Ana and I have spent a week in St.Alban’s school working with Year 7 pupils making an animated video about the history of Birmingham. It’s been semi-chaotic and mostly fun. Working in a school with 22 different first languages we were keen the piece would emphasis the part immigration has always played in the city’s growth and evolution.

Amongst the final elements to be filmed were the credits. Each pupil signed their name or drew their ‘tag’ on a sheet of A4 paper with the excellent FrameThief running a one-shot-per-second timelapse to speed up the playback. I particularly enjoyed this element, a chance for self-expression in an otherwise ensemble effort. Most excellently provocative of all was the very quiet muslim girl, all wrapped up in her hijab, grabbing a black marker and confidently calligrafying LilMizFoxy.

James