Creative Futures Two ARD504

This is my creative futures two page containing all work that I have done for this module. 

Influence Boards

For this brief I had to choose six categories, these could be anything to do with art and design or with any other interests. I then had to make a montage of pictures for each category digitally to which should be the size of an A4 sheet of paper. An example that was given was a creative media student interested in music may choose films, music composers, actors/actresses,directors,animators and artists as their categories. 

"By doing this exercise, you may discover that there is far more behind the image than you imagined. Apart from the obvious descriptive information that other people can identify with, there may also be personal storied relating to the reasons for the choices you make. These are stories that uniquely relate to you as an individual and form the person you are and your identity."

I found that quote from the brief pretty interesting an quite inspiring and so I got my notebook out and started coming up with possible categories that I could do. They were 1.Animators 2.Animation Styles 3.Motion Graphics? 4.Visual FX  5.Films 6.Adverts 7.Architecture 8.Pattern 9.Illustration 10.Texture

In the end I decided on Animation Styles, Films, Adverts, Architecture, Pattern and Texture. Although when researching images texture I decided that I would call the category 'texture and colour' because not only was I concentrating on finding textures but was also paying a lot of attention on the colours and whether I had a balance of the all the different colours.

Here they are..

Adverts

I chose to do adverts as I love them...I understand that not many people would say this as most people find them annoying, but I do! There are some rather annoying adverts out there and some pretty dull ones but also a lot of interesting fun ones and very visually exciting ones! These adverts don't have to be animated to catch my eye, although most of them are. Whenever I see a new advert that intrigues me I love trying to guess how it was made and then research it! One thing I love about adverts is that they are all very different, there's never one the same or similar (that I have noticed), they all use different techniques, styles etc and are pretty imaginative! One day I would love to be a part of one of the creative teams that create adverts.

Films

I was very aware that the subject of 'films' was a very wide one and that I needed to narrow it down, so I decided to do it on films from throughout my life that have wowed me. After I chose these films I realised that the majority had been altered/made with the use of computers! These are the films that have been the greatest influence in my life and I feel that it is my parents that I have to thank for this, they have engrained computer generated imagery into my mind from a very early age!

Animation Styles

I'm quite an enthusiastic person when it comes to styles of animation and soi thought I'd get together an influence board of animation styles that I have previously come across and loved. Most of these are from my last two visits to Bradford Animation Festival. One is of the 'Deathly Hallows' animation in one of the Harry Potter films and the green one in the bottom left hand corner is an animation made by Lotte Reiniger, which was used as inspiration for the Deathly hallows. It seems that I like silhouettes, interesting lines,shapes, textures etc.I'm not too keen on the style that Pixar use, its ok for what it is and does its job but I feel that they have used it so many times that it's not anything special anymore. This is a shame as I have been shown quite a few times just how much time,effort, work and skill is put into them. This is not to say I don't like Pixar and their films because I do, they have made some brilliant ones with excellent storied that are very entertaining. I guess I just like more 'arty'styles!

Pattern

I chose patterns because I love them, particularly geometric patterns. I love the different illusions and dimensions they create.I like how you take a simple single line and create something quite complex and visually exciting. Each line or shape in these patterns have order to then, there is nothing random about them and it's easy to know how it will carry on. This appeals tome and the way I think, when I have a project I like to know the order in which I need to do something and I like to think that nothing I do is random, but instead well thought out. 

Colour and Texture

I chose colour and texture for my fifth influence board as like pattern, I love them and I feel they play a very important part in all things visual. I also pay a lot of attention to both of these when creating a piece of work. I love to use these two elements to compliment each other being careful to balance them well. Texture and colour can give dimension and depth, I find flatly rendered images very boring. I feel that I should mention that pattern also kind of comes into this category. Throughout Secondary School (High School to those Americanised) I was lucky to have the same art teacher for the majority of my time there, a very good art teacher too. And so from the start of year seven all the way to the last year of my a levels I had seven words drummed into my head, these words were colour, tone, pattern, shape, line, texture and composition.These words are now very important to my practice as a design student and it comes naturally for me to think about them when creating something.

Architecture

And finally, architecture! After seeing my last two boards and then seeing this one,I suppose it isn't much of a shock that I have decided to have architecture as one of my categories. As you can see, there is line...lots of line, shape, pattern, textures...not much colour but there is tone and composition! I didn't choose architecture just because of those elements, architecture also intrigues me through it's 3D-ness and structure! There are loads of interestingly shaped buildings all over the world with some very clever engineering. I love seeing the possibilities that 3D shapes can give you and various environments that can be created with them.

Overall from doing this exercise I have found out that there some people that have influenced my influences, these people are playing and have played a very important part of my life. I have also found out that I love to be surrounded in variety, that visuals are very important to me, I like to be in control and know what exactly I'm doing and why I'm doing it and what needs to be done next, the seven words...colour, tone, shape,pattern, line, texture and composition play a big part in my creative practise.From looking at the animation style montages I have also decided that I graphic styled animations too. This has left me feeling quite obsessed with everything visual!

Personal Project: Text Animation

Someone quite close to me had her birthday coming up and so I made it an opportunity to try and animate some text to send her a birthday message. I had wanted to try this for a while, especially after the Design for Society brief. So I recorded my voice in many different ways and started to animate, this is the final video..

Not only did I have fun doing the voice but really enjoyed this exercise. It's not too polished or complicated but I feel that there is a lot of room for me to improve and become more imaginative. Maybe if I used some really interesting long words with more expression and meaning than 'happy birthday' I may have more inspiration to work with. I'm really happy that I made this. Not only is it on my blog but also on vimeo so anyone browsing my videos will see a little more diversity.

Bradford Animation Festival

Wednesday 9th November 2011

Professional One

The Monster of Nix

Dir. Rosto / Netherlands / 2011 / 30 minutes / Style:3D

"Life is good in the idyllic fairytale village of Nix... until an all-devouring monster appears. Young Willy has to fight it. Alone."

I have to say, I didn't understand this story, it left me feeling really confused and frustrated, and so therefore I didn't enjoy it at all! There was a lot that was happening, almost too much for me to take in. This was a very bad start to the festival! The style was ok, not my most favourite but it was different. I first thought that the main character - the boy was actually a girl just from the clothes and hair but then I realised that it was a boy when he was called by his name - Willy. On a positive note, I did like the effect of the mirrored boxes and the eggs, I thought they looked amazing and were really effective! 

Brandt Rhapsodie

Dirs. Francois Avril, Morrigane Boyer, Thibaud Clergue, Paolo Didier, Ren-Hsein, Tristan Menard, Lucas Morandi, William Ohanessian, Lucas Veber / France / 2011 / 5 minutes 34 Seconds / Style: 2D

"The ordinary tragedy of a romantic encounter, sung by Benjamin Biolay and Jeanne Cherhal."

I quite enjoyed this animation, mainly because of the rhythm it had to it - it has a really nice flow. I loved the idea of animating to a song, a song in which had a story to it. So not only did it have this rhythm and flow but also a story, one that I am sure that many can relate to. the only down side to this was that the subtitles were a little distracting to the animation but that couldn't be helped, you needed to know what they were saying to know what was going on. The style was very simple and quite grown up, which straight away suggests that its aimed at adults, which makes sense with the story it is telling. 

A Morning Stroll

Dir. Grant Orchard / UK / 2011 / 6 minutes 47 seconds / Style: 2D, 3D

"When a New Yorker walks past a chicken on his morning stroll, we're left to wonder which one is the real city slicker."

This film was brilliant! It had three different styles, each representing three different times; one set in the 1950's - the style for that was black and white with simple drawn lines, one in 2009 which was very colourful, blocky and used flat shapes, and the other was 2059 - in the future where the world was post apocalyptic, the style for this was 3D but wasn't as bright as 2009, it was quite grey! In the 1950's scene the chicken walked past the man and the man reacted as if it was very odd, in 2009 the chicken walked past the man again and this time the man decided to film the chicken but got distracted by a game, by the time he'd finished the chicken had gone, and then finally in 2059 the chicken walked past the man...but the man was no longer a man but rather a zombie and instead of the man stopping and staring at the chicken like the previous men as if it was odd, the chicken stopped and stared at the zombie, which lead to a rather funny chase! It was a good story, it had me gripped, made me laugh and at one point even made me jump! Not surprisingly, this film won two awards at BAF this year! 

Plume

Dir. Barry Purves / France / 2011 / 14 minutes 40 seconds / Style: Stop Motion

"A winged man, a fall, a hostile encounter, a life changed forever."

This was another film that I became confused and frustrated with, I didn't quite understand what was going on. It was only when I saw it the second time in Barry Purves talk and he explained what it was about that I understood it! Basically it is a winged man - not an angel, that likes to fly (flying and wings represent freedom) but he falls to the ground and gets savaged by these demon creatures (who have little tiny black wings- Barry said that the idea of this was that if the winged man gave up this would be what he would turn into). The man picked himself up, pulls off the remaining part of his wings and finds some water, he ends up underwater swimming - or 'flying' underwater as if he has found his freedom again. The style of this animation was very simple, there was no backgrounds or scenes, just blackness with one main character (the winged man) and the three demons and some really effective lighting. This suited the story perfectly and was beautifully animated. The end bit where the man is underwater was done by using CG, which you could tell because the man wasn't as stiff as before when the puppet was being used. Other than the transition between stop motion and CG seemed pretty seamless!

Captain Hu

Dir. Basil Vogt / Switzerland / 2011 / 9 minutes / Style: Drawing on film

"After a violent storm Captain Hu is stranded with his ship in the Alps. A helpful farmer finds new uses for the deep-sea equipment. However, Captain Hu draws the line at the end."

This film was very cleverly thought out and I quite enjoyed -it wasn't my favourite though. When watching it I found myself sympathising with the captain, every time he would give the farmer some thing and then found out he needed it I found myself saying 'Oh No!!' in my head, and then when he finally was able to make his exit in the end I was cheering (in my head again)! So in that sense I felt the film was good because I was able to get involved with it in my own way! The style of the animation was very simple...just white lines on a green background which emphasized the barrenness of where he was stranded with his ship stuck upside down on the mountain and the loneliness he was probably feeling, especially as no one would help him turn his ship the right way up!. 

The Girl and The Hunter (La Fille & Le Chasseur)

Dir. Jadwiga Kowalska / Switzerland / 2010 / 5 minutes / Style: 2D

"It's raining. A small village is in big trouble. the raindrops are actually a young girls tears. And it's up to the hunter to put things in order...

I liked this story,  it was well thought out. I like the way it builds up, from the a couple of drop coming down and the villagers gathering around to see where its coming from (the girl) to the village starting  to flood and the villagers working to shift to another location, then the other location run out of space for more water and so it over fills and starts flooding the village. The village floods so much that the villagers end up on the roofs like the girl, then they all start crying!  Which speeds the flooding process up, the hunter puts his gun to the girl but ends up comforting her, she then stops crying but the villagers continue, finally the hunter gets them to stop when they see that the girl has stopped. The village starts to drain but it ends when  rain starts to pour down!  This film had good timing and was quite humorous, I enjoyed watching it. The style is quite dark which reflects the sadness of the girl. 

