Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Busy week
This week is a little hectic for me on the animation/art front as it's the Riverfront Open Weekend this weekend...in other words...I'm trying to juggle like a mad woman to get back up to scratch before Friday!!! Argh!! I will post when I'm less skittish.
Monday, 15 June 2009
I Miss Annecy...
So for those of you who don't know, Annecy Animation Festival ('09) has been running since the 8th and has just finished. Sadly, this year, I couldn't afford/wasn't well enough to attend *cries*. I would highly recommend it as an animation festival to attend if you've never been before. The place itself is beautiful, the atmosphere is incredible and you will see SO many great animated works. Not to mention the exhibitions and the people you can meet!
A big congratulations to all of this years winners, if you want to read who they were, go here: ANNECY '09 WINNERS
And a special hoorah! for Felix Massie, who's film "The Surprise Demise of Francis Cooper's Mother" was shown in the short films out of competition category. Hope if went down well Felix, even with the lack of subtitles and French speaking Francis Cooper...
I'm definately aiming to go next year as it's the 50th Anniversary! And now, I shall leave you with a picture from last years Annecy to make me all nostalgic again:
A big congratulations to all of this years winners, if you want to read who they were, go here: ANNECY '09 WINNERS
And a special hoorah! for Felix Massie, who's film "The Surprise Demise of Francis Cooper's Mother" was shown in the short films out of competition category. Hope if went down well Felix, even with the lack of subtitles and French speaking Francis Cooper...
I'm definately aiming to go next year as it's the 50th Anniversary! And now, I shall leave you with a picture from last years Annecy to make me all nostalgic again:
Saturday, 6 June 2009
THE GLAMMIES '09
.
Yes! Yesterday was Glammie '09 day, "boldly going where no Glammies has gone before". If you couldn't tell, it was a Star Trek theme, and my word was it good! I have never attended the Glammies before, but was lucky enough to go as part of Strangetown Animation this year, and it really was the best end of year show I've seen. But I'll tell you now, I don't have many pictures because I was too distracted by all he red and yellow balloons and great people to remember my camera was in my bag.
Upon arriving, I was met by Mr Terry Cooper (a.k.a. Boss) and I was provided with my Glammie items by a group of Glamorgan first years in red shirts: a list of the screenings, ticket for the after party and a name tag in a neck loop thing! Again...as with my last name tag, I was far, FAR too happy.
Then came the screening, and might I say, the work was incredible. From all years, it truely was inspiring. Even the little idents for the categories were wonderfully done, especially stop-motion Worf (congratulations to whoever it was that did that one, it was my favourite!) At this point I want to say congratulations to everyone that was nominated for an award and I will now be very long-winded and list all of them:
Kate Derrick; John Atkinson; Nathan Jones; Todd Setter; Matt Pollack; James Hodges; Lea Vidakovic; Darran Edwards; Sarah Crossman; Chi Keen; John Seldon; Jamie Lee Lloyd; Milan Kolar; Tom Lucas; Nathan Flynn; Joe O'Conner; Toke Jepsen; Dan McCarthy; Torjus Erfjord; Daniel Lee; Nick Clackett; Joe Lewis and Bryony James.
I did meet some of you, and all I can say is that it was a wonderful experience, all of your work is outstanding and I wish you luck in anything you choose to do. I also want to say a congratulations to the tutors, all of you that I met were incredibly friendly and your students really are a tribute to you. Wonderful work everyone!
The meet and greet after the screening was lovely, getting to talk to Tim Allen once again, and meeting the Glamorgan tutors and students. There was a great atmosphere and fabulous people.
The after show party was the final stop, where I believe I was referred to as "David Bowie" when I started playing with my contact ball. Again, it was generally a wonderful atmosphere with a group of highly talented individuals. It was a fabulous night and I am honoured that I could attend such a well organised and fun event. My final note would have to be hats off to all you first years that put in so much effort lugging those balloons around the venues!
*does the left handed vulcan hand sign* I can't do it with my right and it took about 2 weeks of painful hand torture to get it with the left! So sue me!
Yes! Yesterday was Glammie '09 day, "boldly going where no Glammies has gone before". If you couldn't tell, it was a Star Trek theme, and my word was it good! I have never attended the Glammies before, but was lucky enough to go as part of Strangetown Animation this year, and it really was the best end of year show I've seen. But I'll tell you now, I don't have many pictures because I was too distracted by all he red and yellow balloons and great people to remember my camera was in my bag.Upon arriving, I was met by Mr Terry Cooper (a.k.a. Boss) and I was provided with my Glammie items by a group of Glamorgan first years in red shirts: a list of the screenings, ticket for the after party and a name tag in a neck loop thing! Again...as with my last name tag, I was far, FAR too happy.
