With an overall budget of £2500 per animation, ​Paper Sky Films teamed up with Virgin in 2021 to create twelve animated short films, each telling individual stories following Richard Branson’s adventures, explorations and record-breaking feats throughout his life and career via balloons, boats and spaceships.

​From jumping off a building in Las Vegas to landing in the middle of a civil war in a hot air balloon to kitesurfing the English Channel; Richard Branson wanted to bring his experiences to life through animated story-telling, which will be narrated by himself in Dr Seuss-style rhyme.

​Every film seeks to entertain and inspire younger audiences, in hopes to ignite their own imaginations and curiosities about the world around them and to welcome potential adventures in their lives.

​Paper Sky Films was entrusted to see all 12 animations brought to life with enriching, colourful and charming artwork, through the skills of six animators - Rozzi Hague, Mandy Jennings, Monica Scanlan, Joel Suston, Tom Gravestock and Rygen Necosia - accompanied with high-energy and emotive music by composer John Curran, all overseen and directed by Paper Sky Films founder Adam Young.

​“The introduction was key to not just setting the tone but also establishing ‘the rules’ of how these stories are going to be told,” says Adam Young.

​“Anyone who follows Richard Branson on social media are probably aware of how much he enjoys writing and journaling, so it made sense to have him writing these poems retrospectively as means to introduce how handwriting and creative artwork will be used to elevate each of these stories.”

​“Life is an Adventure” - as the intro is titled - features a present day Richard Branson joyfully sat on rock, against a setting sun, on Necker Island (a mini reference to the front cover of Branson’s book: “Finding My Virginity”) scribbling away on a notepad before tearing off a sheet and launching a self-transforming piece of origami into the sky.

​“The stories that Richard shares are humongous, and we realised that there was only so much we could fit into the budget, schedule and visual tapestry,” Young continues. “What the introduction afforded us was a chance to establish some creative emergency exits through a cause and effect set-up.”

​Week-by-week, each film will be released on Richard Branson’s social media pages, blog and sites, as well as most of Virgin’s channels, with further plans to release the films via other outlets that focus on young audiences.

​“Over the holidays, I showed the short animations we have made about my adventures to my grandchildren. They loved watching and were bursting with questions afterwards. Hopefully the films inspire curiosity and a spirit of adventure in you too – whether you are young or young at heart.” ~ Richard Branson.

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As a small production company entrusted with such a big job and a very small budget (as far as animation goes, at least) Adam Young found the experience of overseeing 6 different animators with 6 different ways of working, throughout 12 animated projects, an educational one. 

With this being his first true foray into the world of animation, Adam tried to tackle each project as though he would with any live action production; undertaking meticulous research, writing notes and ideas as he goes, taking Richard's poems and turning them into scripts that are entertaining, visually interesting but also feasible given the one animator working on the project with a small budget and tight schedule. 

Regardless of the challenges, the short films were completely on time, on schedule and to the client's complete satisfaction. 

It's worth noting that Adam didn't make a lot of money out of these projects and so took on other jobs whilst also checking in on the animators remotely as he handled various freelance roles. 

The videos and artwork have been featured in National Geographic Kids, as well as various campaigns and promotional pieces carried out by Richard Branson and his team.