Student One

366 Days (366 Tage)

Dir. Johannes Schiehsl / Germany / 2011 / Style: 3D

"Starting his social work as a paramedic, young Patrick soon comes in contact with patients that are all suffering from the same problem: loneliness. As he tries to help, he gets himself into relationships that are way more demanding than expected."

This animation touched my heart, the use of emotion through expression and body language was really effective, it had me feeling really sad for the patients the man was trying to help more. It started out very slow and sad as he found out that the patients were lonely, then it picked up a bit when he started helping, but when he found that he couldn't do it all and had to let the patients down it went all slow and sad again. Finally through the help of his colleague he found a way of helping more but in a way that wasn't too demanding and that was by listening to a certain song and keeping to the rhythm of it. From then the story picked up again and finished happy. The animation had a very simple colour palette, mainly red, white and greys which put the story across very effectively. I really enjoyed it.

The Golden Bird

Dir. Cat Bruce / UK / 2011 / Style: Stop Motion (Puppets) , Cut Outs

"When   a boy goes in pursuit of a mysterious golden bird, he is lead further than he expects and discovers that in his world, things are not what they seem."

This animation was a bit of an odd one for me. I didn't like it but I didn't dislike it. My thoughts were like this with everything, for example the style was creative but I didn't find the story very exciting, it didn't have much entertainment value.

The Bridge Chronicles (Chroniques du Pont)

Dir. Hefang Wei / France / 2010 / Style: 3D

"Qiao-Yu, a volunteer worker, keeps watch over a bridge on the Yandtze river in China, a notorious suicide spot."

This animation had a feeling of mysteriousness to it, probably because of the mistiness. Again like in 'Captain Hu' this film had me saying 'Oh no!' in my head. The style was simple with a simple muted colour palette..actually quite a drab colour palette! But that suits the story perfectly as it's quite a sad story. 

Damned

Dir. Richard Phelan / UK / 2011 / Style: 2D

"An over ambitious beaver goes too far when he gets the chance to realise his ultimate dream. Some dreams are just too big."

The story to this animation was brilliant!  it's something everyone can enjoy, young and old! It starts off with a beaver building his dam, but as soon as he finishes it it gets ruined by all sorts of creatures. There's a postcard of the Hoover Dam which is quite clearly shown that it would be his dream to build a dam the same. Finally, he gets the help of some of the other animals help to him build this dam. It turns out that the dam is a bad idea for everything the other side and so the beaver end up having to destroy it in order to help and save the other animals.  This was a very funny story and was effectively told by the use of body language and expressions. The style was  simple and cartoony which emphasized the humour and fun

Abuelas (Grandmothers)

Dir. Afarin Eghbal / Uk / 2011 / Style: Stop Motion, Cut Outs, Pixilation, After Effects Manipulated Imagery 

"In a small department in Buenos Aires, an old woman eagerly awaits the birth of her grandchild and all the joys of becoming a grandmother. However, horrific circumstances mean she will be forced to wait over 30 years."

This was a very touching film, quite sad in the middle but happy in the end when the grandmother finally got to meet her grandchild. This animation had so many different techniques of animation in you would have thought it would have been too much but it wasn't! It was done well and effectively. With the pixilation technique the animator never showed the whole person and then everything else was integrated around that. I enjoyed watching this as it was quite visually interesting and it had a nice story  and message behind it.

The Visit (Der Besuch)

Dir. Conrad Tambour / Germany / 2010 / Style: 3D

"A tragicomical story about an old woman, who, to the horror of her son, is cooking up a meal in the middle of the night for her long deceased friends. But as soon as her son has gone, the guests actually show up. Fantasy, dream or reality? What is the difference? When people get old..."

I enjoyed this animation, I wanted to say 'Oh bless her!'. Although when the son and the mother were talking about the guests she was expecting I didn't realise the people they were talking about were dead! I personally thought the son was very mean! The style of the animation was very much like Pixar films, which I would think suggests an audience of all ages! This was a lovely story, especially as the old lady's guests did turn up in the end.  

Growing Space

Dir. Kate Broadhurst / UK / 2011 / Style: 2D Drawn, Paint on Glass

"An animated documentary about adults suffering from mental health problems and the transformational healing process that comes from gardening and a community spirit."

I felt that I should be feeling something from this animation and it's story, but I didn't. It had people who are suffering from mental health problems talking about how gardening and the community spirit really helps them. Maybe I didn't really connect to this as I don't really understand or know anything about mental health problems. The style was very different to most animations I have seen, it was done like an illustrated gardening book with text like 'figure one' attached to certain objects. You can see that the animator used paint on glass as the brush strokes are quite prominent! I found this style very creative and visually pleasing. 

El Macho

Dir. Daniela Negrin Ochoa / UK / 2011 / Style: Drawn on Paper / Silkscreen Print Background

"Carlos yearns for order and calm amidst the chaos of his loud family of women. The arrival of Alfonso, an energetic poodle puppy, shatters any dreams he had of peace and quiet. Soon it's even too much for the women. Something has to be done...."

I wasn't too fond of this animation, the style didn't do anything for me but it did go with the  Mexican theme well. This story made be quite bored at the start, it didn't really capture my attention but it got better towards the end. This was basically I story about a man who lives with a house full of women, who go out and get a dog of which is male. The man initially isn't very happy about it but gradually the women get annoyed with the dog but the man begins to like it and in the end has quite a strong relationship with it. 

Swimming Pool

Dir. Alexandra Hetmerova / Czech Republic / 2010 / Style: 2D

"A night love story of two outsiders, who meet in closed swimming pool in the middle of a big city. 

I loved this story! I especially loved the twist in the end. It wasn't like any other animation I've seen or any other story I've read. I liked the style too, very simple but quite complex at the same time.I liked the build up, the whole swimming routine between the man and the lady in the pool, this was very effective, only ever seeing their top halves and then the ending where the man in charge of the pool catches them and tells them to get out. But when they get out he sees that they are only half human and so runs away where they are left to spend more time with each other in the pool. 

Panorama Three

Remembering Formby

Dir. Sue Elliot / UK / 2011 

"A brief introduction to Formby Patterson-Wright: The safest man who ever lived."

To be honest, I don't remember this one very much which I believe says it all! But on researching it I remembered what it was like. This animation was quite graphic with the use of various signs. It was quite visually interesting but in the way of animation it didn't do anything for me. 

On the Rails(Sur Les Rails)

Dir. Jeremy Guiter / France / 2011 

"An old man sees his life pass in which he made a decisive choice for the rest of his life."

The main story of this was that a young photographer in love left his partner to go to war to document it by photographs. He became famous for a really good photo but in the mean time lost his partner. It then shows him a few years later and sad, remembering the lady he loved. This was quite a sad animation but very touching. I enjoyed watching it. The style was ok but I didn't find it to be anything special. The colour palette certainly reflected and emphasized the mood of the film and reflected how the man was feeling. 

Late One Night

Dir. Anna Prager, Asaf Shub / Israel / 2010

"One night in Kishinev, Ivan, a clumsy but good natured burglar, enters Auntie Tania's meagre apartment. She is napping in the drawing room and awakes without Ivan noticing - quietly stealing behind his back to the kitchen to prepare a surprise for the luckless burglar."

I enjoyed watching this, I felt that it was a good story/ idea! When the burglar broke into the house and the old lady got up, I was waiting for her to come up behind him to and knock him out with something! But of course she doesn't, she makes him something to eat which I found very sweet! I also found this a little said, as when the burglar looks around the house looking for possessions to steal there were none! The poor old lady had nothing..except one piece of jewellery hidden behind a picture, which he finds but gives it back! I wasn't too keen on the style of this animation. It was stop motion and a little messy for me, I prefer the 'Wallace and Gromit' style stop motion where there are clean lines and a smoothness to it. 

Small Gamers

Dir. Bruno Collet / France / 2010 

"Take part in the latest adventure of the Summer Olympics! But remember to duck, because ours fly close to the ground."

This was quite a fun little stop motion animation using various toys and objects. I thought this was quite a good idea, however some bits went on a bit too long for me. I wouldn't mind using the same technique one day, by using ordinary objects to create an interesting animation. 

The Man Who Was Afraid Of Falling

Dir. Joseph Wallace / UK / 2011

"Ivor's life is turned upside down after a falling plant pot sparks a bizarre series of paranoid reactions."

This was a lovely stop motion animation of a man who was afraid of falling. It was a very sweet story and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I loved the mixture of 3D stop motion puppet and paper thought bubbles, I felt it make it very visually interesting!

To my excitement Joseph Wallace has mentioned myself and my blog on his blog about this film he made, referring to what I have written about it! 

www.themanwhowasafraidoffalling.com/2011/12/afraid-of-falling-got-nice-mention-on.htm

One Second Per Day

Dir. Richard Negre / France / 2011

"One second of film, meaning 25 drawings per day during one year, thats the goal."

This animation had an interesting effect through movement of shapes and lines and was very visually exciting to watch...that is up until a minute or two, then it just got boring and samey! I know that the idea behind it was to do 25 drawings a day but I don't understand the reason behind the lines and shapes. By the end of this film I was very frustrated, mainly because I wanted it to end! 

Bertie Crisp

Dir. Francesca Adams / UK / 2011

"Bertie Crisp, a half bear, half panda lives in a caravan park with his sociopathic bunny rabbit wife, Grace. She is determined to have a baby- the problem is she wants on immediately, and with Bertie struggling with the... traditional method, they turn to plan B - Kidnap!"

I didn't like this story, I'm pretty sure I was frowning all the way through it. I didn't like the style either, I don't think that helped, neither did I pick up that Bertie was half panda either! I can safely say that I won't be watching this film again!

Out on a Limb

Dir. Falk Schuster / Germany / 2011

"Leaves are falling all around, colder winds are arriving and birds are gathering together in preparation for the journey south. Though autumn is at an end and winter is imminent, one bird refuses to accept that change is happening."

I LOVED the style and technique used to make this animation! It's so different to other animations that even if you don't quite get the story it's still very interesting to watch! The technique they used was smudge and click. Some part they drew on and rubbed of as they went, other parts they stuck new bits of paper on top of the old drawing and drew the new image on. I would love to try this out too. They used a very limited colour palette, mainly black and white which I felt emphasized the bleakness and coldness of the coming winter. I also enjoyed the story!   

C4

Dir. Lera Mishurova / Israel / 2010

"In a desolate bar, a barman and waitress play "Battleship". But in another reality, the progress of the game has a fateful result."

I didn't like this animation either, I really didn't enjoy it! I found the story frustrating as it kept repeating and to be honest it took me a while to work out what was going on, I didn't like the characters I found them quite harsh and wasn't too fond of the style either! 

The Gentlemans Guide to Villainy

Dir. Aidan McAteer / Israel / 2010

"A brief guide to being bad!"

This was brilliant. It was done in the style of an old black and white silent public information film, maybe from the 50's. It had a good strong story and idea behind it with an added humour and a twist at the end!  I thoroughly enjoyed this animation.  

