Bunting's Blog

Alma

2012-02-07T15:45:00.002Z

OK, so there aren't many posts from me at the mo as I'm very busy working a little hush hush number, which hopefully won't be too hush hush for much longer! One of the things we are doing at the mo is being treated to some wonderful films and I thought I'd share one of them with you.

The wonderful, and deliciously spooky, short film "Alma" by Pixar alum, Rodrigo Blaas. Picked out by Andrew Allen at Short of the Week Enjoy!

Goole film-makers get Hollywood nominations

2012-02-05T18:44:00.001Z

Two young directors from Goole, who took part in a film-making project at Junction last Spring, have had their films nominated in the Youth Fest category of the prestigious Hollywood International Family Film Festival.

Harvey Griffin (aged 15) directed a short film entitled Going Up, which also featured young crew members and young actors from Goole. Harvey is pleased to have been nominated and, as there appears to be only one nomination in the Comedy category, looks set to scoop the award.
Hannah Turner (aged 13) made her first film aged 7. Her film “Man from the Moon” is nominated for Best Drama. and combines animation with live action. It again used a young cast and crew from Goole supported by a terrific performance by Alec Cark (aged 77) who travelled from Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire to play the title role. He said, “Great news about Hollywood. I knew I'd get there one day!” Hannah is ecstatic to have been selected for the Hollywood screening, saying “I found the process very interesting and I have learnt a lot from the entire film course.”

Charlie Studdy, Arts & Leisure Manager at Junction said ‘We are immensely proud of what these young people have achieved; they really put so much hard work into the planning and creativity in these films. I’m delighted that they have been nominated in Hollywood, a great opportunity for two teenagers from Goole to showcase the fantastic talents the youth of Goole has to offer.’

Goole Straight8 was a 6 month film project for young people held at Junction, led by professional film-maker David Bunting. David, who started making films as a child on Super 8 before working on films like “Shaun the Sheep”, Disney’s “The Tigger Movie” and Channel 4’s “The Astronomers Sun” says ‘“While any film festival success is a real accomplishment, the truth is a Hollywood nomination is a massive deal for any filmmaker and our young filmmakers should be very proud of what they have accomplished. Their films will be screened on a Hollywood lot along with the best films made by young people from around the world. What’s really remarkable is our films were short on film and unedited, under strict competition rules set by Straight 8. Making films is hard enough, but the added challenges of editing in camera, meant our young filmmakers really had to plan every element of their film – with no chance of a second take. And maybe that’s the ultimate reason for their success. All of the professionals who worked with the young people put a huge amount of trust in them and our young people rose to the challenge! The whole thing was like a mini film school.”
Both films were made for Straight8 - a film competition like no other, in which entrants are provided with 8mm film and only get one shot at capturing their short movie. There is no opportunity to edit what has been filmed, and the first time the filmmakers got to see their work was at the premiere last summer at the ICA in London. Each applicant sent their unprocessed reel of film to the festival, who developed and viewed it to make their selections. Due to the tough challenge of making the film, it is usually experienced film-makers and degree-level film students that enter their work – it is very rare that young people get such an opportunity to have their work shown at this level. Straight8 Festival organiser Will Cummock said ‘Straight 8 is a tough challenge for any filmmaker, so it's fantastic to see young people taking it on so successfully’.

The film making project was made possible by a grant from Screen Yorkshire and UK film Council through the Regional Investment Fund for England. Sally Joynson, Chief Executive at Screen Yorkshire, said: “This is an amazing achievement for these young filmmakers – to be recognised internationally and have your film screened in Hollywood is something they won’t forget. It just goes to show how Yorkshire and Humber is a hotbed of filmmaking talent across all ages. I’d like to congratulate both teams on this brilliant achievement.”

California Hero

2011-12-20T18:10:00.001Z

It’s official – a group of children from Hull are heros inCalifornia! “The Lion at Home”, made by pupils at Bricknell Priamry School in Hull in partnership with the National Media Museum and the Ferens Art Gallery just keeps roaring on! It recieved an honorable award in the Student Animation category for the 2011 MY HERO International Film Festival. What makes thisaward truly astounding is it won in the Student Animation Category, beatingpostgraduate entries!!

David Kelly, Associate Media Director at The MY HERO Projects said, he was "utterly charmed" by the films energy and humor.

