Matt is a highly experienced music and education marketer, with a varied background that includes copywriting, PR and email marketing. His primary focuses are the music, games and esports industries, regularly producing successful pieces from across all three sectors. In his free time, Matt enjoys playing games, perfecting his barista skills and baking.
We recently had a Q&A with Benjamin Shahin-Scales, Access Creative College Lincoln‘s Best Animation/VFX Award winner 2024, to find out more about his time at ACC and his plans for the future.
Congratulations on your ACC Award win. How do you feel?
I feel like I have achieved a new level of success in anything I’ve ever done in my time working on films! I’ve never won many awards, mainly because I didn’t push myself to the best of my ability until I got into Access.
I think with the mindset I set for myself and having the goal of just making fun stuff, I managed to make myself and my family proud.
Tell us about your time at Access. What have you enjoyed about it? What have you learned?
I enjoyed making friends with people on my Animation and VFX course, and learning from them about things they’re passionate about and what led them to start the course.
Friends on the same course as me have given me the ability to share ideas and concepts with people which feeds my creative soul and even learn new ideas which I would not even think of. If anything, they make the course all the more enjoyable.
Have you done anything in the industry outside of your studies? If so, tell us about it!
I have been working on animations which is a big part of the film industry with films like Toy Story and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. I use a free software called Blender and I animate using pixel-styled characters (for now). I aim to try to have something new for each short or film.
I have a YouTube channel which has my animation work on there and I had only started getting really invested in animation since last year. In that time I have learnt to love what I do, despite the intense work which goes into it.
What’s your proudest achievement from your time studying with us?
Getting the award for best animation is the achievement I’m most proud of. I haven’t earned anything else like it other than earning people’s enjoyment from my content, especially since I’ve never aimed to go that far ever in the past when I just kept editing videos. I will continue to better my work as I continue to my second year, and will keep learning from others.
What are your plans for the future? How are you going to take what you’ve learned at Access into your career?
I’m going to take the lessons I’ve learnt through my experience at Access, which come from my mistakes, which goes to show why mistakes can be good when they’re done once because you’ll grow from it when you put your mind to it. I’ve learnt to be more proactive and more productive with the time I had when it came to assignments and to take what I do more seriously.
What advice would you give to someone considering studying at Access?
If you’re going to study a creative subject which you want to turn into your career, you will need to learn to love it. Coming from a creative myself, if I had not taken Film Videography and Photography I would not know where I’d be right now.
It’s key to know what you want to do with your life, and choosing something that’s completely in league with what you want in life will set you on the right track for success and will maybe win you some awards when you put the hard work into it. Work for what you want and learn to enjoy a course and not to take it for granted.
Our team recently caught up with William McDonald, who, alongside his band ‘Rat Salad’, won the Best Band Award for 2024 at Access Creative College’s Birmingham campus.
Why did you form the band and what style of music do you play?
The band was originally formed by myself on vocals and guitar and Jack on bass. Then after a few lineup changes, Fin and Beni joined on drums and guitar, having met after joining Access Creative College in Autumn 2023. We all had similar musical interests and got on well together as mates. We play what we call psychedelic-funk-metal (we don’t really know what we play but that’s what we’re calling it for now).
How do you approach songwriting, performing and rehearsing?
As far as writing songs goes, Will usually comes up with the initial idea, and then brings it to the rest of the band at rehearsals. That’s when we all play our part, and do what we all do best. And after everyone has played their part in the writing process and we’re all happy with it, that’s another song for the setlist.
With performing, we’re usually knocking around either Wolverhampton or Birmingham and our sets are usually packed with all our original music.
Congratulations on your ACC Award win. How do you feel?
Absolutely Jovial!
Tell us about your time at Access. What have you enjoyed about it? What have you learned?
We’ve enjoyed this last year a lot because of forming the band at the start of the year. I’d say the most valuable thing we have learnt is to effectively market ourselves.
What else has the band been up to outside of your studies and winning your ACC Award?
We’re always outperforming around Birmingham and Wolverhampton, and we are currently working on our first single, “Preggo”.