Maska

Dirs. Quay Brothers / Poland / 2010 

"Maska is the latest animated film by the Quay brothers, directors and puppet animators, with the music composed by Krzysztof Penderecki. Beautiful Duenna was created in order to carry out a certain mission. However, she will be forced to choose between accomplishing the task she was created for and love."

I can't remember this one very much, but I do remember not liking this one either. I looked it up on the internet to see if iIcould find a video of it but had no luck. Unfortunately this means that I have nothing to say about it. 

Music Videos and Commercials

Music Videos

Wax Tailor Featuring Charlie Winston "I Own You"

Dir. Romain Chassaing / France / 2010

"A city in miniature invaded by texts, by commercials, by advertising, by Charlie Winston, the superstar. In the TV, in the telephone, in the PC, he is everywhere... 'I Own You'."

This music video had a mixture of live action film and animation. I didn't find this video very interesting to watch. I didn't grasp the link between the visuals and the lyrics in the song and so didn't understand why they made the video like that with that content. However there's plenty to look at and watch and some of the animation in the video it quite visually effective. The technique of animation used it stop motion.

Monsieur William

Dir. Patricia Stroud / France / 2010

"Monsieur William is a perfect employee, but ignores the world outside his office. Which is the greater evil, to contribute to the corporate institution corruption or to live by the street's laws? Monsieur William offers us a singular vision of the world, and raises questions about the conventional notions of morality, crime and good and evil with humour and sarcasm."

I found this to be quite an average animation, the style and colour palette was pretty grey and overall quite boring. The only thing that perked it up was the man singing the song. It had a bit of a shocking ending and I didn't really understand the story or what was going on. 

The Waterwalk

Dir. Johannes Ridder / France / 2010

"A man goes on his way along the beach. His walk is center of a joyful choreography., accompanied by the music of the Violent Femmes."

WARNING: This is possibly the most disturbing music video ever seen, or at least so by my eyes! I didn't like this at all, it disturbed me and went on far too long for my liking. I didn't like the style either, it wasn't very aesthetically pleasing. A little advice, avoid this music video as much as possible!

Caffeine

Dirs. Danae Diaz, Patricia Luna / Germany / 2011

"Caffeine represents a visual metaphor for Brandt Brauer Frick's music: As acoustic sounds are put together electronically, hand drawn images are animated by traditional and computer media. in a mechanical world of men, a mass of identical people start their day with coffee. At a certain point of  a typical working day, one of them wants to break from his routine."

This was my favourite music video out of all of them. This video pretty much sums up how I think of London business people!   I love how it builds up and up and up and then that one person tries to break away from it. It also goes very well  with the music and sums up the title of the song. The style is very simple with simple colours, of which are main greys but reflects the story and people in it very well.  

Little Miss Little

Dir. Marie Bloch-Laine / Canada / 2010

"Little Miss Little is wandering through her own cardboard and paper universe. She seeks comfort in familiar objects and environment surrounding her, but the subjective landscape of her mind starts to crumble, urging her to come back to reality and civilisation."

I loved the style of this music video, it was very visually interesting and I found the technique effective, was a shame about the music! The technique and style made it quite refreshing from the rest of the films. I didn't understand the story until I read the description in the BAF programme though, so that was it's downfall!

Miss Daisy Cutter

Dir. Laen Sanches / Netherlands / 2010

"Miss Daisy cutter is an animated short film by Laen Sanches featuring 'Nux Vomica' by The Veils. If Walt Disney took some bad acid this is what his trip would look like. Don't say you weren't warned."

I didn't like this music video, it all seemed too random to me and all over the place. It won the best music video award, which I have to say I really don't agree! 

Gorillaz on Melancholy Hill

Dirs. Jamie Hewlett, Peter Candeland / UK / 2010

"On Melancholy Hill is the second video from the Gorillaz' Plastic beach album. In a continuation of the story which begins with Stylo, we follow members of the band and some of their musical collaborators on a dramatic ocean based journey in their quest to reach Plastic Beach."

This music video is pretty much a typical Gorillaz music video! Good a always and a nice style!

Commercials

a.maize

Dirs. Roman Kaelin, Falko Paeper, Florian Wittmann / Germany / 2011

"Popped maize is mostly eaten with salt, sugar or other flavours, typically in the cinema."

This animation was explosive!...Literally! I really enjoyed the effects in this film. Basically it was of big pieces of maize burst and popping into popcorn in ordinary places like parks in front of people. Obviously the technique used was CGI and looked really life like - as life like as a massive piece of popcorn can be! 

Compare the Market - Streets of Ambitiousness

Dir. Darren Walsh / UK / 2010

"This latest installment in the Compare the Market campaign gives us another amusing glimpse of the history of Compare the Meerkat from Alexandr Orlov.  He explains how his father set up his business on the streets of Moscow and slowly built it up to what it is today."

I was quit shocked to see this at Bradford, I had seen it so many times on the telly previous to it I nervous imagined it would be in a festival! I've always been a fan of these CGI adverts, mainly because of the great characters. I mean, the style isn't exactly anything extraordinary, but what makes these adverts so good is the content. 

The Girl Effect

Dir. Mighty Nice / UK / 2011

"In a beautiful new film commissioned by the Nike foundation through agency Wieden Kennedy and produced by Nexus Productions, director Might Nice takes us on the journey of a 12 year-old girl to escape poverty, exploitation and the risk of AIDS/HIV, to build a better future for herself and future generations. The Girl Effect is the potential of 600 million adolescent girls to end poverty for themselves and the world."

This was a very powerful commercial, it made me have a lump in my throat by the end. If you haven't seen this then you should. The style of the animation was very simple with a limited colour palette and was very graphic-y! There was no narration or voice over but you was left to read the information, the word of which were presented very visually and clearly. This film was also made powerful through the soundtrack, which emphasized the different moods on certain bits and made you feel the words with more emotion. I loved this animation and has given me inspiration for one of my projects I am doing at the moment. 

The Last Journey (Die Letzte Reise)

Dir. Patrick Altmaier / Germany / 2011

"It's evening. Pale moonlight falls through the leaf canopy. A small old man strides along the path. He starts to search for something with his staff in the nearby bushes. Suddenly small creatures whiz out of the bushes and follow the old man. We arrive at the bottom of a giant temple and climb up to the peak while the spirits of the forest follow us. As we reach the top the shaman grabs on of the luminous balls of his staff and throws it into a bowl. A play of colours emerges and the strange creatures transform into animals of the forest, running around the old man and ascending into the night sky.

I didn't quite understand what was happening but it did look very pretty with the luminous balls! There's something about CGI that animators seem to do the same sort of style nearly all the time. Which was the same as this film, it was quite an average style CGI film and as I didn't really understand what was going on I didn't really think much of it!

The Siege (Coke)

Dirs. FX & Mat / UK / 2011

"Nexus directors Fx & Mat teamed up with top VFX house Framestore to create cinematic story of the clash of two cultures. Set in an icy fantasy world, the spot sees and army of fearsome fire warriors poised to descend upon a peaceful community of ice-dwelling creatures. Accompanying the warriors is a huge fire-breathing dragon, which leaves a burning path of destruction in it's wake and little doubt as to the outcome for the defenceless villagers. The spot originally aired on Sunday 6h February to around 85 million people and the Superbowl XLV."

This was brilliant, it felt so grand that at the beginning and in the middle I thought it was more like a clip out of a feature film, and then obviously the ending gave it away. The story kept me gripped and interested and I loved the ending! The style was CGI and really suited it!

Hermit (Einsiedler)

Dirs. Elliot Deshusses, Christian Hertwig / Germany / 2011

"An old hermit fulfils his dream of his own 'Home Cinema'. Even if a whole mountain has to be blown away."

This was a brilliant idea, I loved it! To start with I didn't know what it was going to be about but it all made sense in the end (after the build up)! I felt that the right technique was used (CGI) to get the brilliant effect of the mountain being blown up. I really enjoyed this film, it was exciting to watch.

Green Design Festival 2010

Dir. NOMIT / Germany / 2010

"Promo video for the Green Design Festival, organised by Brainlab not for profit agency, under the aegis of Municipality of Athens and the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change. The concept underlying the video is that green development produces green effect, not colour. Green development is not green. It's pink, yellow, blue..."

This film was very simple, very graphic-y and had a very limited colour palette! I didn't feel that there was much to it but it was fresh and design-y, which is good because it was a short film for a design festival! 

This Unpredictable Life

Dirs. Smith and Foulkes / UK / 2011

"'This Unpredictable Life' is a breathtaking mix of volumetric lighting and magical particles bringing to life a beautiful fantasy world through which we take an amazing trip. Cleverly playing out the central premise of the ad, that life is an unknowable journey, the film combines simplicity and sophistication with an uncomplicated but engaging central character starkly contrasted against a series of deliciously complex and abstract backgrounds. Set to a cinematic poem, we follow our hero as he swoops and wheels through lifes journey."

This is a person floating around going on life journey, the unpredictable journey of life. It's a pretty simple way of showing this but very effective. CGI was used to create this animation and I felt that it worked well and suited the message that it was trying to give.

Planters Holiday Party

Dir Mark Gustafson / USA / 2010

"Mr. Peanut appears in an innovative series of stop motion animation commercials, animation directed by Mark Gustafson, that peek into his multi-dimensional world, where people can experience his life., his humour and his friends as never before. The first commercial follows Mr Peanut's annual holiday party, giving the first glimpse into his personality and the things he cares about."

This wasn't my favourite film but was still good, it just didn't do anything for me. It certainly didn't sell me the product! 

Manege Magique

Dir. Viola Baier / Germany / 2011 

"In the backstage area of circus 'Manege Magique', a little absent-minded conductor accidentally mixes up his baton with the magic wand of the circus' magician. Unaware of his mistake he inadvertently turns the whole circus into a magical underwater world."

The style of this animation was ok, nothing 'magical', just your average 2D animation style. The story was quite interesting, I would have thought that it's more aimed at children as it's a pretty simple idea. 

Specsavers Happy

Dir. Darren Walsh / UK / 2010

"'Happy' is the latest commercial  in a campaign by leading optician brand Specsavers and uses characters from the well loved BBC children's series Mr Men. the new 2D animation spot features Mr Happy, My Greedy, Mr Messy, Mr Bump and Mr Tickle."

Using the Mr Men to advertise is a very clever idea, especially as it's advertising for a wide range of people as a wide range of people are very familiar with the Mr Men! 

Cartoon Network ID Bumpers - Riverdance & Cartoon Network ID Bumpers - Country

Dir. Alexey Alexeev / Hungary / 2010

"Animated sequence for Cartoon Network."

These were two very funny and very short animated films. The style is very much what I would describe as cartoon networks style...from what I remember from when I was younger! Very cartoony and very fun!

