TV Licensing

‘King of Scotland’ and ‘Abducted by Aliens’ crowned as top videos

Animation students from universities in Dundee and London have scooped prestigious competition wins by bringing to life bizarre excuses for watching TV without a TV Licence.

The Judges’ Panel of distinguished animation experts¹ crowned ‘Abducted by Aliens’, created by four students from Middlesex University, as their best video while the public vote, with the largest number of online “likes”, was ‘King of Scotland’, made by an animation trio from Dundee University.

In a quest to find the best animated excuse and animation, degree course students in Derby, Middlesex, Belfast, Dundee and Bristol were asked to work their creative magic on some dubious explanations for non-payment of the TV Licence, which visiting officers and call centre staff have heard this year.

Head Judge Charlie Mawer, Executive Creative Director at Red Bee Media, dubbed ‘Abducted by Aliens’ “a standout piece” which was “both genuinely funny and visually creative.”

Set in an urban garden, it features a stop-motion animated fly interviewing a snail who believes that he doesn’t have to pay the TV Licence as the government doesn’t believe his story of alien abduction.

The film was the result of a team effort by ‘Bugged Out’, a team of Middlesex University third-year students, Ida Melum, Kyle Xuereb Cunningham, Adara Penelope Todd and Nicole Smith, with voices by Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez.

Charlie Mawer commented:

The Judges’ Award winner from the Middlesex students showed exceptional craft, alongside a strong eye for performance and the subtle touches and attention to detail that mark out a team destined for great things in their future in animation.

Adara Todd, from ‘Bugged Out’ said:

We couldn't be more thrilled - we are beyond excited our film won against so many other great animations and want to thank everyone involved in the decision!

The winner of the People’s Choice film, ‘King of Scotland’ received 173 ‘likes’, from a total of more than 1,000 votes on the TV Licensing YouTube channel, seeing off stiff competition from films featuring turtles, hamsters and foxes stealing TV signals².

The popular video is driven by a rap sung by ‘Phil’, who greets Enquiry Officer ‘Nigel’, with a range of colourful explanations as to why he doesn’t require a licence, including a claim that his cat is ‘in labour’.

Third-year Dundee students Alex Heywood, Mark McGinty and Steven Buntin got together to form the ‘Rixty Minutes’ team, guided by Dundee University tutor, Sharon Campbell.

Mark McGinty, from ‘Rixty Minutes’, said:

We’re so happy to win the People’s Choice award. It took the team three weeks to work on the animation after many hours of planning, research and script writing. We wanted to make sure we created a piece of work that had the right balance of getting a message across that would also be credible. Including a rap in the entry was a natural progression from the way we work as a team, with many of us using rap when improvising new ideas.

More than 40 excuses films were submitted from students across the UK. View the animations, including the winning film, at youtube.com/tvlicensing.

Jason Hill, TV Licensing spokesperson, said:

The winning animations are a testament to the imagination of the students. We’re not so impressed, however, with the creative approach to excuses, as watching or recording live TV without a licence is against the law.

Even though we’re effective at catching evaders, we’d always prefer people pay than risk a maximum £1,000 fine. For those who may find it difficult to pay in one go, we offer a range of payment options to spread the cost at www.tvlicensing.co.uk.

To check if a licence is needed, visit www.tvlicensing.co.uk/info or call 0300 790 6112.

¹ The judging panel comprised BAFTA-winning animator Marc Crast from Studio AKA, Jason Fletcher-Bartholomew, Senior Animator at Aardman and Red Bee Media Executive Creative Director Charlie Mawer. Criteria included directing, production, animation quality and script were used to assess the entries.

² 1,065 votes were cast in total, from 8 February to 4 March 2016.

Excuses 2016 –Excuses from each Region