What’s your proudest achievement from your time studying with us?
Our proudest achievement so far was to win the Best Band Award this year.
What are your plans for the future? How are you going to take what you’ve learned at Access into your career?
We will utilise everything we have been taught about marketing to promote the band.
What advice would you give to someone considering studying at Access?
If you are thinking about studying at Access, go for it! The staff are phenomenal and the support offered is unmatched.
Lastly, where can we hear your music and see you performing?
You can see us live usually around Birmingham and Wolverhampton, and watch our videos on our Instagram, TikTok and YouTube – all at ratsalad_uk. And you’ll be able to hear our music on all platforms in the coming months as soon as it’s finished.
We recently caught up with Kerry, ACC London’s Level 2 Games Award Winner for 2024. Kerry told us more about the award win, their time at ACC and career plans for the future.
Hi Kerry, tell us about yourself!
I’m just a young carefree black teenager who values games that hold potential towards the amusement of everyone who deserves it as well as myself. More specifically, I value and play a diversity of games that I see fit because I modify games myself to gain better experience than before by configuring or changing aspects of the game that seek less attention. This led me to study Level 3 Game Art to bring my imagination into a reality from the book I wrote and the games I developed that are direct to the source material.
Congratulations on your ACC Award win. How do you feel?
I feel egocentric since I knew my time was coming from the beginning, but I also feel proud. My mentality has been greatly enhanced by being nominated three or four times for games award. I feel like a king to hear the applause and yells as I go down to receive my well-earned achievements. Furthermore, they showed off my game on the big screen because, upon hearing the incredible soundtrack I had included for the last level, I turned to witness the magnificence of what is known as “art”.
Tell us about your time at Access. What have you enjoyed about it? What have you learned?
What I enjoyed is what the course has to offer, which is the software I was able to develop my games on which is called “Flowlab”. The purpose of this specific software is to make effective and efficient creativity towards your imagination as well as having the tools to guide you through doing so successfully such as the library of sprites you designed by pixel art, and game levels to configure the assets within it. What I learned from this is that behind the scenes, design-wise at that matter, every single sprite within the game that’s developed has an edit.
Have you done anything in the industry outside of your studies? If so, tell us about it!
What I’ve done within my respective industry was develop two games, that being Bequeath Of The Games and King Of The Deep, under the chain of the story called “Chronicle Power”. The story that correlates to the game, the characters that made their debut within the demonstration, where the game is set in the story, the shift of environmental levels, the mechanics of the gameplay, the concepts for the level designs, the art design for the characters, the displacement of the user-interface, the well-fitting music for the backgrounds and more.
What’s your proudest achievement from your time studying with us?
My proudest production I developed and made a huge improvement on so far is the second game I made “King Of The Deep“. Darkiga Blu’, a Laveriant, visited the Underwater Temple to prepare for warfare against the Agotians. The Siverlin Empire, a new army, destroyed the Laveriants’ homeland and their numbers plummeted. To gain strength, Darkiga used the core to defeat the Empire. However, the race and Empire disagreed, and Darkiga used his power to obliterate the Empire. The blood on his victims opened the third eye, and Darkiga embarked on a journey to learn the powers the crystal can bestow upon monsters.
What are your plans for the future? How are you going to take what you’ve learned at Access into your career?
My plans for the future are to start game testing for gaming companies such as Bandai Namco or SEGA, but more specifically debugging or bug-bashing. What I’ll certainly bring with me towards my career is to have good memorisation. This is what it takes to be a game tester as it leads to sticking and committing to something, such as a bug or glitch that will heavily affect the players’ experience by disturbance. Not only that but both flexibility and adaptability need to be shown as well to become more suitable in regards to the bugs and glitches.
What advice would you give to someone considering studying at Access?
“Crawl for the sake of faith, walk for the sake of self-esteem.”
King of the Deep trailer, developed by Kerry Kemoncety Gbe Zoude
Recently we caught up with Klaudia Janas to talk about her time at Access Creative College in London, her recent achievement of winning the Media Student Award for 2024, and her future plans.