The Chase

Dirs. Smith &Foulkes / UK / 2011

"Smith & Foulkes have created a dynamic new spot for Venables and Bell and Intels incredible new core i5 processor - a breakneck, all action chase scene which is the perfect showcase for the new processors amazing capacity. Using a dynamic mix of live action and animation, Smith & Foulkes used every trick in the action movie book and got some hot insider tips from their DOP, Oliver Wood, of Bourne Trilogy fame, to create this thrilling spot. The result is a fantastically clever illustration of the Intel processor working at maximum capacity and showing just that the Core i5 can do. 

This was very clever and I have no idea how they did it! It was very different and very unique way of doing an animation. This is a very interesting film to watch and I can imagine that it does it's job with capturing the audiences attention to sell the Core i5 to them.   

Professional Two

Out of Erasers (Sudd)

Dir. Erik Rosenlund / Sweden / 2011

"As the world transforms, you're the last one to find out."

This was a clever film and was more like a feature film! It used live action and animation. I loved the story, it was very unique and creative and had me capture. it was filmed in black and white which worked very well, especially with the scribbles riding up people and people completely covered in scribbles. I really enjoyed this film and would watch it again!

The Lost Town of Switez

Dir. Kamil Polak / Poland , France, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark / 2010

"An accidental traveller, drawn by mysterious forces, discovers the secret of a ghostly town which lies at the bottom of a forgotten lake."

This. Was. The. Most. Beautiful. Animation. Ever!
This animation was an oil painting masterpiece that moves! It was the most  visually exciting  animation that I have every seen! The story wasn't as amazing but the visuals more than made up for it! I would love to see this again, it was truly magical.

Nullarbor

Dirs. Alister Lockhart, Patrick Sarell / Australia / 2011

"An animated road movie set across the vast and barren landscape of Australia's Nullarbor Plain."

This is a CGI film, of which the style is pretty average. I felt that the film isn't so much about being arty, creative and unusual but more about the story and the humour. The story kept building up throughout and had continuous humour all the way through it, but the best bit was the end (not because it ended) because it had a brilliant twist that no one expected to happen!

The Maker

Dir Christopher Kezelos / Australia / 2011

"A strange creature races against time to make the most important and beautiful creation of his life."

This film was made using stop motion puppets! It was beautifully and sensitively made and I really enjoyed watching it. The story had me gripped as we watched the puppet try to make a new puppet - a lady puppet before the time runs out! I liked the style too, this was a nicely made stop motion film.

Tchaikovsky - An Elegy

Dir. Barry Purves / UK / 2011

"Alone in a locked room, the Russian composer Tchaikovsky is forced to evaluate his life and works."

This was a beautiful film by Barry Purves. I much preferred this one to 'Plume'. Barry used the Stop Motion technique and a little CGI. He only had one puppet of which was Tchaikovsky and one set, all of which was very simple but very effective. There was a good use of emotion and expression mainly through the body language of the character. I really enjoyed this film and it was also very educational, I now know all about Tchaikovsky and his life! Well done Barry.

Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan

Image from the BAF 2011 programme

Documentary

France / UK 2011 - 95', Directed by Gilles Penso, Produced by Tony Dalton.

"Ray Harryhausen's work is unique in movie history. Author, co-producer, co-director, co-editor, sculpture, animator and special effect supervisor of most of his films, Harryhausen used to do by himself what's being done nowadays by dozens of artists. Incidentally, he embodies the transition between the old generation of visual effects and the new one. According to his own words, Harryhausen represents a connecting link between King Kong and Star Wars.

Supported by the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation, with an unlimited access to the personal archives of the artists, including his most famous puppets and armatures, this documentary retells ray's whole career, from his garage days in the United States to the creation of Medusa and Pegasus in the original Clash of the Titans. But more than a simple portrait, Special Effects Titan endeavours to reveal the creative chain that has been driving fantasy cinema from the early days of George Melies to the latest Hollywood blockbusters."

This was a very interesting documentary. It linked famous, more current films like Star Wars and Jurassic Park to some of Ray Harryhausen's films and how his films have influenced many films with certain creatures and how they move etc, even with the like's of James Cameron's Avatar. This was very insightful and just proved that Ray Harryhausen is a massive part of the animated film history and has had a massive influence on many films. He not only did the roles of an animator but also a model maker, director, producer etc! He is an inspiration to many and can't be given enough credit.  

Thursday 10th November 2011

Student Two

The Box (Die Kiste)

Dir. Kyra Buschor / Switzerland / 2010

"Three frogs have a discussion about the contents of a mysterious box."

This film didn't do anything for me, in fact it bored and frustrated me! And then the end wasn't even worth waiting for. CGI was used to create this animation, the style went well with the mood of what was happening but thats about all of it's good points. 

The Renter

Dir. Jason Carpenter / USA / 2011

"A young boy is dropped off at an elderly woman's home for the day. A lone man adds to the unsettling atmosphere. The savage slaughter of a chicken makes this daycare a harsh and confusing world for the boy, who learns caring can be shown in unexpected ways."

I wasn't too keen on this animation, it was certainly unsettling but I didn't really get what the boy character was feeling about the man and how we as an audience was meant to feel about the man. The description also threw me as I didn't feel quite like it was talking about the same film that I was watching. I certainly didn't feel that the boy learnt that caring can be shown in unexpected ways. this just didn't work for me.

Discarded (Hors-jeu)

Dir. Elodie D'Ambrosio / France / 2011

"Following a printing error, a 53rd figure, without symbol or value, slipped into a pack of playing cards.

I didn't like this animation either, it was a good idea but the chase bit went on far too long and I lost interest. When I first saw an image from the film in the BAF programme I got quite excited as I quite liked the style and thought that it would be a good film but I was pretty disappointed. It just shows that something can look pretty but if the story isn't good then there's no point.

Laszlo

Dir. Nicolas Lemee / France / 2010

"Laszlo is a man with no past who just wants to live in peace- anywhere will do."

Again, unfortunately I didn't enjoy this one either. I just could keep up with the story and didn't understand a lot of things. However, I loved the style, with cut out and ripped round photos etc this made an interesting effect and would love to try this sometime. 

Strings (Lyannaj')

Dir. Guillaume Lorin / France / 2010

"After the abolition of slavery, a former female slave and a land-owner who has lost everything are forced to learn to live side by side."

I thought the concept and message behind this animation was good but I don't feel that it was put across very well and was described in the BAF programme too clearly either. This was a very short film and I feel it ended a bit abruptly and part of the story was missing in the middle. The sytle was ok, nothing too outstanding.

The Backwater Gospel

Dir. Bo Mathorne / Denmark / 2011 

"As long as anyone can remember, the coming of the Undertaker has meant the coming of death. Until one day the grim promise fails and tension builds as the God fearing townsfolk of Blackwater wait for someone to die."

I loved the style of this, it was really different and the story was brilliant too. It keep me on the edge on my seat, there was a lot of anticipation in it and the ending wasn't expected either! 

A Life Well Seasoned

Dir. Daniel Rieley / UK / 2011

"A man loses the most important person in his life, but as the story unfolds we see how he overcomes his loss. Through a series of extraordinary events, the man deals with his grief in a way that may seem absurd to others."

 This animation was made using stop motion. The style was beautiful and it had lots of different textures, and the story was very touching. The story of the man is told in a sensitively lovely way. 

Journey to the Sunflowers Field (Voyage au Champ de Tournesols)

Dir. Alexandre Siqueira / France / 2010

"Nicolas, a five year old boy, has an accident while playing with his kite."

I didn't full understand what was happening in the story until I read the description in the BAF programme, after that it made perfect sense! I wasn't so keen on the style though.

Heldenkanzler

Dir. Benjamin Swiczinsky / Germany / 2010

"Heldenkanzler is based on the true story of Engelbert Dollfuss, who wants to keep up with european fashions of the 1930's by enforcing his own facist dictatorship in Austria."

I didn't like this one, I found the story very crude and the style emphasized this.

John & Betty

Dirs.Luke George, Alex Hancocks / UK / 2011

"Elderly couple John and Betty are happily married until John's unhealthy obsession with solving crimes leads him to grow dangerously suspicious of his wife."

This was quite a nice little story with a bit of fatal ending! Not too sure on the style, they used stop motion puppets but I found these quite average, it was nothing special visually!

Arrietty (Kari-gurashi no Arietti)

Hiromasa Yonebayashi / Japan / 2010 / Voices: Mirai Shida, Ryunosuke Kamiki

"14 year-old girl Sho discovers Arrietty, a tiny 'borrower' who lives in a tiny house beneath the floorboards and who borrows things from the adult world. A magical adaptation of Mary Norton's children's classic The Borrowers by Studio Ghibli, the much-loved animation studio behind Spirited Away, Ponyo and Howl's Moving Castle."

I thoroughly enjoyed this feature film, it had a lovely little storyline to  it, both touching and fun. The style had plenty of detail to it and went with the story really nicely. I would definitely watch this film again given the chance. 

Studio M.I.R. - Irina Margolina

Studio M.I.R. was founded in 1991 by film director Mark Lyakhovetski and script writer Irina Margolina.

"The Studio initially focused in producing documentaries, but since 2005 the Studio has been producing animated films and series, and has recieved numerous international awards at international animation festivals. Award winning scriptwriter, director and producer Irina Margolina, Head of Studio M.I.R. joins us to introduce a retrospective of their stunning films."

A number of Studio MIR's films were screened including 'Tales of the Old Piano: Beethoven', 'Tales of the Old Piano: Rossini', 'Tales of the Old Piano: Prokofiev', 'Contemporary Fairytales of the World: Three Little Pigs', 'Contemporary Fairytales of the World: Art' and 'Contemporary Fairytales of the World: La Si Do-Sharp'. These are made for the purpose of being educational for children, I felt that the Tales of the Old Piano ones were slightly old for children and felt that they would easily be bored from the very start. The Tales of the Old Piano animations would not just be boring to children because of the content but because they are also very dreary and the colour palette is very dull, something that you would least expect a child to watch! Another thing that bothered me was that although all three were made for the same 'series' they all had different styles because each one had someone make them. This may just be me but I found this very strange, it gave no continuity. 

The Contemporary Fairytales were a definite improvement as far as its targeted audience is concerned! I thought that The Three Little Pigs story was very creative and expressed a brilliant message - that you should find out both sides of a story before coming to any conclusions. Art was also very good, but I wasn't so keen on La Si Do-Sharp. 

Richard MacGuire in Conversation with Paul Gravett

"Richard McGuire designed and directed the animated film 'Micro Loup', which is the first part of omnibus feature film, 'Loulou et autres Loups' (Loulou and other Wolves, 2003). He also created the closing film of another omnibus feature, 'Peurs du Noir' (Fears of the Dark, 2007). He is a regular art contributor to the New Yorker Magazine. He has written and illustrated both children's books and experimental comics. his comics have appeared in Art Spiegelman's RAW magazine, The New York Times, McSweeney's, Le Monde, and Liberation. And he is the founder and bass player of the punk-funk band Liquid Liquid. He is currently working on a graphic novel expanding his comic entitled 'HERE'."

This man has many skills and talent - animator, illustrator, graphic novelist and musician! His animations, and work in general have a very graphic style. My favourite piece was 'Fears of the Dark', I felt that style was thought out really well to suit the story and the mood and was animated really well. You couldn't see every object because of the style and the lighting but you still felt their presence. It was just a brilliant piece. 