"It tells a lovely story with such zest and aplomb that I was surprised to find out that the filmmakers were a team of Year 4 students, learning animation from David Bunting. We at MY HERO were ready to program the film on its own merits, but knowing that it was inspired by the imagination of such young artists made that decision particularly rewarding."

You can veiw the film along with the other winning films on the website's new 2011 MY HERO Film Festival Winner's page

Creativity in the Classroom workshops for 2012

2011-12-05T10:32:00.001Z

I'm really pleased to announce an exciting series of training courses I'm running with Kudlian Software, makers of I Can Animate, around the country next year, when I'll be taking my popular teacher training day on the road. In this hand hands on learning day, teachers betrained through the whole process of animation filmmaking, from concept toanimation and post production, creating a short piece of animation to take backto school. Dates so far are 24th January in Bradford, a special iPad day on 22nd Feburary in Linconshire, 28th February Hull and 2nd March in Leeds.

To register visit

www.kudlian.net/getcreative.html

or for more information call 01926 842544 or email

info@kudlian.net

Q&A at the BFI

2011-11-18T10:04:00.001Z

Fresh from success at BAF, "I wish I went to Ecuador" is screening at London's BFI as part of We the Peoples Film Festival! The film has become a favourite on Your World View and I've been invited to travel down to London for a Q&A. The film is really making waves - today Victoria meets Lord Prescott to talk about One Hull of a Rainforest and I'm looking forward to sharing the outcome of the meeting to the BFI audience. The film, which was made for the big screen is screening in full HD cinema resolution and 5.1 surround so check it out at the BFI if you can make it.

BAF Best Film by Young Animators

2011-11-18T09:39:00.001Z

Hot off the heals of the award success at Kids for Kids UK, "I wish I went to Ecuador" (Bricknell Primary School) was awarded the coveted BAF award for Best Film by Young Animators on Saturday. BAF received more entries this year than ever before for this award and the competition from around the world made this award truly special.

The jury of distinguished animators Barry Purvis, Linda McCarthy and Irina Margolina said:

We were so impressed by the epic cinematic quality of this film, not only with its glorious colours, but with its inventive technique. On top of this was a very powerful and moving message presented with such charm and infectious energy.

Kudlian Software supported the award and generously presented Victoria from Bricknell School with copies of I Can Animate 2, Pro Animate and a HD webcam. It's the perfect gift as Kudlian supported production of the film and customised Pro Animate, achieving a technical milestone - the first film made by children to be filmed in HD CinemaScope and mastered in DCP.

From left: Festival director Deb Singleton, myself, Victoria Jones, Kudlian Software MD James Betts

The awards on 12th November coincided with the groundbreaking BBC documentary project, Britain in a Day and we filmed the whole day from Victoria's perspective. The rushes are available for viewing along with thousands of others on YouTube.

Jury at Leeds International Film Festival

2011-11-07T12:27:00.005Z

I am really honoured to have been invited on the Jury at this years Leeds International Film Festival. 5 full days of films coming up! I’m too thirds through judging the international animation competition and boy are there some extraordinary film in the category. I feel inspired and privileged just to have seen them. For those in the area, it's an amazing festival - well worth checking out.

Tenacity and Talent

2011-11-03T16:45:00.001Z

I've been invited by Animated Yorkshire to join this industry panel of animators the Bradford Animation Festival, showing short clips of recent work and sharing experiences of the highs and lows of the animation business. Joining me will be Tim Searle (Baby Cow Animation), Rob Millington (The Neighbourhood), Linda McCarthy (Tiny Elephants), Mole Hill (Animator/Director/Designer) and Matt Howarth (Puppetman Productions). I feel quite intimidated just reading the list! Take a look at the Animated Yorkshire website for more information about the panel members. Friday 11th November, 12-2.30pm. You can book tickets here.

New film debuts at arts festival

2011-11-03T16:44:00.001Z

Good write up about the premiere of Betty and Dorothy in todays Ripon Gazette

Grand Prize for I wish I went to Ecuador

2011-11-03T16:20:00.000Z

“I wish I went to Ecuador”, Bricknell Primary School's conservation film mentored by myself, was awarded the Grand Prize for Outstanding Film - twice! - at the Kids for Kids UK Film Festival this weekend in the 6-12 category, by both the professional and youth jury. Kids for Kids UK is set-up to help promote young film and media makers throughout the UK. KFK UK is the national partner of the international Kids for Kids Film Festival Movement which comes under the umbrella of CIFEJ (International Centre of Film for Children and Young Adults). The next nomination will be at the Bradford Animation Festival on Saturday 12 November! Congratuations to everyone. The film is inspired by one primary teacher's lifechanging visit to the Andes, the Cloud Forest and the Rain Forest. You can see the film online on Your World View.