Hi Klaudia, please can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I started taking an interest in photography when I was around 11. I was clueless about what I wanted to do and had no sense of direction, but I had an open mind to creating. My first ever photograph was a badly taken and edited photo of a small animal toy for an Instagram photography competition! Ever since then, I’ve been creating by all means possible.
I’ve recently taken an interest in fashion and portrait photography as I think it’s enjoyable and really builds your communication and creativity skills. As well as photography, I love film and cinematography. Some of my favourite films include Fantastic Mr. Fox by Wes Anderson and Cold War by Pawel Pawlikowski. I love the creative freedom you get when practising filmmaking and cinematography. Seeing my thoughts and ideas come to life is an amazing feeling, as I get to explore and experiment with filming techniques, colour, sound and also work with amazing people.
Alongside creative media, I love music! I think music influences my work the most. Music can be intensely visual, just like photography and film; combining the two together creates and builds most of my ideas!
Congratulations on your ACC Award win, how do you feel?
Thank you! Winning an ACC award has meant a lot to me! After countless mistakes and self-doubt, I’m happy to see that my work is paying off. Being nominated for 2 awards was already enough for me! I really pushed myself this year to be the best I could be, both personally and creatively. It’s extremely rewarding to know that people value my work and enjoy it!
Tell us about your time at Access. What have you enjoyed about it? What have you learned?
My time at Access so far has been amazing. I entered the course with no previous media or photography studies, so I really had to rely on my creativity and willingness to learn and progress as a young creative entering the creative industry.
For my first few months at Access, everything was brand new to me, from the equipment to the studies. Transitioning from a stricter environment in Secondary School to a more relaxed environment at Access took me some time to get used to, but it has helped me to create a playground for my creativity. I mostly enjoy the people I’m surrounded by; I’ve met a lot of new people and have created numerous friendships. Having supportive people around you really boosts your confidence in yourself and your work. You sort of learn everything with them along the way and go through the same ups and downs which reassures you. Alongside learning a variety of creative skills, I’ve learnt to always keep trying and be proud of what you do!
Have you done anything in the industry outside of your studies?
Unfortunately, I haven’t had any big opportunities yet! I have done some photography outside of college for family and for leisure. However, I’m hoping to find work experience on a film set or an unscripted show set soon!
What’s your proudest achievement from your time studying with us?
My proudest achievement from my time studying at Access was producing and directing my first-ever short film for my Final Major Project. Although it was seen as an assignment, I saw it as an opportunity to use my creativity to its full potential and really try out the skills I’ve gained within 10 months. It was a very challenging and slow process at first as I was overwhelmed with too many ideas, but after a while, my thoughts and ideas were pulling together. It’s been quite a dream of mine to produce and/or direct a film, so having a starting ground has boosted my confidence!
If you would like to see my short film, you can find it on my YouTube: “Zagubiona w Kulturze”, or it will be linked in my 2024 portfolio!
What are your plans for the future? How are you going to take what you’ve learned at Access into your career?
I will most likely carry on to University after my time at Access to study Film and a short side course in Marketing and Business alongside. After that, I will see what the future holds! Nevertheless, I am keen on Directing or Producing, whether that’s working as the Director of Photography or being a Film Director/Producer, both scripted and unscripted. I’m also looking forward to travelling the world in my future career! I feel as if the world has so much to offer within the creative industry. All the soft skills and hard skills I will have gained after 2 years at Access will be vital for me to use when officially entering the creative industry. Access has built the foundation to my future career! Doing this alone would have definitely been challenging; the creative industry is tough to go into alone.
What advice would you give to someone considering studying at Access?
Build strong relationships with the people around you! It will help you in the long run with motivation and support as you are all going through the same creative process together! You will naturally go through a lot of ups and downs, but it will definitely be worth it in the end. Network, stay consistent and don’t stop creating!
If you have enjoyed this interview and want to find out more about Klaudia, you can find her via her LinkedIn page.
We recently caught up with Joseph Robinson, member of the band ‘doogle’, to speak to him about his recent award win, his time at Access Creative College in Manchester, and his plans for the future.