My second favourite was 'Mirco Loup', this had a very simple style to it but was very effective and visually exciting. This had also been thought out very cleverly and the story was brilliant! If you haven't watch either of these then do! In fact I'm going to link a video to make it even easier for you..

'Peurs du Noir' (Fears of the Dark)

'Micro Loup'

http://vimeo.com/984305

This man has definitely been an inspiration to me and proves that the more skills you have and the more you can do the more work you will have. It's also lesson on how collaboration with other designers is good. This was a great end to the day.

Friday 11th November 2011

The Animated Century

Dir. Irina Margolina & Adam Snyder

"An entertaining and comprehensive look at the history of animation worldwide. Animated characters, the Professor and Horace demonstrate different animation techniques, including pin screen, pixilation, rotoscope, and cutout and puppet animation. They discuss the most significant animated films of the past 110 years - everything from Emile Reynaud and Windsor McCay's early works, to Fleischer, Disney and Warner Brothers in the United States, to historically important films from every continent. 

I didn't see the last 30 minutes of this as we slipped out to go and see the next one (which was well worth it). It wasn't a brilliant documentary, the 'host' characters used to explain things got on my nerves and the animations shown wasn't brilliant and very well known either, some very crude. It was quite interesting when they went through the history of animation, what techniques used to be used and what's used now etc! I would say that it would be a good thing for young animators or beginners that are thinking of taking up animation as introduction

. 

Mainframe

"Mainframe is a high-end animation and visual effects studio which is home to some of Europes top directors, producers, animators and vfx artists all working closely to produce a plethora of groundbreaking and visually stunning work."

This talk was brilliant, they did the vfx in Cher Lloyds music video 'Swagger Jagger' and showed us the processes and how they did it. The only negative to this was that he made us listen to the whole of her song at the end. But that nothing compared to what he had to go through when making it! 

Andy Schmidt - Pixar

"Andrew L. Schmidt is a senior animator with Pixar Animation Studios.He has worked in the animation industry for twenty seven years and has a long list of credits in both traditional 2D animation and CG animated films. 

He began his career in 1990 in London, UK at Amblimation Studios where he worked on Fievel Goes West, We're Back and Balto. 

In 1996, Schmidt relocated to loas Angeles, California where he worked for Dreamworks Feature Animation on the Prince of Egypt, then moved to Warner Brothers Feature Animation where he animated on the Iron Giant and Osmosis Jones. 

Since he joined Pixar in 2000, he has animated some of the most recognised Pixar characters to date: Mike and Sully in Monsters Inc, Marlin Dory and Bruce in Finding Nemo and Bob and Helen in the Incredibles. He has also animated on Ratatouille, Wall-e, Up, toy Story 3, Cars 2 and various Pixar short films including supervising animation on Partly Cloudy. 

Schmidt is currently creative director of promotional material for the upcoming Disney Pixar feature film Brave, scheduled for release on 22 June 2012."

Last year we had Paul Mendoza from Pixar do a talk at BAF which was brilliant and so I was automatically excited when I found out that there was another guy from Pixar coming again this year! And he didn't fail to please! He spoke about, again, the processes that are undertaken to create the films, the different teams involved and how he got to work at Pixar (who knew that you didn't need to already know how to animate on the computer with programmes like Maya to get a job there!)

It Lives! It Lives - The Re-animation of Frankenstein's Cat

"The development of a successful cartoon series, from book to script to screen with Curtis Jobling and later development to show running with Alan Gilbey."

This one was good too, it gave a bit of variety, especially as it was bout a children's series and how Alan Gibley was employed to reinvent it. I found it interesting as the two gentlemen took us through the whole story, from the beginning when Curtis Jobling was on a train to an important meeting and doodled the main character all the way to the end where it was screened on TV. And what a journey they went on to get there! It made me realise that in order to make a children's series possible you need to keep it loose enough with some good interesting characters that have a lot of opposite characteristics and strong clear relationships with each other (not always good relationships) to be able to come up with tons of stories for lots of different programmes, otherwise you have no chance of getting your series on the screen. 

Barry Purves: Frame by Frame, Note by Note

"Stop motion animator Barry Purves has won over sixty major international awards, including Grand Prix, Best Director, Best Film, and OSCAR and BAFTA nominations. Barry's films are known for their innovation, passion, elegance, lush visuals and fresh interpretations. 

In addition Barry has directed and animated some 70 commercials, title sequences and animation inserts for films and pop promos"

One word to describe this man is passionate! He spoke about two of his most recent films - Tchaikovsky and Plume, Tchaikovsky being my favourite! His films are beautiful, stunning and a piece of art. Tchaikovsky was one of Studio MIR's Tales of the Old Pianos programmes, and was a massive improvement compared to the others that I saw. It was beautifully made and worth seeing if you haven't already. Plume wasn't so good, I didn't understand it the first time I saw it. Unlike Tchaikovsky, Plume had no background and consisted of mainly the four characters and feathers!

 

Saturday 12th November 2011

Lifetime Achievement Award: Geoff Dunbar

"Illustrator and author Geoff Dunbar received the BAF Lifetime Achievement Award."

We were given a retrospective of Geoff's award winning work, with a short documentary giving an insight into his career. 

I really enjoyed the documentary, I found it very interesting and informative. I had no idea who Geoff Dunbar was until I attended this and I'm glad I did. He is a very inspirational man. 

Beyond Anime: CALF Animation

"The new CALF label aims to redifine our notions of what we understand by the terms "Japanese animation" by giving a stage to some of the country's most innovative and exciting practitioners in the field. This programme showcases the works of four such talents, balancing the hypnotic, hand drawn visual symphonics of Mirai Mizue and the dazzling light shows of the TOCHKA collective with the more orthodox let no less idiosyncratic line drawing animations of Atusushi Wada and the unique photo collages of Kei Oyama, including the unforgettable Hand Soap, which has won prizes at a number of festivals including the Yokohama International Festival for Arts and Media and the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival in Oberhausen."

I didn't enjoy this screening at all, and neither did the two people sitting next to me - they were asleep! The films shown were called "In a Pigs Eye", "JAM", "Consultation Room", "PiKA PiKA 2007", "Usual Sunday", "The Mechanism of Spring", "MODERN", PiKA PiKA @ Reel Asian Film Festival", "TOCHKA", "Day of Nose", "Gentle Whistle, Bird and Stone", "METROPOLIS", "PiKA PiKA @ Media Seven" and "HAND SOAP". There were a variety of animations using different techniques. The ones that I enjoyed more were the "PiKA PiKA" films, these were animations made but using long exposure whilst people made shapes and images with lights at night. I thought it was quite clever, different and visually very interesting. You can tell that they had fun making them too. Personally I would prefer watching Anime any day compared to most of these films!

The Art and Evolution of Animation Layout

"Legendary animation layout artists Roy Naisbitt ("The Thief and the Cobbler", "Who Framed Roger Rabbit") and Scott Caple ("The Incredibles", "Mulan") join author and industry veteran, Fraser MacLean for a unique presentation to mark the publication by Chronicle Books of "Setting the Scene: The Art and Evolution of Animation Layout"."

I loved this talk, I found it very interesting as I had never heard of the 'layout artist' before! We were shown some of the tricks and subtleties in the background/layout that as an audience would never see but makes all the difference. We were shown the opening of Pinocchio and were asked to count how many different layers of background there were...I lost count! And then were asked why we think the step on the front door was rounded, which was to do with the movement of characters in the scene. I was amazed with how much the layout was thought about so that the animators could get the most out of whatever is happening in the scene. I will certainly think more about this when creating animations in the future. As for Roy Naisbitt's work in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" in the Kitchen scene where Roger Rabbit is flying about, that is just amazing and I would love to know how he did it! We were shown the scene of it flat so we could see what he had to work with to create it, it was hard to work out which bit was what! The last thing we were shown was a film called "The Last Belle"...

The Last Belle

Dir. Neil Boyle / UK / 2011

"The Last Belle is an aimated short featuring two characters journeying towards a blind date: WALLY, who suffers a nightmarishly drunken trip through London as he races against the clock to rendezvous: and ROSIE, who waits in a bar dreaming of how wonderful her date is going to be... if he ever shows up."

This was very funny and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Roy Naisbitts part where Wally is drunk and making his way through the underground is very effective and brilliant! This worked very well gave the effect of Wally been drunk and off his head very well. I felt very sorry for Rosie but also didn't want Wally to shown up as he wasn't as she was dreaming and I was very glad that she ended up with the barman. The ending of the film was excellent and it had very good execution throughout!

Creative Futures Week

Monday

Talk One: Opening Address

For this talk we were meant to have Maurice Cockrill however they were unable to come and so had the University's Vice Chancellor, Professor Michael Scott instead. A little bit of Prof Michael Scott's background would be that he has written many books mainly on Shakespeare. He was a Visiting Professor of English at Georgetown University, Washington DC for  fourteen years, and he has spent 30 years in the higher education sector. 

This talk included the history of Shakespeare ( a very quick one), he spoke about how Shakespeare kept going even when business was bad and how he used the creative industry to make money and how Shakespeare was a good business man. He concluded the talk by saying that even though Shakespeare had many crisis's he kept going, he then said that everyone will have a crisis sometime in their career and that we should use that crisis to bring something good and positive from it. 

I felt that his talk had a good message to it and is definitely something to remember for the future. 

Talk Two: Key Note Speaker, Angus Montgomery - Editor of Design Week. 

Angus Montgomery described himself as a journalist, he didn't really tell us much about his background but he did give us some useful knowledge and gave us some good advice. The first thing he did was gave us some quotes from people who practice in the creative industry. (Excuse me for misspelling of names as spellings weren't shown), the first of whom was Simon Manchip whose quote basically gave advice to graduates to promote both yourself and your work, promoting yourself is just as important as promoting your work. Rhiannon James from D&AD's quote was about marketing yourself professionally and that design is a business. Greg Quinton's quote said that graduates should take themselves away from the internet so that they don't get the same influences as everyone else, he also said that collaborating is good and creates a culture of great ideas, and finally to love what you do and have passion, passion will get you far. He also asked these people and some other people whether they would pay £9000 or more to go to uni and do the courses they did all over again, of which none of them said no. They all said that £9000 is worth paying and that they wouldn't even question not going to uni. What was really nice was that throughout the talk Angus kept saying how working with people from the creative industry is brilliant because they are all exciting and inspiring, and that the creative industry is unique and special. 

He showed us some examples where design has made a difference to certain campaigns and has made some pretty interesting stuff. Such as The Body Shops campaign to stop sex trafficking, the design for this made an unpleasant situation positive and engaging. Because of this, law changes were made in 17 countries because of the branding of the campaign. 

Body Shops Trafficking Campaign

Another campaign was 'One laptop per child', previously laptops that had been used and no longer wanted/needed from the western world was shipped over to developing countries for schools to use, however a designer said why not make the children their own laptops that are created for their specific needs and so thats what they did. The laptops created cost just over 100 dollar each and 2.5 million of them were shipped out over 4 years. Thanks to design it was made possible for children in developing countries to own their own laptop.

