College gave me a springboard to university and a future career says Daniel

: Created: 24 June 2020

Daniel Aguirre Hansell, 24 from south east London has undertaken quite a journey to arrive at where he is now and working hard to make his mark in the animation industry.

Daniel came to the College seven years ago after experiencing difficulties at school due to autism. For a considerable period he was home-schooled by his mother and was soon edging slowly towards a return to full-time education. At 16, he came to College to take up his first course - a level 1 core skills course in IT.

Following the successful completion of this, and equipped with lots of new core skills, as well as a clearer picture of the road ahead, Daniel progressed onto a level 2 course in interactive media. He began experimenting with Adobe Photoshop and Flash and soon fell in love with animation. Just one year later and he was beginning his Creative Media Production Level 3 Diploma which led him onto the extended diploma in his second year.

On this course, Daniel experimented with interactive media, learnt a lot about digital graphics and photography, as well as animated film and video production. At the same time, he continued with extra maths and slowly but surely built his confidence and ambitions.

Daniel’s short, one-minute film about a urodid caterpillar's transformation into a moth. The film was selected for and screened at the Oska Bright Film Festival in 2019.

“Before coming to the College I was not very good at relating to other people.” Said Daniel. “It was only when I came here that things began to change, and I started to really enjoy being part of the class. I felt more supported by my tutors and they began to really influence and inspire me. I learnt so much from them and started to think in terms of actually going to university - something that hadn’t really struck me as being feasible earlier.

“At the end of my time at London South East Colleges, and completing my diploma with straight distinction grades, I won a place at UCA to study animation. Even though this course presented me with many new challenges, I made the most of it and took advantage of everything it had to offer.

“A lot of what I learned however came through my own voyage of discovery and my love of everything creative. I have so many great ideas and I am totally devoted to storytelling through the medium of animation.

“I would like to thank my brilliant teachers at College for everything they did for me. They were all experienced professionals - one teacher had actually worked at Pixar for a while. I think I learnt more here than at university and achieved my most important landmark moments too.

“Now I want to put everything I’ve achieved during my further and higher education years to good use by finding work in the industry and career ahead doing something I love. I have formed my own company - EmeraldTone Animation and I am very much open for business."

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