Hey Joseph, tell us a bit about yourself!
I am studying Level 3 Music Performance at ACC Manchester. I’m from Huddersfield, I play guitar and drums and am currently working on expanding my solo project, “doogle” by playing with a band alongside me. Outside of this, I also run gigs at a venue in Halifax called The Grayston Unity, I really enjoy the promotion side of music as well as being on stage myself.
Congratulations on the award! How do you feel?
Thank you! It felt good to receive recognition for the hard work that me and the band had put in over the course of the year. I felt it could’ve gone to a lot of people in the college as there were loads of people working really hard on some really cool projects so I think we got a little bit lucky as well.
Tell us about your time at Access. What have you enjoyed about it? What have you learned?
I’ve really enjoyed Access so far! It’s been great to network with so many other talented instrumentalists and also students on the media courses. We’ve had some hands-on industry experience as well which has been great. It was a huge change coming into a big city from a small village, but since I adapted I really enjoyed the environment.
Have you done anything in the industry outside of your studies? If so, tell us about it!
Outside of studies I have played lots of gigs with the band, including our sold-out album release show in Huddersfield. Recorded and released singles, an EP and most recently an album. I have also promoted and organised gigs at The Grayston Unity, most recently bringing in Salford band “The Height”, I have been picking up bits of live sound there.
What’s your proudest achievement from your time studying with us?
My proudest achievement in music so far has been selling out my album release show at Northern Quarter in Huddersfield. I put the gig on with help from the Venue Manager, we sold over 100 tickets in advance and had a great evening. It was really fun to be on stage in front of so many people who had come entirely for me and knew my songs already. Still chasing that feeling again!
What are your plans for the future? How are you going to take what you’ve learned at Access into your career?
If all goes to plan I want to go on to study Music Management at LIPA. Not long until I will be worrying about the application process, but I’m sure the people at college will help with that. I will keep doing gigs as well, and I’m sure the contacts I have made so far will continue to help and support me on the way to more!
What advice would you give to someone considering studying at Access?
If you’re considering studying at Access and you’re passionate about music then I’d say go for it! It provides the tools for you to get a real head start in the industry, you have to say yes to every opportunity presented, and that includes the chance to attend here. You still have to put the effort in but it’s 100% worth it.
If you want to find out more about Joseph Robinson and doogle, check out doogle’s website!
We reecently caught up with ACC Norwich’s Best Design Award Winner for 2024, Alfie Ethridge to learn more about his life, experience on his course and what he enjoys the most about studying at Access Creative College.
Hi Alfie. Tell us a bit about yourself!
I’m currently studying Graphic and Digital Design at Level 3 and I have just come to the end of year 1. I’m originally from a town not far from Norwich going to the local state schools before starting life at Access Creative College.
I haven’t always known what I was interested in, I didn’t have a clear view of the career path I wanted to pursue. However, I have always had a passion for art & design. Back when I was in high school I studied textiles throughout my GCSE’s. I found it somewhat enjoyable but I always found myself including something digital as the main piece within my work, rather than keeping it traditional. This all eventually led me to realise that I would like to become a graphic designer.
Congratulations on your ACC Award win. How do you feel?
I was really surprised by just the nomination for the award of best design, but actually winning the award was a whole different level. Of course, I was proud of myself, from where I came from and where I am now. Winning this award just makes me want to strive further in my life and career as a whole.
Tell us about your time at Access. What have you enjoyed about it? What have you learned?
My first year at Access was really amazing, it was like a rollercoaster initially, with meeting completely new people, making brand new friends and starting a new experience as a whole, it’s something you get used to pretty quickly.
Being at Access is not the same as sitting in a classroom in high school, it’s more than just studying and writing notes. I’ve learnt how to approach realistic business briefs and respond to them effectively with the assignments set. I’ve really enjoyed being able to widen my skills within the design sector, which has allowed me to create some really successful designs and produce great projects.
Have you done anything in the industry outside of your studies? If so, tell us about it!