Children with their own laptops

 My favourite design that he showed was of 'designer energy saving light bulbs'. Low energy light bulbs are the ugliest light bulbs ever and people hate them but feel obliged to use them because they are 'green', and so one designer said that the light bulbs had a good concept and energy saving but why can't they look nice, and so he went on to design some low energy light bulbs that looked much better. I would say that I love the look of them but I can't imagine anyone wanting to use them for their chandelier! 

Designer energy saving light bulbs

 Another example where design was used to improve something was the A&E experience in hospitals. There have been many cases where there have been violence against staff leading to many having time off due to stress and so the company Pearson Lloyd (http://www.pearsonlloyd.com/) wanted to make the A&E experience calmer and safer. They created a mapping system where patients can follow a flow diagram to know what is happening and what will happen next, rather than feel like they have been waiting around for ages and nothing is being done. This will also tell them how busy A&E is. 

Pearson Lloyds Flow Diagram Design

This was pretty inspirational, showing us how design can make a difference and can make a massive impact if used correctly! 

Talk Three: Building an Audience, Making a Living from Comics, John Allison. 

John Allison

John Allison graduated from university in 1997 and gained a degree in Journalism. He didn't manage to get a job straight away and so to make himself look busy he started to draw comics. He posted these on the internet where he got an audience of approximately 1000 people. In 1999 he got a job in a magazine.He carried on with his comics and in 2001 he started to use Adobe Illustrator to churn them out, his audience had now grown to 4000/5000 people. In 2002 he started to create comics where he was no longer posting on the internet for people to read for free, as a result of this his audience went back down to being 1000 readers. 2003 he became redundant and so made a book collection, his audience went up to 15000 people. 2004 he stayed at home and created many more comic strips, 2005 he started to focus more on composition and in 2006 John started to experiment. By posting his comics on the internet he was able to gain a bigger audience even though he wasn't getting much money from it. 2007 he stopped doing his comics digitally and started using fine liner again, 2008 he started to use Manga studio and started to refine his work and in 2009 he created the comic 'Scary go Round' which he didn't enjoy but at this point his audience had now reached about 55000 people! In 2010 he started to create work that he could possibly sell to publishers, 2011 he did more refining but also made things simpler and now in 2012 he is now in the process of signing for a book. 

'Scary Go Round'

Advice he gave is not to be shy, an example of this is a comic artist he knows of and he said that this guys comic strip is the worst ever comic strip created but at conventions, because this artist put himself out there and has confidence, he sells all of his books. 

He also said to get in contact with other people that is doing work like ourselves and talk to people at conventions to get contacts. 

More advice he gave was to make money in all the ways you can that also gets your brand out there, for example make t-shirts, tea towels, coasters etc and sell them, become a business baron, get things as cheap as possible and study successful people. 

This man was great to have to give a talk, he gave lots of useful advise (even though he's in the comics industry and I'm animator) and was a joy to listen to. It's amazing how hard he kept pushing himself and kept going even when there was no work for him and because he's been consistent with his fans and readers throughout he has now got a great amount of followers. 

Talk Four: A Freelance Career in Animation and Illustration, Karen Cheung

www.karencheung.co.uk 

Karen Cheung first studied Zoology in Cambridge University but discovered that she preferred drawing specimens and got more praise for her drawings than she did for her written essays, and so when she finished her degree she went and did a foundation course in Chelsea, followed by an Illustration course at University in Bristol. Her first animation was called 'Heartbreak Hotel', of which she showed and I really liked it! She entered BBC New Animator competition with it and was short listed, her animation was shown all over the world but she didn't win. Next she illustrated a childrens book and entered the MacMillan Prize for childrens picture book, of which she won! She then made another animation called 'Welcome to the Zoo' which she also showed us, it had bags of personality and really well made. 

Welcome to the Zoo

She had her degree show in London in a little gallery space. This is where she met her agent, they were situated next to the gallery. Karen's animation tutor told her not to sit around and wait for work to turn up at her door but instead to go out to various studios and show her work. From this she got work with 12 foot 6 who asked her to do some character designs and eventually asked her to work with them to create some animations. Here she made animations for Paramount Comedy, Virgin Central, Virgin Media and Bookstart. She stayed there for 2 and a bit years and eventually went freelance. This is where she found out just how brutal the industry could be, one example os that herself and her agent went and pitched one of their ideas to a client and the client liked it, however they rang her up later on to say that they had given it to someone else. Karen told us that to work in this industry you need to be able to take rejection and be hard skinned and to keep going. Since being freelance Karen has done work for companies such as Skoda, Honda, Smart Car, Fiat, Dorling Kindersley, Ikea, Tesco, ITV, Asda, Proder and Gamble, Vodaphone, Umbro and Oxford University. 

To be in this industry she told us that we need to be versatile, flexible and take on things that come your way even if it's not to out particular style. 

I loved this talk, it showed us what can be done if you are determined, work hard and are passionate about what you are doing. It also showed us that you need to get yourself out there and search for opportunities and not just wait for something to happen! This was goo too because it's the sort of animation work that I've been quite interested in for a while now and so it was nice to know about this particular part instead of things like children's programmes and films etc.I came away very inspired. 

Tuesday

Talk One: After Your Degree: The First Steps (Games), Dave Boydel

Dave studied digital art for games at my University (Glyndwr) and graduated last year (2011). Before this he studied fine art and graphic design. At University he did things like digital sculpting, 3D modelling, synopsis writing (world creation) and game engines. He said that he would say that he is mainly a concept artist and likes doing character design, environment design, prop design and 3D modelling. At the moment he is working at Dreadnought creating a game for facebook. 

He gave good amounts of advice such as..

After graduating you should keep practicing your art, don't give yourself time off because it's likely that you won't get back into it, so keep sketchbooks, do digital art, explore new media's and technologies, set yourself goals and don't slack off. 

'Prick up your ears'- do networking,, make business cards, open a deviant art account (deviant art is a non professional way to show your portfolio online and communicate with other artists), join in with forums, have your own blog and go to conventions such as MCM, Thought Bubble and Regional Shows. 

When applying to studios be professional, make your CV maximum of one and a half pages, in your cover letter sell yourself and don't waffle, be flexible and go where the work is, be prepared to make coffee and expect not to be what you want to be at the beginning. 

Dave had to move to just north of London to get his job.

He ended on this quote..

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day on your life."

-Confusious

This was a good talk, it was nice to have someone that recently graduated from our university and see that they have been successful in gaining a job. He was also able to give some really good advise, I will definitely be taking this all onboard. 

Talk Two: Character Design and Social Networking, Jonathon Edwards

Jonathon Edwards is an illustrator and does animation design. 

In 2007 Jonathon designed a character called Inspector Cumulus from a couple of doodles. A friend then made a CG model of the character to give him an idea of how it would look if it was a toy. Eventually after a couple of adjustments he had the character made into a toy that sold in various places all over the world. 

He then made some more characters that were monsters, of which another friend who had studied dress making said that she could make them in the form of plushies and so thats what they did! 

One day Jonathon was watching 1982 general elections and sketching away in his sketchbook characters inspired by the politicians and what they were wearing. His friend Louise then said that she would like to make them but bigger than any normal plushie and with lots of detail. And so thats what she did. They made loads of them. They got quite a few people following them on Twitter. One day Louise did a tweet saying that she would love to make one of one of the fashion ladies on This Morning (I can't remember her name), this lady saw this tweet and became very interested. She then asked them both to create some for her window in London Fashion Week. They were in the window for 2 weeks. 

During this two weeks someone from Selfridges had seen the window and so they contacted Jonathon and Louise and asked if they would do a window for them for the following christmas.The theme was a dolls house. Their display was in the window for 2 months.

Part of  Selfridges window design

Jonathon gets inspiration for his characters from everyday people. 

They then went to Japan for 5 weeks to do a project on headspace. Whilst they were there they were asked to do some work for a design on a milk vending machine in Stockholm. For this Jonathon drew the characters and Louise made the characters of which was then stages and had a photoshoot for the final image.

Milk Vending Machine Design

This was an interesting talk, it definitely had a different perspective what could be done with character design. However I didn't feel that I got anything from it in the way of learning more about character design of which I was hoping. I hoped that it would give me advice and tips on character design as I'm not too confident with it but there wasn't anything like that. 

Talk Three: Illustration and Key Graphics: Work, Realities and Copyright. David Newell

The start of David's career started off to be 'awkward', he was clever and artistic and so to start with chose to do Science but his heart wasn't in it. So he went to art college, as soon as he finished he got a job in science. However he ended up going back to art ans was determined to make a future from it. To make money whilst doing his own work he did sign writing. He then got a job in a newpapers and then in an agency all doing creative work.  He then got into commercial work doing work for companies such as AEI, Linnoff March, Super Target, Racing Technik and Party Flyers. in 1996/97 he started doing work for agencies, however when some work came his way he gave an offer to the company which was to go straight through him, that way they wouldn't be paying so much and he would be paid more. They took him up and gave him a job afterwards. He did work for BASF, United Friendly, Tron Bonne (playstation one game) and Doctor Party. 

In 2002/03 he did artwork for The Clothes Show Live, after this he went on to creating and designing packaging for a number of products such as toys for the discovery store, Supacell Digital batteries, Unity Comdoms and Flurodine toothpaste. 

David Newell Supacell Design

It was nice to see how his career developed and to see the variety of work and jobs that he has done. Again, it was nice to see as all of his work has been commercial and that's the sort of direction that I would love to go with animation. 

Overall today wasn't too bad, I have to say that best one was the first talk and the worst was the last. But I gained more knowledge and now know things that I didn't know yesterday!

Wednesday

Talk One: Ffresh, Berwyn Rowlands

Ffresh is a student moving image festival held in various places in Wales every year. This event was established in 2002  and was designed to showcase student films (live action and animation) from the UK and internationally to help students put themselves out into the creative industry. Berwyn told us that the creative industry is ravenous but also lazy and that the people that win awards at the festival are more likely to get work even if there are some other films that are just as good. He also said that it's surprising as to how many people that are in this industry of moving image watch little television - I can imagine they don't really have much time for it! He encouraged us that we should go to as many festivals as possible to know what other students work is like and to know where we stand. 

He announced to us that Ffresh is coming to our university next year, 13-15 February 2013! It couldn't have come at a better time for me as I'll be in my last year and will give me the opportunity to help out with the event, doing either ushering, trailers, ads, posters or design work. Not only that but if I get to do ushering I'll have access to the 'green room' where all of the speakers and VIP's will be and would be able to get up close and personal with them. 

He also encouraged us to not only get our work that we do at uni out on the web etc but to also show our personal work, this would show people in the industry just how passionate we are and would build up our portfolio. 

I would definitely like to take part with the festival, I think this would be a great experience, I may also submit my own animation. It's open to submissions approximately from mid summer to the end of summer, so when I've finished uni I could use the summer to create a film to submit. 