Making The Astronomers Sun

2011-11-03T15:56:00.002Z

If you are interested in knowing more about the production of "The Astronomers Sun", then this vodcast should be of interest. Writer/Directors Simon Cartright and Jessica Cope discuss the making of the film with me. It sounds like we recoreded it in a toilet, but it's worth a listen.

California hero

2011-10-27T19:42:00.001+01:00

Maybe it's a reference to the heroic children who made it, it's heroic success, or simply because the hero is the price of heroic icons, a lion, but “TheLion At Home" is a finalist in the 2011 MY HERO International Film Festival. They celebrate stories of heroism via their festival,multi-media events, and through our parent organization The MY HERO Project, amedia-arts non-profit based in Laguna Beach, CA! You can watch it now on the Kids for Kids new film website. Bowing October 21st, KIDS FIRST!’s top rated shorts forchildren will be available for viewing at http://shorts.kidsfirstmedia.com.The portfolio of indie shorts includes animation, live action, student andindependent shorts and features the KIDS FIRST! Best of Fest Winners.

Betty and Dorothy premieres at Masham Arts Festival Tuesday 25 Oct

2011-10-24T20:55:00.002+01:00

I'm looking forward to the red carpet photo call for young and old stars of Masham animated film World Premiere, which sheds light on a true WW2 romance - 25^th October, 7.30pm at Masham Town Hall.Commissioned by Masham Arts Festival, ittells the uplifting story of two of Mashams oldest surviving residents.

Betty and Dorothy is animated by pupils at Kell Bank C.E. Primary School in Healy, North Yorkshire where I've spent the last few weeks working with the pupils. Back in 2009 i worked with Kell Bank to make the critically acclaimed “Leeds Pals” which commemorates the 750 people who died from the Leeds regiment on July 1st, 1916. The film won nominations and awards worldwide, from Hollywood to Bollywood and it's been a joy to be back at this very special school.

In the new film, “Betty and Dorothy”, Betty Thorbutt and Dorothy Kibbat reveal an extraordinary period of change in country life, through war and peace, and a friendship that remained constant through it all. At 9 minutes it's been the longest film I've every created with a school, though it's apt for this story which spans a lifetime. It reveals an astonishing period of change in British country life through war and peace and a friendship that remained constant through it all. brings to life an incredible World War 2 romance between a teenage farmer’s daughter and a German Prisoner of War, Willi Kibbat, shedding rare insight on an important part of British history.

Dorothy’s daughter, Christel, who accompanied her mother to a private screening of an early version of the film at Kell Bank School on Tuesday said, “It was a very special experience to meet the wonderful children and teachers of Kell Bank School and see the stories and paintings of our farm and village life made into a film. They told so well of our friendships across the years and how even our enemies can become friends if we all work together, as the POW’s did on our farms after the war. I’m very glad that Willi’s unique story is remembered in this way.”

Evoking the watercolour artwork of Nidderdale, the film was lovingly handcrafted with local artist Simon Palmer, winner of the Royal Academy Turner Watercolour Award and Masham based artist Ian Scott Massie teaching the pupils how to paint with watercolour. Dave Aston from the Digital Audio Company, who is known for Sound Design on ITV classic dramas ‘A Touch of Frost’and ‘Wire in the Blood’and Channel 4’s multi-award winning “The Astronomers Sun”, worked with children in Hull to bring to life the sounds of countryside and the drama of World War 2 in Digital stereo.

Dorothy, who celebrated her 82^nd birthday this year, will be joining the young animators and the crew on the red carpet for the premiere and a Q&A. We will also be screening Leeds Pals and "The Astronomers Sun". 25^th October, 7.30pm at Masham Town Hall.

Monday, 24 October 2011BEST ANIMATION at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival

2011-10-24T20:29:00.002+01:00

A huge thank you to the audience and jury at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival, USA who presented "The Astronomers Sun" with it's 16th award for BEST ANIMATION last weekend. This is the 3rd award in a row from New Mexico and it's humbling to see the NM audience take the film to their hearts.