Unfortunately I haven’t been able to work within the industry as of yet. But I have been working on my own personal projects, my most recent project is digital portraits of music artists in more of an illustrative style. I am still working on this currently.
What’s your proudest achievement from your time studying with us?
My proudest achievement so far from studying at Access is probably the award I won for best design just because it’s not something you can earn by putting in minimum effort, you have to work for it. It’s like a competition just like how the industry is, everyone can complete the course with minimum effort but not everyone will go the extra mile to win these awards, therefore, I’m proud of myself for that.
What are your plans for the future? How are you going to take what you’ve learned at Access into your career?
I don’t quite have a crystal clear view of what my future brings career-wise. However, I would like to go into marketing specifically in the music industry, designing the promotion for artists’ releases and their tour promotion. I’m not 100% sure how I will get there yet but I’m figuring that out more and more each day.
What advice would you give to someone considering studying at Access?
My advice for anyone considering studying here at Access, or anywhere else at all, is to get out of your comfort zone as soon as possible, speak to people, push for more work to do, make new friends and connections from multiple different courses, strive to win the awards at the end of the year (that’s what potential employers look for). And most of all, just enjoy yourself, if you don’t enjoy what you do you cannot possibly be your best at it.
Alfie has his own portfolio website which you should definitely check out!
The games industry is massive, worth $384.9 billion annually (predicted as of 2023). Any industry of this scale needs a constant stream of new talent to maintain production rates and standards, and to bring in fresh ideas and innovation.
Here at ACC, providing that new talent is of the utmost importance to us and we’ve created a series of bespoke curriculums to put you ahead of the competition But don’t take our word for it. Let’s hear from Guy Bramwell-Smith, Pathway Manager for Games at ACC Manchester, and CEO of SlingShot Studio, an amazing game studio that is a crucial part of our efforts to boost your career opportunities.
Hi Guy, tell us about yourself!
I’m Guy, Pathway Manager for Games at Access Creative College Manchester, as well as the CEO of SlingShot Studio. Originally I studied Mathematics at Salford University and was leaning towards being an accountant or working in insurance. My first full time job was in the insurance industry, but it wasn’t for me.
I only got into game development later on in my career. I have always been creative and loved video games, but I thought that games as a career wouldn’t be an option for me as there were no games courses when I was a student. I knew how to make games, because I learned how to code during my studies, when I was supposed to be studying for my exams. I was dabbling in Unity but it was just a personal passion.
Then an opportunity came my way that changed it all. I managed to get a short term contract working for Access Creative College as a freelancer in 2016, as part of their partnership with PGL. For six weeks over the summer, I delivered a bespoke, week-long course for young people at one of PGL’s resorts who preferred to be at a computer making games, rather than taking part in the rock climbing and other outdoor activities that PGL are known for.
I absolutely loved teaching people how to make games, and seeing their excitement when they got something working. I realised that even if I couldn’t be a professional developer myself, I would still enjoy helping young people become one.
I applied for full time work with ACC that same year, and although I was not ready for a full-time teaching position, they saw that I wanted to do it eventually, and brought me in for an administrative role. After a lot of hard work, I completed my teaching qualifications with ACC, taught GCSE mathematics, and worked my way up to being Pathway Manager for the Games at ACC Manchester. I also managed to pick up a BAFTA nomination for the Young Game Design (YGD) Mentor of the Year at the 2018 YGD BAFTAs for my efforts.
I love working at Access. It’s the creative outlet that I always wanted, even while working in insurance. The fact I didn’t have these opportunities when I was a student, drove me to make the course we deliver as creative and developmental as I could. Seeing how much talent our students have inspires me to improve my skills. Some of them are now even working in their dream jobs.
To go even further for the grassroots of the industry, I launched SlingShot in 2022.
What is SlingShot?
SlingShot Studio is an independent game development company I started in November 2022, with some help from some of my most talented alumni. We’ve steadily grown into a 41 person strong, independent game studio, focusing on mobile and PC development.