Then came the screening, and might I say, the work was incredible. From all years, it truely was inspiring. Even the little idents for the categories were wonderfully done, especially stop-motion Worf (congratulations to whoever it was that did that one, it was my favourite!) At this point I want to say congratulations to everyone that was nominated for an award and I will now be very long-winded and list all of them:
Kate Derrick; John Atkinson; Nathan Jones; Todd Setter; Matt Pollack; James Hodges; Lea Vidakovic; Darran Edwards; Sarah Crossman; Chi Keen; John Seldon; Jamie Lee Lloyd; Milan Kolar; Tom Lucas; Nathan Flynn; Joe O'Conner; Toke Jepsen; Dan McCarthy; Torjus Erfjord; Daniel Lee; Nick Clackett; Joe Lewis and Bryony James.
I did meet some of you, and all I can say is that it was a wonderful experience, all of your work is outstanding and I wish you luck in anything you choose to do. I also want to say a congratulations to the tutors, all of you that I met were incredibly friendly and your students really are a tribute to you. Wonderful work everyone!
The meet and greet after the screening was lovely, getting to talk to Tim Allen once again, and meeting the Glamorgan tutors and students. There was a great atmosphere and fabulous people.
The after show party was the final stop, where I believe I was referred to as "David Bowie" when I started playing with my contact ball. Again, it was generally a wonderful atmosphere with a group of highly talented individuals. It was a fabulous night and I am honoured that I could attend such a well organised and fun event. My final note would have to be hats off to all you first years that put in so much effort lugging those balloons around the venues!
*does the left handed vulcan hand sign* I can't do it with my right and it took about 2 weeks of painful hand torture to get it with the left! So sue me!
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
Animation at Newport
.
Allo again! I know I said I wouldn't post until the Glammies, but I figured i'd update on the Newport Animation stuff. I went to the "Private Industry Viewing" yesterday...yes, I got in as industry...and they gave me a name tag and goodie bag!!! NAME TAG!! I was far too happy to see my name in a little clip on badge thing, but it made me feel important, so I couldn't help it! You can see from my rubbish webcam photo today just how stupidly happy it made me. Anyway! I wasn't quite as dapper as my attendance last Friday, and sadly I couldn't stay for the screening section of the evening because of having to run off into the sunset and teach people how to juggle (a.k.a my job).
I DID however, get hold of a copy of the animation DVD. Woohoo! Theres 18 films in total on it, and I spent my night watching all of them. I'm not going to review them all because that would probably take me hours with the way I rant on, so I shall just attempt to comment on the films that stuck in my mind.
One thing I will say before I start is a problem I found with the DVD, this is purely for anyone that is thinking of getting hold of a copy. The DVD runs fine on a computer DVD player, but on standard DVD players there is no highlight showing on the menu options, so you pretty much have no idea what you're selecting. I suppose that can add an element of suprise though!
Right, here we go:
Noah by Joel Calvert - If you like more abstract and dark type films, this is for you, it's got a very nice use of colour and lighting, and the exploration of sound is wonderful.
Heartstrings by Rhiannon Evans - I love the puppets in this film, the story is very sweet and the animation quality itself is very nice. The credits are also a nice touch!
The Collector by John Lynton Bryan - This film is still a work in progress, rigs are still visible, sound is missing and effects need to be added. But the story is good and the models and lighting are incredible. Once it's finished this film will look amazing I think. Well worth keeping an eye out for.
Jurassic Pa by Sam Dransfield - Quite nice 2D animation here, with a fun little stroy and a very interesting use of screen space. I enjoyed it.
A Short and Happy Film by Stef Roberts - I'm not quite sure why there are 2 films by Stef Roberts on the DVD, but out of the 2 this is the one I remembered more. If you want to see a funny, happy short film, then this is for you. The style is really cute and colourful, and has a nice cut-out texture appeal.
I was shocked to see that there were only two CGI films this year. Plane Crazy by Sam Ibbitson and R.O.B by Rob Stanley Out of the two films I would have to say I preferred R.O.B. But it's clear that both films had a lot of effort put in to produce them.
There are so many other films I could mention, you could look to Megan Tupper's film Keys for a fun bit of 2D animation about a cat or Stuart Paton's film Exploration for a great use of the metamorphosis technique. There really is a lot to look at. Orange Reign by Craig Dunsford has a stop motion orangutan if that's your thing, and Chris McBride created Out There, a nicely styled 2D film.
That's it, I have now officially written FAR too much. I think now, all I shall do is list all of the animators on the DVD as it is a wonderful accomplishment to finish a film, and they deserve congratulations for that.
So a big congratulations and good luck to:
Lorna Bailey; Robin Brown; Joel Calvert; Lloyd Cole; Sam Dransfield; Craig Dunsford; Rhiannon Evans; Tom Hardy; Donna Hartley; Sam Ibbitson; John Lynton Bryan; Chris McBride; Stuart Paton; Dan Patterson; Stef Roberts; Rob Stanley and Megan Tupper.
