With You: Virtual Internship Scheme project

University student plays key role in connecting critical care COVID patients with their loved ones

Jasmine Price, a University of Plymouth graduate, collaborated with Senior Producer of Trigger, Harriet Bolwell, to produce the ‘With You’ service. Jasmine was commissioned as a freelance animator as part of the University of Plymouth’s Virtual Internships Scheme to demonstrate the ‘With You’ project’s features via an instructional video.

Jasmine was really crucial in how we communicate with three groups: the patient, healthcare provider, and the individuals creating and sending messages. It’s a big concept for people to understand and Jasmine allowed us to condense that into a concise, minute-long video.”

Harriet Bolwell, Senior Producer at Trigger

Who is Trigger?

Trigger is an organisation producing ground-breaking, inclusive events. They strive to showcase work from a broad spectrum of artists, with the aim of introducing inclusivity and creativity to its audiences. Their work is crucial for the communities it aims to support, particularly the local communities which Trigger collaborates with to produce ground-breaking, theatrical work.

The ‘With You’ project is a perfect example of just how ground-breaking and important their work truly is. Trigger recognised the global struggles from the COVID-19 pandemic and decided to produce a project that is both positive and useful in its impact.

What is the ‘With You’ project?

‘With You’ is a digital project which allowed families and friends to connect with hospital-bound loved ones during the initial impact of the Coronavirus. It was created in response to the initial inability to visit patients, therefore, Trigger decided to create a service that allowed loved ones to connect and send their well-wishes via digital recordings.

I have done previous internships using animation but nothing quite as meaningful as this. It’s not a first for me in animation but definitely a first with a project of this kind.”

Jasmine Price, Graduate and animator

The emotional nature of the ‘With You’ project is what initially drew Jasmine to the task of creating the explainer video. The fact that she could simultaneously develop her animation skills and portfolio, whilst also contributing to the Coronavirus effort to help bring some joy was incredibly important.

“One patient had a really erratic heartbeat whilst she was unconscious and the first time her messages were played, her breathing normalised. There’s a definite physical response as well as doctors telling us that this is the difference between someone pulling through and not pulling through.”

Harriet Bolwell, Senior Producer at Trigger

What impact has the project had?

The entire internship offered Jasmine an invaluable learning experience which provided her the opportunity to apply her animation skills to a professional environment. Such opportunities are vital for students and graduates in allowing them to apply and demonstrate their skills in a professional setting; of which may be entirely new to them.

Not only did the project help to develop Jasmine’s animation skills, but it also helped to further her communication skills. Crucially, Jasmine’s role was to communicate how to use the service to viewers in as accessible a format as possible. The challenge was to ensure that users of all ages, backgrounds, nationalities, and abilities would all leave the explainer video feeling confident and happy that they could use the ‘With You’ service. This, therefore, required for Jasmine to place herself in the footsteps of the viewers and users whilst animating, of which would potentially be a very wide range of people.

“It was really good to work on a project that is so relevant, they’re really passionate about what they’re doing and it’s great to be a part of that.” ”

Jasmine Price, Graduate and animator

“This video was there to help people who aren’t as tech-savvy. Sometimes it’s easier to visualise rather than reading off a screen, so the video was there to illustrate the functions a bit easier and clearer.”

Jasmine Price, Graduate and animator

As well as this, the fact that they were dealing with some very sick patients potentially relying on them and the services they were providing placed an even higher level of importance to get the video exactly right for both Jasmine and Harriet.

As part of the University of Plymouth’s commitment to enhancing the productivity of the regional Creative Economy and supporting businesses through the economic recovery period, we are piloting an innovative new scheme to pair local businesses with talented postgraduate students in order to undertake a defined project or R&D challenge.

Find out more about the innovative placement scheme.

Woman explaining the plan to office team

This case study was written by Bethany Chandler, a student at the University of Plymouth. Connect with Bethany on LinkedIn here.