ClwstwrVerse

WELCOME: First Minister Mark Drakeford

Professor Justin Lewis officially opened ClwstwrVerse with a message from Rt Hon Mark Drakeford MS, the First Minister of Wales focusing on the importance of innovation in the creative industries. 

EXHIBITION: Clwstwr Showcase

Our showcase of Clwstwr projects explored the future of entertainment and technology. The work being done by the media sector to impact our future planet and to inform citizens of the future was also showcased.

DEMO: Virtual Production for Comedy

Phillip Moss, Managing Director, Small and Clever Productions

Small and Clever Productions, a Cardiff-based TV production company, shared how they researched virtual production technology and developed ways to implement it into their production process.

TALK: Reimagining Journalism 

How do we rethink journalism so that it better reflects the world, provides more useful information, inspires trust and helps us all live better lives? In this session, award-winning journalist, researcher and community organiser, Shirish Kulkarni was joined by collaborators from BBC News Labs, EYST (Ethnic Minorities and Youth Support Team Wales) and Clwstwr project Lewnah as well as Clwstwr’s Professor Justin Lewis and Sally Griffith to set out how they’ve addressed these fundamental questions for journalism and society, by reimagining how and why we tell stories.

TALK: V is for virtual pre-production

Yassmine Najime, Painting Practice

Cardiff-based creative studio, Painting Practice, shared how they researched and developed their revolutionary virtual production film making tool, Plan V. Dreamed up while working on Black Mirror, their Unreal Engine plug-in allows creators to pre-visualise worlds. Plan V has more than 26,000 users and was used by Painting Practice on His Dark Materials to shoot angles for fight scenes and to build a high-res virtual model of a fictional town.

TALK: Reinventing Animation Production

Jon Rennie, Managing Director, Cloth Cat Animation

Cardiff animation studio, Cloth Cat, revealed how they integrated game engine technology into their production pipeline to increase efficiency and improve the editing process.

TALK: ClwstwrVerse and the Omniverse

Robin Moore, innovation consultant, looked to the future in this exploration of tech trends.

KEYNOTE

Greg Reed, Vice President of Technology Partnerships and Innovation at Universal Pictures, discussed Web 3.0 and the metaverse.

He was then joined on a panel by Susan Cummings, MD of Tiny Rebel Games and CEO of the Petaverse Network, and Mike Wellings, Co-Founder and CEO of EdenLAB about the potential of these technologies, facilitated by Dr Marlen Komorowski of Clwstwr.

EXPERIMENT: Hissing Currents live user testing

Over the last 25 years, musician and performer Gruff Rhys has experimented in spatialised and augmented sound across many projects. Working with Clwstwr and partly inspired by the challenge of creating remote sonic environments in the age of the pandemic and climate change, Gruff has been developing a new conceptual show called Hissing Currents that has included new technology developed by the BBC - the Audio Orchestrator tool. Gruff conducted an experiment to see how far this particular technology can be pushed at mass events by augmenting a live music piece with screen based audio interaction from the audience.

LIVE EXPERIENCE: Refocus

Award-winning theatre company Hijinx demonstrated Refocus, a suite of products and resources they have developed to assist the screen industries in working more inclusively and increase representation of learning disabled and/or autistic people on screen. This session was a special taster of their new experiential role play training, delivered by Hijinx Actors, and project lead Dan McGowan.

DEMO: Reel Reality

Film fans discovered film and TV locations, unearthed a range of content and built an augmented reality film set via this new genre defining immersive app with filmmaker Rebecca Hardy.

EXPERIENCE: RISE

Join yello brick for a unique audio broadcast. This digital experience encourages listeners to reconnect with both themselves and the world around them.

