Studio AKA presents a student exclusive event

For one of our recent ‘An Evening With...’ events, we were delighted to welcome Philip Hunt and Marcus Armitage from Studio AKA to our North Greenwich Campus to deliver a talk on the studio’s work and history to our students.

Who are Studio AKA?

Studio AKA are an innovative independent animation studio producing award-winning work, including the BAFTA-winning animated short film Lost and Found and the BAFTA and Emmy award-winning children's series Huy Duggee. Philip Hunt is the Creative Director and Founder and Marcus Armitage is an Animation Director at the studio.

What did they Cover?

Philip and Marcus dove into the history of the studio dating back over 20 years under its current name and all the way back to 1989 as Pizzaz!Pictures. Students gained insights into diverse projects including an iconic advertising campaign for Lloyds TSB that UK readers may recognise, title sequences for Netflix’s Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story and Marvel Animation’s Eyes of Wakanda, and animations for the documentary In Waves and War which is available to stream on Netflix. We heard how different styles of work were created and learned a little more about the business realities of studios including what a successful client portfolio today might cover to stand out.

Kevin Richards, Animation Tutor at Escape Studios, summed up the event:

“Tuesday 12th May saw an amazing event with Philip Hunt, Creative Director and Founder of Studio AKA, and Animation Director, Marcus Armitage from the same company.

The event was very well attended, with an excellent Q&A session afterwards, in which the students asked many follow up questions. As some of the students already have ambitions of one day forming their own animation studios, this talk was of particular interest.”

Philip and Marcus themselves shared:

“We were delighted to meet with such an engaged and motivated group of students and wish them all the best in their studios.”

What are ‘An Evening With...’ Events?

‘An Evening With’ events are an exclusive series of student talks run by our Student Community Team and delivered by industry guests and partners. Previous guests have included multi-Oscar-winning Visual Effects Supervisor, Paul Franklin and Industrial Light & Magic Animation Supervisor, Kiel Figgins.