A young boy leaves his home to sign up to serve his King & country in 1914. This short film tells of his journey through the First World War.
Friendship, love, loss and returning home.
Director Biography – Matt Hickinbottom
The head of our studio is Matt Hickinbottom, who started out writing freelance musical jingles for Children’s ITV (CITV) from 1995-2000, and then later for the Disney Channel UK & Italy, earning his MCPS/PRS composer membership.
Over recent years Matt has travelled the world from Canada to Kazakhstan working for the likes of Merlin Entertainment, SONY Pictures, Nokia, Nike and an array of corporate, independent film and TV productions.
Director Statement
After watching a local school production, the song ‘Me & the boys’ hit me like a ton of bricks. It was a fantastic, well written song that I just had to try and do more with. After securing the rights to the song to develop the animation, I asked my youngest son if he’d sing the lead role.
Jacob is autistic and loves to sing but struggles performing in front of crowds and peers. Due to this, I asked him to sing the song privately so that he could get involved with the production but without the nerves of a public performance. He was really pleased with the result and hopefully the song & short film speaks for itself.
Voicing characters has been a real release for Jacob & an avenue into a world of performing that would otherwise be difficult for him to access. I’m really proud that he shares my love for creating films and has given us a great bond with our shared interests.
| Matt Hickinbottom Director Emily the little match girl Nick Haworth Writer Andrew Oxspring Oxspring Producer Jacob Hickinbottom Key Cast “The Soldier” Emily the little match girl |
