Former UCM student Rachel Miles tells us about winning her BAFTA and working within the creative industry
How does it feel to win a BAFTA? Is it still sinking in?
I still can’t believe it.
Growing up I had a picture of a BAFTA printed out and stuck on my bedroom wall. Every night when I got into bed I would look at it and think thats the goal, thats the dream. It’s something I have always wanted to achieve. I really do think “If you think you can, you can”.
To be stood on stage in front of so many talented creative people I respect and admire (Olivia Coleman, Daniel Pemberton, Russell T Davis, Kayleigh Llewelyn) and to hear the music blasting that you helped direct and craft was very, very priceless and a feeling you cannot buy.
All of my love and thanks go to the BBC Creative family who let my creative partner Michael Tsim and I dream for a living, and to Nexus Studios, Factory Fifteen, Fantasista Utamaro, The MIll, Factory Studio and Kenji Kawai for making dreams come true.
Can you tell us where and what you studied that’s relevant to your role at the BBC?
I was born in the Isle of Man and I studied a National Diploma in Multimedia at the Isle of Man College. I then went to Central Saint Martin’s University of the Arts, one of the most creative and famous art schools in the world where I met my creative partner Michael Tsim on the Advertising pathway which is within the BA Graphic Design course.
During the summer holidays I would work in film on the Island as a Trainee Assistant Director wrangling supporting artists on set and at base. Now I am on the other side I respect and appreciate runners on our productions and in the post-production houses we use as I know how exhausting and demanding it can be.
After graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2012 my career launched with an advert for holiday company Thomson (now TUI) about a teddy bear with one eye (voiced by William Shatner). Over my time in advertising I have been lucky enough to work with some of the most talented people in the industry.
I pride myself on creating work for good as well as brave, bold work. Our powerful concept for Girl Effect disrupted and transformed the status quo of gender roles in Addis Ababa. For the final episode of the BBC's 'A Perfect Planet' series, we used art direction to raise awareness of the impact humans are having on our planet by hijacking our perfect posters with a shocking message and powerful new visuals, we even 'set fire' to one in Manchester.
Michael and I have been generating ideas and making magic together for a decade and we have worked for BBC Creative for over 4 years, moving between Manchester and London, creating and overseeing some of the most memorable and admired campaigns.
What (if any) obstacles did you have to deal with when creating your title sequence for the Olympics?
On Olympics there were a few hurdles to jump over because of Covid - sadly we couldn’t go to Japan to shoot so in the end we had a link to the camera that was onset filming with local crew in Nakano, Tokyo. The production team and BBC Creative were all connected at 2am (due to the time difference) via Zoom. We still managed to capture a real and authentic Tokyo including never been seen before truths of the city. Japan isn’t just samurais and ninjas, it is such an eclectic, visual city that doesn’t shy away from aesthetic joy from beautiful drain covers to food that looks like works of art.
It’s always fun to create splotches of magic with the use of music and SFX, but to try and articulate the feeling we want to create to our amazing Japanese composer Kenji Kawaii who didn’t speak English was tricky, but a very creative process. We collaborated with Kenji over Zoom with the help of a translator. We wanted to create a piece of bespoke music that needed to weave in and out of our different scenes in a certain way, the opening needed to start slow but feel epic, and we felt it was important to feature traditional Japanese instruments too so the audience knew where we were. The sound as we enter the gachapon machine is my favourite as it purposely falls silent to allow for a build and rise that gives you goosebumps - something that was planned and crafted.
Over a year and a half in the making, we were incredibly proud to work with Kenji Kawai to bring this obsessively detailed and authentic version of Tokyo to life even if it was over Zoom. We also worked with Japanese illustrator Fantasista Utamaro who is based in NY - is was a global collaboration.
Our title sequence is a dazzlingly detailed Tokyo adventure which glistens with rich detail, so have the creative opportunity to create over 50 Easter eggs was something I have always wanted to do. Everything you see in the film is there on purpose and thought about a hundred times from the geriatric gymnasts gachapon design to the original Olympic themed man hole cover we open on.
Do you have any advice for any one wanting to study or start a career in media?
My speciality is generating ideas, silly ideas, smart ideas, funny ideas, bold ideas, brave ideas.
I never received an A* in English and I can’t draw, but I am passionate, and I care about craft.
You have to have a thick skin to work as a creative as 99% of the time people say no to your ideas - we are the most ludicrously optimistic people on the planet.
I never knew my job existed in high school, in fact when the career advisor came in I told them I wanted to work in media they never understood, I had to figure it out myself.
Have you had any issues being a woman working within the creative industry?
I’m proud to be a woman in the industry.
I love Nancy Meyers and her ability to create blockbuster films in a male dominated industry. I love how she trusts her judgment and people trust her.Her film ‘What Women Want’ shows Helen Hunt playing the role of Darcy, a Creative Director…maybe it planted a seed.
Are you able to tell us what future projects you are involved with?
At the moment my creative partner and I are working on Stephen Knight’s (Peaky Blinders, Taboo) new series SAS: Rogue Heroes which is a war drama but one that you have never experienced before. If you like to watch men drink rum, fight dirty, break the rules it’s one for you. We are also working on Series 2 of The Capture and BBC Three horror Red Rose.