Allo again! I know I said I wouldn't post until the Glammies, but I figured i'd update on the Newport Animation stuff. I went to the "Private Industry Viewing" yesterday...yes, I got in as industry...and they gave me a name tag and goodie bag!!! NAME TAG!! I was far too happy to see my name in a little clip on badge thing, but it made me feel important, so I couldn't help it! You can see from my rubbish webcam photo today just how stupidly happy it made me. Anyway! I wasn't quite as dapper as my attendance last Friday, and sadly I couldn't stay for the screening section of the evening because of having to run off into the sunset and teach people how to juggle (a.k.a my job).
I DID however, get hold of a copy of the animation DVD. Woohoo! Theres 18 films in total on it, and I spent my night watching all of them. I'm not going to review them all because that would probably take me hours with the way I rant on, so I shall just attempt to comment on the films that stuck in my mind.
One thing I will say before I start is a problem I found with the DVD, this is purely for anyone that is thinking of getting hold of a copy. The DVD runs fine on a computer DVD player, but on standard DVD players there is no highlight showing on the menu options, so you pretty much have no idea what you're selecting. I suppose that can add an element of suprise though!
Right, here we go:
Noah by Joel Calvert - If you like more abstract and dark type films, this is for you, it's got a very nice use of colour and lighting, and the exploration of sound is wonderful.
Heartstrings by Rhiannon Evans - I love the puppets in this film, the story is very sweet and the animation quality itself is very nice. The credits are also a nice touch!
The Collector by John Lynton Bryan - This film is still a work in progress, rigs are still visible, sound is missing and effects need to be added. But the story is good and the models and lighting are incredible. Once it's finished this film will look amazing I think. Well worth keeping an eye out for.
Jurassic Pa by Sam Dransfield - Quite nice 2D animation here, with a fun little stroy and a very interesting use of screen space. I enjoyed it.
A Short and Happy Film by Stef Roberts - I'm not quite sure why there are 2 films by Stef Roberts on the DVD, but out of the 2 this is the one I remembered more. If you want to see a funny, happy short film, then this is for you. The style is really cute and colourful, and has a nice cut-out texture appeal.I was shocked to see that there were only two CGI films this year. Plane Crazy by Sam Ibbitson and R.O.B by Rob Stanley Out of the two films I would have to say I preferred R.O.B. But it's clear that both films had a lot of effort put in to produce them.
There are so many other films I could mention, you could look to Megan Tupper's film Keys for a fun bit of 2D animation about a cat or Stuart Paton's film Exploration for a great use of the metamorphosis technique. There really is a lot to look at. Orange Reign by Craig Dunsford has a stop motion orangutan if that's your thing, and Chris McBride created Out There, a nicely styled 2D film.
That's it, I have now officially written FAR too much. I think now, all I shall do is list all of the animators on the DVD as it is a wonderful accomplishment to finish a film, and they deserve congratulations for that.
So a big congratulations and good luck to:
Lorna Bailey; Robin Brown; Joel Calvert; Lloyd Cole; Sam Dransfield; Craig Dunsford; Rhiannon Evans; Tom Hardy; Donna Hartley; Sam Ibbitson; John Lynton Bryan; Chris McBride; Stuart Paton; Dan Patterson; Stef Roberts; Rob Stanley and Megan Tupper.
Monday, 1 June 2009
5 for Life 2009
.
Yup, yesterday I was performing at the 5 for Life Festival 2009. For those of you that don't know what that is...it's a free family day where it promotes healthy lifestyles and forms of activity and such, so I was there with Circus Skills! Woohoo!! Don't look at me like that, it's suprisingly active ^_^ (thanks again to everyone that came along from the workshop to help!) Anyway, the site is here: http://www.5forlifenewport.co.uk/
It was a really nice day, albeit it rather warm, the average being about 21 degrees all day. Throughout the 4 hours I wandered around juggling and balancing a chair on my hand, taught people some skills and promoted the workshop, oh...and there was a giant carrot wearing a cape that scared the hell out of me! But generally, it was a very good day and lots of people tried new things and seemed to enjoy it.
Next stop for me is the Glammies this Friday, heading along with Mr Terry Cooper from Strangetown Animation. I'm hoping it will be a great night, and I will post here after i've been. Unless something big happens before Friday, I shall bid you a fond farewell untill then!
Yup, yesterday I was performing at the 5 for Life Festival 2009. For those of you that don't know what that is...it's a free family day where it promotes healthy lifestyles and forms of activity and such, so I was there with Circus Skills! Woohoo!! Don't look at me like that, it's suprisingly active ^_^ (thanks again to everyone that came along from the workshop to help!) Anyway, the site is here: http://www.5forlifenewport.co.uk/
It was a really nice day, albeit it rather warm, the average being about 21 degrees all day. Throughout the 4 hours I wandered around juggling and balancing a chair on my hand, taught people some skills and promoted the workshop, oh...and there was a giant carrot wearing a cape that scared the hell out of me! But generally, it was a very good day and lots of people tried new things and seemed to enjoy it.
Next stop for me is the Glammies this Friday, heading along with Mr Terry Cooper from Strangetown Animation. I'm hoping it will be a great night, and I will post here after i've been. Unless something big happens before Friday, I shall bid you a fond farewell untill then!
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