC Four at 8pm on 28, 29 and 30 December.
Watch the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures on BBC iPlayer.
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