Jamie’s flying high at Flycheese Productions

Jamie is a young man we support in Sheffield. Well-known for being quiet and reserved, he largely keeps himself to himself.

But thanks to weekly lessons at a local animation studio in Sheffield, he is really coming out of his shell.

Jamie lives in his own home with a number of housemates around his age, but you’ll often find him in his room, content with spending his free time watching his favourite films and YouTube.

His support staff knew of his passion for all things media, so when an ex-employee of Dimensions, Paul Brown, set up an animation production company providing training for people with additional needs, they knew straight away that Jamie could benefit.

Paul set up Flycheese Productions in 2012 after spotting a gap in the market for meaningful digital activities designed to suit people with learning disabilities and autism.

The studio hosts a number of sessions every week aimed at teaching its students the art of filming, animation, photography, 3D modelling, and music production.

Jamie has been attending weekly sessions at Flycheese for almost six months now.

Though he was nervous at first and would be supported to go by a member of staff, he’s grown in confidence enough that now, they only drop him off and pick him up.

He’s thoroughly enjoying himself – he recently helped to produce this film within a small team of students at the studio called “The Sweeney”.

The project consisted of a combination of stop-motion animation and live-action filming.

Wallace Fennessy, Freelance Tutor at Flycheese Productions said “Jamie worked as a group with two other students and has integrated perfectly. He has shown a fantastic eye for detail in regards to sound editing and has taken the lead on most of the projects editing needs.”

Work has begun on planning the group’s next project and the team have agreed to include Jamie’s love of Disney into the storyboard and character design.

So, not only has Jamie been learning new skills, making friends, and gaining independence, he’s setting himself up well for paid employment within that field in the future, as well.