After this talk I feel that I definitely need to do more personal work in my own personal time, although it's easier to say than do! I'm definitely going to have to look at how I organise my time and try to shuffle things about to try and create some extra time for this. 

Talk Two: Putting a Portfolio Together, Jason Minsky

Jason Minsky studied jewellry at Glyndwr University (Was NEWI)  and then went on to Manchester to study 3D design where he designed things like furniture and sculptural pieces. After graduating he worked in a studio for a bit and then went on to do an MA in Ceramics and Glass. Advice he gave us for our portfolio was to represent our work in the way that's best for showing our designs and ideas, and to put our work in a certain order maybe so that it tells a story, this will keep whoever looks at it interested. To invest in professional and smart ways to present our work and a good way to present our work if you make films is either on a showreel or on vimeo/youtube. 

One of Jason's pieces

I didn't get a great deal out of this talk, it wasn't what it was described as either, in the description said that he would be telling us how to put our portfolio together and to give us advice, which he didn't really. All he spoke about was work he had done and ideas that he's come up with within his career. This was disappointing as I felt that it was going to be a really useful talk, especially as I'm thinking of applying for work experience etc for the summer, possibly in some animation studios. I got quite excited when he said that he had a showreel and that he would give some tips on the best ways for you to make them but he never did! 

Talk Three: Working as a Freelance Animator, Ian Whittle

After Ian Whittle graduated from doing his MA he went to the Midlands to pitch an idea to to an Animator Residency Scheme but unfortunately didn't get it! He then managed to get a job at Second Home Studios in Birmingham where he helped to make stop motion adverts and films. They make animations for companies such as CITV, BBC, Diet Coke and Pilsner. He then got a job at The Red Door Animation Studios which is where he is still working. They are a lower budget animation studios and get council funding. Ian does workshops with children ranged from 8 years old to 18. They use a range of animation techniques such as cut out, digital 2d, traditional drawn, and mixed media animation. He has created an animation called 'Away from Home' which is about children that have been taken into care. For this animation they used interviews that they had with the children and pictures that the children had drawn, which they then animated on Flash. 

It was great to have Ian come a speak to us as he had lots of useful information to share and lots of brilliant visuals to show us, including quite a few animations that he had created. It was nice to see that he was using the more traditional take on animation rather than CG! I also got to learn some more about animation in advertising which was brilliant. This has definitely given me a lot of inspiration and was a great end to the day! Thank you Ian 

Thursday

Talk One: A Career in Childrens Illustration, Helen Papworth

Helen Papworth started with do Art A level and went on to become an art teacher. Later in her life she then became a VSO volunteer in Ethiopia and eventually got a job in the Ministry of Education. When she came back to the UK she applied to Glyndwr University to study Children's Illustrations. After this she became a VSO volunteer again but in Rwanda. She finished her degree in children's illustration in 2006. 

Helen started the children's illustration course because she loved books, love drawing, loved writing, she could work from home and not be stuck in an office, it was flexible, didn't have another job and had enough money to pay for the course fees. Her two main influences were/are Arthur Rackham and Saun Tan. She gave advice that if you wanted to go into illustration (and I'm pretty sure that the same goes for animation) you should do atleast one sketch a day either from life, the TV or media. She's always been scared of colour and avoids paint. 

Helen's main style is to use mixed media with photoshop and her influences are african, such as the culture, landscapes, environments etc. She illustrated for children in education in Ethiopia. 

Helen decided one day that her research was better than her illustrations and so started a PhD in Creative Writing where she worked with writers and artists. After this she went on to create quite a few books for her younger Ethiopian audience. 

It's nice to know that someone is using their skills in another country and is successful, even though she doesn't earn much money and I love the fact that she's doing something that she loves - it was clear from the talk how enthusiastic she was about what she does. Although it doesn't really appeal to me it made me realise that there is work beyond the UK. Some of the advice she gave such as do a drawing a day was good, I think I've slacked off from my drawing and I think it definitely shows in my work. 

Talk Two: Going into Business as a Young Entrepreneur, Charli Dickinson

Charlie Dickinson is part of the Launch Project which help people in rural Wrexham start their own business. They help by giving business grants of which is government funded. 

The first step to making your own business is coming up with an idea, the advice she gave was to carry around a notepad so that if you get an idea whilst you're out and about you can write it down. She also said that it's useful to talk to other people about your idea to get some feedback  etc. 

Once you have your idea you need to do some research, who are your customers? What's your market? And is there any competition? How much money do you need to start it? Will you need a piece of property? How can you be funded? Where are your customers?...Internet, forums, online communities, market stall, shop? Do you need to travel to where your potential customers will be? 

And finally marketting, this is the crucial part to having a business, it's an investment because if you have little marketting you will have a small amount of customers. 

This talk was nice and simple and was easy to keep up and understand. It just made you think about things that maybe you wouldn't have otherwise if you wanted to start a business. Think this would only affect me if I was to start selling stuff like t shirts etc with my own brand on it to sell myself and my work. Which I may well do, I have been thinking about this this week. Not only should I hopefully make money from doing such a thing but it's also marketing/advertising. 

Today wasn't the best day of creative futures week but I did gain extra knowledge and advice which is always handy! 

London Industrial Visit

In March I went with my University to London to visit various London animation studios. 

These are the studios we visited..

Studio AKA

We were given a talk about Studio AKA, what they do, the processes they go through to get work from clients and to create their animations. Studio AKA primarily create commercials. To have a commercial to create they are contacted by a company or agent and are given between 24 hours and 1 week (if lucky) to come up with an idea, create artwork and pitch it to the company. If they win it they normally have 12 weeks to create the commercial. 

At the pitch they show various pieces of artwork such as concept art of characters, maybe an animatic or blockmatic and backgrounds or environments etc. They use various techniques to create commercials, they say that it all depends on the commercial as to how they go about it. However they like to throw in some stop motion every so often to freshen the team up. 

There is only about 24 people that make up Studio AKA so it's a pretty small team. In between making commercials they make their own short films, such as 'Lost and Found' and their recent success 'A Morning Stroll', which they were nominated for an Oscar for and won a BAFTA! One commercial that they've kept making more of is the Lloyds TSB adverts. 

I would love to work in this studio, or atleast gain some experience here as I love the work they produce, especially as they use a range of animation techniques! 

Blue Zoo Productions Ltd

We started off by having a talk with Tom Box , a co-founder of Blue Zoo by showing us their show reel of which had a mixture of children's series, commercials and channel idents.  He then showed us a video of the process that they went through to create the choc'n'roll commerial which was very interesting and good to see. All of their animation is produced digitally on computer. At the time there were three main projects going on which were three children's series, 'Olive the Ostrich', 'Alphablocks' and their most recent 'Tree Fu Tom' of which the staff were split up into teams, each team doing a different series. The studio was very big, spanning over two floors of which Tom Box told us that the Studio start on the lower floor and the amount of staff had more than doubled in size.

Tom Box went to Bournemouth University with the other two co-founders Oli Hyatt and Adaw Shaw and they started the company after they had graduated. 

This studio was much different to Studio AKA, it was a lot bigger and there seemed to be much more going on (although this may have been to do with the time of day). We were told that  to get a job there or to get some work experience within the studios you would be expected to already know how to use the likes of Maya. 

Astley Baker Davies (The Elf Factory)

The Elf Factory is the studio where 'Peppa Pig' is made and more recently 'Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom'. Which makes sense to me now when I look at both styles as they are both quite similar! I liked this one, mainly because the lady that showed us around not only talked to us about the different stages that the company goes through to create a programme for a series but showed us round at the same time. So for example when she was talking about the animatic stage she took us to the team that create the animatics and got them to demonstrate how they would do it. It was good to see them demonstrating it rather than to be just shown a video as you could also ask them anything as they went along. 

I liked the look of the programme they used to create the animations, its like flash but better. 

I wouldn't mind getting some work experience here either! 

Picasso Pictures

Again when visiting this studio we had a talk and were shown  the showreel. Picasso Pictures creates commercials, title sequences, idents , TV series and short films. We were shown the stages of the making of one of their commercials called Fidelity which was about banking. Not only did I learn about how a project is thrown back and fourth to the clients to make sure that everything is to their liking and the stages used to create such a piece but also that a banking advert doesn't have to be boring and mainly fact based but can be made very visually exciting. I loved that commercial as it's the sort of thing that I would love to make. This studio was similar to Studio AKA being that it was quite small and they both create animations for commercials mainly. 

Before going on the London trip I had sent my CV and showreel to a few studios in London in the hope of getting some work experience in the summer, Picasso Pictures was the only studio that got back to me, unfortunately they didn't have any free spaces for work experience until December. Having been there and seen what they do it's made me want to get back in touch in the future and hopefully I'll have more luck. 

Cartoon Network Europe (Turner Animation Studio)

The last studio we visited was Cartoon Network Europe. This tour was much like The Elf Factory, they took us around the studio showing and explaining the processes they go through to create a programme for a series. They showed us an animatic they created for The Amazing World of Gumball and then each stage of creating it. It was very interesting as both 2D and 3D was used in it as well as photographs and so it was good to see how it all came together. 

Overall the London trip proved to be very important and very interesting/exciting. It was good to see the possibilities for my future, especially as I have the advantage of living near London at home. I will definitely be getting in touch with these studios in the future as well as others I may come across. It was good to see how each studio worked as each one was quite different to the others.

Duke of Edinburgh Animation Project

Not too long ago I had a friend who is still in school approach me and ask whether I would help with her Duke of Edinburgh Award. For this she wanted me to teach her how to animate by creating her own short animation. 

As she isn't confident in drawing we both decided that stop motion with everyday objects would be the best approach. She came up with the idea of animating shoes in a shoe cupboard. These shoes would get excited every time a person would walk near the cupboard and open the door hoping to go out...just like a dog would. 

With this idea in mind she then chose three different pairs of shoes, one pair was black sparkly high heels, the second brown brogues and the last a white pair of converse. I adapted a character sheet that I've used to write up about characters that I have created to make it simpler and more appropriate for her characters. She then filled it out! ...

Character One

Full Name: Conor Martin

Nickname: Con

Age: 15

Colour/s: White but dirty

Size: 7

Nationality: British

Accent: Southern British

Physical Disabilities: None

 Abilities: Video Games

Favourite Colour: Red

Greatest Fear: Mum not coming home one night

Daredevil or Cautious: Cautious

Optimist or Pessimist: Pessimist

Introvert or Extrovert: Introvert

Extremely skilled at: Video Games

Extremely unskilled at: Sports

Mannerisms: Always seems bored, tries to be the man of the house but it doesn't work.

How does the character react in a crisis: Tries to act like he doesn't careless but he actually does.

How does the character react to change: Doesn't mind...

Where does the character live: Cupboard

Where does the character want to live: Away from family

Does the character like animals: Yes

Do they like music?..What kind: Dubstep

Connor is the son of the high heels, grandson of the brogues and has no father figure in his life. 