Our workforce is mainly current ACC Games students who are motivated, talented, and driven to get into the game industry, and we aim to give them an entry route into their careers. We’ve already released our first game GO!Samurai on Android (out on iOS soon), with a PC game (Released in August or September 2023) and a second mobile game in the works. We’re planning to release three or four mobile games and one big PC release a year.
Why did you start it?
At Access Creative College, we provide all the skills necessary for learners to gain entry into the game industry and I think we are the best institute at doing that. However, the hardest hurdle for students to overcome in gaining entry to industry is that, regardless of the skills we develop in college, the most valuable thing to employers is work experience.
Due to the nature of the gaming sector, it has been very difficult sourcing said work experience. The vast amount of companies require non-disclosure agreements to be signed before anyone sees any work being created, which can only be signed once you are over 18. With ACC predominantly educating 16 – 18 year olds, this has been quite a significant barrier, which is why I created SlingShot Studio.
I decided I wanted it to be a company I could put my creativity into, but also provide initial industry experience for young talented creatives who need that first lucky break. SlingShot’s employees are now primarily ACC Games students.
How do you connect ACC students with SlingShot?
I have an agreed partnership with Access Creative College to solely take on current students for SlingShot’s work experience programme. As I currently teach here, it is the ideal partnership for SlingShot, as I can teach them all the skills they require to work for the company.
We always give everyone a chance to prove themselves. Regardless of what skills someone has, or their background, if they can show that they are committed, they have a place at SlingShot. There is a stigma attached to the games industry, that it only caters to one particular demographic. I think we are making some good strides in this department because we have such a diverse group of talent that work for us, and it really shows that the game industry is for everyone.
What do our students get out of working for SlingShot?
Every ACC learner at SlingShot Studio has an official job title and role. This depends on their current skill set and the value that they can add to any of our products. Our recruitment model means some learners, mainly second years with more advanced skill sets, work on the higher end mobile and PC projects.
Newer ACC students with skills that are not yet developed enough for professional production start with testing roles, moving on to more tertiary tasks such as creating simple prefabs and assets. When their skills improve and they’ve had more training, we then assign them to shadow one of the more advanced employees helping out with the higher end programming or art related tasks. This process means we are consistently developing talent and skilled staff.
We incentivise them with work experience, but also provide commission based income, based on their attendance and contribution to each product. This has worked incredibly well, as they can see the benefit of punctuality, alongside developing their practical skill sets. The more committed they are, the more they can make.
What are your goals/aspirations for SlingShot?
To become a leading developer in the Northwest on all game platforms, as well as being a catalyst for change in the economic landscape. The UK has moved away from a production based economy to being a service based economy, primarily due to labour costs. However, we do have a great education system and a huge number of highly-skilled, creative young people.
With how quickly the game industry is growing, we are missing an opportunity to invest time and resources into creating a renaissance in production; using highly skilled creatives to develop the next generation of innovation in games. We have some amazing companies in Manchester, including TT Games, D3T,Cloud Imperium. It is the dream for SlingShot Studio to join them and help boost the wider UK game industry.
How is ACC supporting you?
Access has been fantastic throughout the process of me building this company. At every point, everyone involved has been nothing but supportive. It is clear that ACC can see the benefit this opportunity has to learners and they have helped me every step of the way, from very kindly allowing SlingShot to use one of their buildings whilst in the incubation period to helping us market the brand, and offering support and advice. All of this is clearly aimed at boosting the experience of their learners and has led to a formal partnership between SlingShot Studio and Access Creative College.
As stated above, all ACC students will leave us with professional, purchasable products in their portfolio, which is something that no-one can take away from them. The employment opportunities that come from experience like this, pre-university, will be massive.
In terms of how their contribution helps SlingShot, due to the high standard of teaching at Access Creative College, I have a wealth of talented young creatives who have the skills and willingness to learn that are perfect for SlingShot. These students help us to continuously develop products, and keep the company moving forwards. It really is a win-win for everyone involved.
Are you passionate about games and gearing up for a career in industry? Get a helping hand from ACC and SlingShot, with one of our cutting-edge games courses. Check out what’s on offer here.
