Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Cherish Barrow, 20, from Ipswich, has taken inspiration from the scripts of Mother Nature to produce a film based on the awakening of spring.

The film, Early Worm, was developed as part of a Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ project to complement the prime-time wildlife series Springwatch.

"I was apprehensive about the project as I felt the pressure to get it right, but I was glad of the opportunity," said Cherish, who's studying animation at the Norwich University College of the Arts (NUCA).

The NUCA students were given just a few weeks to take their film from concept to completion, with the final films assessed as part of their degree.

The brief was to create a 30-second film that was suitable for a family audience, based around the themes and values of Springwatch. How the students wanted to portray this, was limited only by their imagination.

Cherish creates her film's storyboard

The Early Worm

"My film is about The Early Worm - a curious worm, looking around at nature during the spring," said Cherish.

"He uses very large binoculars to view the animals, creatures and plant life around him, however he forgets that for every early worm there's an early bird!"

Cherish began drawing when she was very young, and looked forward to art lessons at primary school.

"I always took my time over it because I liked it so much. In some of my school reports, teachers complained I took too long over my art work - so I've been drawing since I can remember," said Cherish.

"I've always been a fan of the classic Disney films and always enjoyed cartoons on TV.

"I remember watching the Gogs with my dad. It was a series about a family of silly cavemen all made from Plasticine, it was hilarious and definitely inspired me to create the comedy factor within my own work," she added.

Cherish finishes her degree in animation in 2010 and hopes that it will lead to opportunities to recreate some of the classic animation styles that she grew up with.

Mole's tea was an early idea by Cherish

"I really hope that my degree would enable me to go into character designing and the model making side of animation," she said.

"I realise that as the years go by, classic drawn and model animation seem to be getting filtered out in favour of the computer generated images made by the likes of Pixar and Dreamworks, but I would hope that could have some input into bringing the classics back."

Cherish's film, one of 12 that was created by the students in her year, is being shown on the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's website and on various big screens, managed by the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ, across the UK.

For pictures of Christ Packham's visit to RSPB Minsmere in Suffolk visit the Gallery: Springwatch 2009 using the link on the right.

Springwatch runs until Thursday, 11 June, 2009 at 8pm on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ2.