Character Two

Full Name: Edith Martin

Nickname: Edie

Age: 68

Colour/s: Brown

Size: 7

Nationality: British

Accent: Southern British

Physical Disabilities:Warn down and slow

Physical Abilities: Jigsaws and Knitting

Favourite Colour: Lavender

Greatest Fear: Family leaving her - being lonely

Daredevil or Cautious: Cautious

Optimist or Pessimist: Pessimist

Introvert or Extrovert: Introvert

Extremely skilled at: Knitting

Extremely unskilled at: Hearing

Mannerisms: Neat freak, likes to be in control.

How does the character react in a crisis: Cannot control herself because she panics too much.

How does the character react to change: Panics and becomes scared

Where does the character live: Cupboard

Where does the character want to live: Wants a bigger and cleaner cupboard

Does the character like animals: No because they are dirty

Do they like music?..What kind: 1940's Jazz/Swing

Character Three

Full Name: Laura Martin

Nickname: N/A

Age:38

Colour/s: Black Sparkly

Size: 5

Nationality: British

Accent: Southern British

Physical Disabilities: Bit off balance

Physical Abilities:Partying

Favourite Colour: Pink

Greatest Fear: Breaking a toe nail

Daredevil or Cautious: Daredevil

Optimist or Pessimist: Optimist

Introvert or Extrovert: Extrovert

Extremely skilled at: Partying - social

Extremely unskilled at: Being a Mum, not very domesticated

Mannerisms: Excited, bubbly and over the top

How does the character react in a crisis: Freaks out, is all over the place.

How does the character react to change: Likes it, gets used to it very quickly

Where does the character live: Cupboard

Where does the character want to live: Away from her Mum, finds her to be a nag

Does the character like animals: Yes

Do they like music?..What kind:  Dance music. 

Next came the storyboard, we knew what the idea was but we didn't know what was going to happen in the animation and what scenes and shots we were going to have. 

This is the final sequence that my friend decided on. And so from all of this came the actually animation...

In the creation of this animation my roll was  advising and guiding my friend with how to animate, setting up the set for the animation, lighting, rigging and as she had never animated before I helped her with the timing of the movements and how many frames to do for each shot. As we did this at my house we didn't have the more professional equipment at our disposal so I set up my digital camera on a tripod. The lighting was controlled by shutting out as much light in the room as possible and opening and closing the curtains when doing inside the the cupboard shots with the doors shut (dark) and when the cupboard doors were opened (light). The only part that I got hands on with her was when she did the shots where she was opening and closing the doors and picking up the shoes, for this I took the images and moved the eyes of the other two shoes if she asked me to do so! My friend created most of the sounds herself and a couple others I made. After this I showed her how to put together, add sound and edit the animation!

Overall I feel that this is a brilliant first animation and my friend did a brilliant job of it. 

I loved working with someone that was younger and had never had a go at animation before, it was great to see her enthusiasm and to see her having such fun with it! I found this exercise very refreshing and I wouldn't pass up the opportunity if came my way again! 

Animating Childrens Drawings

For a while now since BAF and more so from Creative Futures I've wanted to animate some children's drawings as a new challenge and to try something different. So whilst I was home for Easter I asked a 6 year old girl that I know if she would do a drawing of me and explained that I wanted to animate it, I also asked her to draw me  something I could put in the background like the seaside or a house or a castle..it could be anything! And so she drew me as a princess, a castle and the added bonus of my cat Amber! 

Now I had the drawings I decided that I would animate my character singing and wishing the girl that drew the picture happy birthday as it's her birthday at the end of the month, instead of getting her a card!

This is the process I went through to prepare for animating

This is the original drawing of myself and my cat

I then made the background completely white

This is the original castle drawing

I also made the background completely white for this

I then added in bits for the background like the sky and ground

And finally myself and my cat were added into frame.

Then broke down the drawing of my self so that the arms, head, neck, torso etc were separate ready to animate. I also created different mouth shapes. 

This is the final animation, I use my own voice and I did the cat noises. I found the bird sounds from a royalty free website and added in a quick title and credits. 

Overall I'm very happy with the outcome of this animation, I enjoyed making it and would love to use children's drawings for another animation, maybe for a bigger project. The great thing about it is when you ask for a drawing you don't know what you're going to get to work with!

This one will also be put on vimeo.

11 Second Character Animation Competition#

I've decided to enter an animation competition I found on google. It's a competition where you're given 11 seconds of a voice recording and you have to animate a character to it. Anyone can enter and there is a new one every month. The winner gets an 'eCritique' from a professional animator from animationmentor.com 

There's also a forum where you can post your work in progress and gain feedback, which is invaluable. 

The voice recording for this months competition is-

"Please don't think we're ungrateful for your enthusiasm Mrs Crawley but there comes a time when things are best left to the professionals. And I really I really must go. Good day."

My first thoughts were to have 'Mrs Crawley' infront of some sort of scene where she'd tried to do something herself for the lady talking but it had gone completely wrong. Or she tried to do a job in some sort of profession. 

So I looked up professions and the ones that most interested me were architects, pilots, dentist, doctor, engineer, journalist, nurses and surgeons. I thought of things like, Mrs Crawley could be stand in a pilot suit infront of a wrecked plane, or dressed as a surgeon covered in blood, architects blue prints that didn't make sense etc. I tried to imagine the other lady's role in each of these and in my mind she didn't suit many of them. 

So then I looked at some possibilities that I could relate to and there were three things that came to mind. Gardening, painting and decorating, and building work, these are something I enjoy when I have spare time. The voice recording reminds me a bit of when I was younger and liked to surprise my parents by painting a room by the time they got home from work (something they may have thought about doing at the weekend), which was somewhat very messily finished due to my lack of experience. Or I thought I'd tidy the garden up a bit by 'weeding' and 'pruning' much to my Mum's horror I would pull out plants and flowers that she liked and cut  bushes and roses the wrong way at the wrong time of year, again through lack of experience. I've yet to do the same with building work, I've always had my Dad's company for those! 

 I decided that I would base this animation on one of those experiences so that I could understand the situation a bit better. I chose to do the painting and decorating as it would be easier to demonstrate visually than the gardening one and the building one.  

Mrs Crawley would think that she was doing the other lady a favour and surprise her by adding a bit of colour to one of the walls in the lady's sitting room as she had heard her talking about the possibility of having it done. 

And so I created the backgrounds..

Initial sketch in sketchbook

Straightening certain lines up digitally

Primed the image and digitally traced the original pencil marks

Added the colour to show the paint job by Mrs Crawley.

I decided to only use colour for the paint to emphasize the mess made!

This is the scene that Mrs Crawley will stand in. 

Bad door and door frame.

Oversized lamp

I drew both of these in the same scene together but the light was way too big so I made both drew them separately digitally.

This is my newly digital drawn door and door frame based on my original sketch.

And this is the redrawn table and lamp.

I then positioned them both back in one scene together with much better proportions

And finally added the messy paint job. This is the scene in which the lady will be standing. 

Overall I'm really happy with both of the backgrounds and the effect of paint has worked out better than I had imagined it! 

These are the characters I created!..

This is my first rough sketch of Mrs Crawley, an enthusiastic newly married young lady.

This is the old Lady, uptight and proper.

And above and below are my neater digital line drawn characters, worked from the rough skteches

And both characters in the backgrounds. 

I'm really happy with these characters and I feel they suit their roles well. I've loosely based Mrs Crawley on myself for reasons expressed in my previous post about this project. 

And this is the final animation..

I've kept the older lady quite stiff to show that she's uptight. I'm happy with the lip sync but I think it could be slightly tighter and made more fluid if I worked at it a bit more, and I'm happy with Mrs Crawleys reaction at the end. Overall I feel that it's a good attempt. 

I've enjoyed doing the 11 second competition and will be sure to do more! This one was a little rushed as I only found it half way through the time allowed for the competition so hopefully my next will be better! And hopefully I'll gain some useful feedback!

Summer Work 2011

My summer work sent to me by uni consisted of three parts-

Part One was to fill a whole sketchbook with life drawings of either people or animals in an interesting place

For Part two I had to experiment on A3 sheets with colour and media to develop human or animal studies from my sketchbook into simplified characters. Also had to draw the characters in a number of poses and expressions

And finally Part Three I had to develop ideas for animated films based on your 'real life' observations and using my characters. 

Part One

 I was looking forward to this part of the project as I love life drawing. I left it for when I went on holiday in August to Rhodes, a Greek island as I felt that this was the most interesting place that I would be visiting this summer! These are the drawings I did..

Some didn't work out the way I would have wanted- some weren't very good at all, sometimes I had trouble working out perspective. However I am really happy with most of them as I feel that quite a few of them are a lot stronger than previous drawings. I managed to capture a number of different poses and positions as well as a variety of different people of different sizes, shapes and ages! I really enjoyed doing this.




Part Two


This part I dreaded, I had previously done a project on character design and soon found that it wasn't my strongest point! I generally find character design quite a hard thing to do! However I had another go and this is what I came up with -


First I took my sketchbook and from that I took a few drawings of the same people and different people with similar builds and shapes and put them all together onto A3 sheets of paper.

This one is of different men with the same sort of build. I added a cape onto all of the as one of the men that I used from my sketchbook on here always wore his towel round his neck like a cape, and so I thought instead of taking it out why not make it interesting and put it on all of them. I'm happy with this as they all look like the same person.

This is of a women that used to hang around the pool with her grand children, she had a bad back and so she hardly ever stood up. She did like to tell her grandchildren off though..her voice was very loud! When she wasn't doing that she was always reading her book.

The first image on the top is of three different men and the bottom image is of the same man. I didn't get to know the characters of them very well as they were quite quiet and kept themselves to themselves!

The above two images are mainly of the same girl except from  two of the drawings. All of these girls used to read  their books allllllllllll the time! 

This is of a little girl with blonde curly/wavy hair - she loved her ice cream!

And finally the above two images are of the same man, this man was very interesting. He was mainly quiet, sitting or laying and watching the world go by. I love the shape of his face too, I found it quite unusual. He certainly stuck out to me!


So after I did this I then chose three of them to turn them into a character for my story. I chose the little girl with blonde curly hair, the larger older lady and the man with the narrow limbs and interesting face. I did this so that I had a real variety with gender, age and size to be able to make an interesting story and for it to be aesthetically pleasing. So here are their character sheets.

Overall I'm very happy with the outcome of these characters. I feel that I should have done more in the way of character turnarounds and emphasized the emotions a bit more on some of them. I rendered them with watercolour and coloured pencils.

Part Three

Story boarding is fine when you know what story you're going to do! Again, I don't find this bit so easy - as in making up a story. nothing on holiday happened that gave me a lot of inspiration for a story. I know that from looking at the characters and what they a wearing that it would have to be set on a beach or round a pool but that's as far  I got. And so at the last minute I came up with this...

It was a pretty simple story but I felt that it was quite effective. The storyboard wasn't rendered to the quality I would have liked to do but unfortunately I left it far too late and so it was rushed- something I will not be doing again. 

Overall with the whole project I was very happy, if done again I would have given myself more time to complete my work so that it would be to a higher quality. If I had done that in the first place I would have had a lot more time to work out a couple of stories, maybe choose the best and develop it a bit further to make it stronger.