Creative Media students visit Snapchat
7th March 2023 – Tags: Creative Media Production
A group of tech savvy students from City College Norwich visited Snapchat’s UK headquarters last week to learn about the latest developments in Augmented Reality (AR) and to show their skills in creating new AR experiences.
The Level 2 Creative Media students tried out new applications at the cutting-edge of AR, discovering how the technology is creating new immersive experiences in areas such as gaming, fashion, entertainment, and advertising.
Students had fun with a multitude of Snap lenses during the day.
After spending several weeks mastering Snapchat’s lens-creating tools, the students also had the chance to impress Snapchat staff with their own AR creations.
Whilst at Snapchat HQ, the students were set a short challenge in which they had to design a lens for one of three briefs – for a video game, a festival, and sustainable clothing.
Level 2 Creative Media student Gray Clarke presenting their video game idea following the lens design challenge.
Creative Media student Gray Clarke created a game where the player collects falling coins, and avoids bombs, using an AR bucket that follows the movement of their nose. Gray said:
I’m more of a technical person, I’m very big into tech, so when we were given the opportunity to do the Snap lens competition I was all in for it. It’s a side of the tech industry that I’ve looked into a lot. I’ve learnt that the whole AR business isn’t as complicated as it seems.”
The City College Norwich students used AR to virtually try on outfits at the Vogue Snapchat exhibition.
The group also saw first-hand how AR is being used in fashion through a collaborative exhibition between Snapchat and Vogue magazine – for example, being able to see how a dress would look on you without having to put it on.
The Vogue exhibition was amazing. It was quite inspiring to see,” said Creative Media student Ashlyn Wright, “I look up to Vogue a lot because I love my fashion. Seeing my favourite app and Vogue collaborating was really inspiring and it was something different.”
Part of the Snapchat Vogue collaborative exhibition which the students visited.
The group of 13 students were also given insights into the day-to-day work and career journeys of executives and creatives at the company’s HQ in the heart of London’s West End.
This included an inspiring presentation by David Norris, Head of Creative Strategy across Europe, known for award-winning campaigns for global brands such as Nike, Apple, and Three. Mr Norris created the recent campaign with Megan Thee Stallion, in which users can effectively watch her music video on a Dorito.
Students networked with Snapchat staff over pizza.
Creative Media lecturer Karen Buchanan commented:
Our students were given the chance to network with a wide range of Snap employees over pizza, finding out how they got their jobs with one of the world's biggest and most exciting media companies. They were extremely professional and were a credit to themselves and to the college. I’m extremely proud of the students and it was great to see them getting so much from the day.”
This memorable opportunity for the college students came about after three members of the group impressed in a competition run by brand and social impact agency We Are Futures.
The students’ competition success also saw the college pick up a £700 equipment voucher, which will be used to further enhance the opportunities for Level 2 Creative Media students to unleash their creativity.