EXPERIENCE: IJPR

As part of their Clwstwr project, IJPR conducted in-depth research into audience tastes and how they discover the breadth of content available across all streaming services, from mainstream to niche. IJPR is currently using the results of their research to develop a bespoke, curated and data-driven experience to curate the viewing experience and accurately reflect individual tastes, as well as a community with which to share recommendations. As part of their experience, IJPR invited attendees at the Clwstwrverse to come and discuss their favourite TV shows and how they discovered them.

KEYNOTE - Marcus Ryder MBE

Marcus Ryder MBE, is a leading authority in media diversity and author of recent publications, Black British Lives Matter: A Clarion Call For Equality and Access All Areas: The Diversity Manifesto for TV and Beyond which were written in collaboration with Sir Lenny Henry. He is an award-winning journalist with over 25 years of experience and Head of External Consultancies at the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity.

TALK: News in Wales: Lessons Post 2020

Dr David Dunkley Gyimah was in conversation with Marcus Ryder MBE and Pat Younge about how to make the news, and the newsroom, more inclusive.

KEYNOTE: Sian Doyle, S4C

Sian Doyle, CEO of S4C, presented the broadcaster’s approach to innovation. She was then joined on a panel by two Clwstwr projects – Alec Spiteri of Triongl and Aled Jones of Y Pod – to discuss the opportunities, and potential challenges, of bilingual production and distribution of content. This panel was chaired by Clwstwr Co-Investigator, Dr Helen Davies of University of South Wales.

TALK: Greening the Screen

The environmental sustainability projects cultivated by the Clwstwr and Ffilm Cymru Wales Green Cymru Challenge Fund were showcased. A Net Zero Animation Industry, Hybrid Narrative and Maximising Havoc address different aspects of the push towards net zero in TV and film production, from basic choices about format and technology to addressing the practical issues that will enable companies to make more sustainable choices at every stage of the production process.

INTERACTIVE: Creating Innovation with the Creative Industries

Professor Andrew Walters, Director of Research, PDR

In this session, Prof. Andy Walters and colleagues from PDR reflected on the Clwstwr experience to uncover the challenges and the successes in stimulating innovation within the Screen and News sectors. This reflection talked about the use of a design-led approach to Research and Development, the opportunities to enhance sustainability and diversity, and some of the policy recommendations that specifically target the needs of this sector. 

UPSTARTER PANEL: Investing in creative R&D: how can investors work well with creative businesses? 

In Clwstwr we have seen how public funding in creative businesses generates powerful new ideas, but how do we fund the next stage? If we want to build products and services from these ideas or even great growth businesses we need to involve funding and investors. This panel explored the nature of how people with creative R&D ideas get started with investors.

Gill Wildman (Upstarter) was joined by a group of investor guests to explore the nature of how people with creative R&D ideas get started with investors.

LANDSKER PANEL: Investment readiness and raising finance

Landsker and guests explored the challenges and opportunities available for creative businesses with high growth potential to get themselves investment ready. The panel included a number of funders which will help attending businesses to better understand the type of funding available, the documents required/application process, timescales, expected ROI (Return on Investment), exit strategies etc. The panel also included a number of businesses that have successfully gained investment in the past and useful lessons learnt and tips for those embarking on investment for the first time.

Adaptive Podcasting Workshop

BBC R&D have been working on reinventing podcasting in the vision of object-based media. Imagine making podcasts that sound different based on what time your audience is listening, where they are and what language is their default. Then imagine up to 120 layers of audio including binaural audio wrapping your audience in something they can only dream of. This is only the start of what adaptive podcasting can do. Ian Forrester (BBC R&D, Senior Firestarter) led a session that enabled attendees to learn everything you need to start your own journey in adaptive podcasting!

An Introduction to BBC MakerBox   

Welcome to BBC MakerBox: a place for creators to connect, learn, and access cutting edge tools to build brand new projects. This session was an in-depth dive into some of the most recent creations made using MakerBox tools, as well as the tools themselves, including Dance Passion interactive (a creative fusion of dance and interactivity) and Gruff Rhys’ spatial audio album Seeking New Gods.