Kudlian Animation teacher training at Robin Hood Primary

2011-10-08T13:19:00.001+01:00

Yesterday, after months of talking about it, we finally piloted a CPD animation teacher training class with Kudlian Software at Robin Hood Primary School in Leeds with teacher Allison Darroch. The one day training course mixed professional insight and analysis of award winning films made by children combined with hands on animation experience. The origins for the course came from one of my most popular training courses at the National Media Museum. After DCMS funding for Anim8ed ended earlier this year, I asked Kudlian Software if they would consider supporting the training day. After all, I Can Animate is my number one choice when working with schools. Kudlian's commitment to education and training has made for a wonderful collaboration and together with Robin Hood Primary School we put together a day for teachers across Yorkshire. It was terrific to work with Allison and Sophie from Robin Hood and see how they are using animation in their school. And a pleasure to work with a wonderful group of teachers keen to discover new ways to use animation within their lessons.
Our group split into three teams to make a film in under 90 minutes. Ssupervised by Allison, Sohie and myself each team used a different technique - model, cut-out and drawn, capturing the animation on I Can Animate 2 with Agent v5 web cams. As well as animating, the groups experimented with the new audio tools in I Can Animate to record a multi track soundtrack before assembling the groups scenes together in Windows Movie Maker. The success of the day means the course should now be rolled out in the near future. Watch this space!

The Astronomers Sun screens in MASTERS OF PUPPETS, Romania

2011-10-02T11:42:00.002+01:00

We are honored to be screening The Astronomers Sun in the MASTERS OF PUPPETS retrospective of the 6thANIMEST international animation film festival, which will take place in October7^thto 16^th2011 in Bucharest, Romania. It will also be screened on the Creepyanimation night of this year edition of the festival.

I wish I went to Ecuador lauches in festivals this Autumn

2011-09-25T18:09:00.000+01:00

Well blimey, it's been busy! So many things to talk about, but none more exciting than the growing momentum of Bricknell Primary School's conservation animated documentary for One Hull of Rainforest, "I wish I went to Ecuador".. This is the forth film I've been involved with at Bricknell Primary, and it's always an incredible environment to work in. When Bricknell createanimation, they really mean business and they realise the huge learning outcomes animation achieves with their learners. The teachers at Bricknell are skilled in animation now, and so this time, I and they wanted me to push animation to a new level at the school. So we worked with all the pupils at the school, over 600 pupils to make a film so huge it only feels big enough on a cinema screen!.

This week’s exciting news isit has been selected for viewing onlineon Your World View.

YourWorldViewconnects the Voices,shares the Views,and showcases the Visionsof students and young people globally through film anddiscussion. Films featured on the site create an interactive environment toexplore and discuss issues of international interest. YourWorldView supportsusers to engage directly with new and emerging filmmakers around the world.

While the film has been designed for the big cinema screen and surround sound, it's still worth a view online. And it would be great to hear everyone reactions on the comment and voting page. Already, we have had some incredible feedback from people. John Lemmon, American director in Charlotte, USA sent me a personal email to congratulate the children:

“I think it's very well done. The children and teacher voices are quite charming and the animation is inventive. I love all the moving camera shots and the detailed sets. The film is a strong call to environmental action.”

I'm pleased to announce festivals where you can see the film in it's big screen glory.

First up is the 3rd Kids for Kids UK FilmFestival, Saturday 29th October at theEmpire Cinema in Consett where it's nominated in the 6-12 years screening in the AnimationCategory.

The film is also nominated at theBradford Animation Festival in the Films for Young Animators Category –which Bricknell won in 2008 with Up Up and Away. Screening at 12pm Thursday 9th November the National MediaMuseum in Bradford.

Outside the UK, the film receives its South Asia premiere at the Chinh India Kids Film Festival in New Delhi, India on November 9-15, 2011, where it's nominated in the Kids for Kids category.

Goole Premiere for Goole Straight 8

2011-08-06T16:25:00.002+01:00

The Goole premiere of our Goole Straught 8 films. Terrific to see so many people turn out for one heck of a celebration.

Sam Burrows, Hannah Griffin and Harvey Griffin

Director, Hannah Turner

Producer David Bunting and Supervising Director Madeliene Thorne

David Bunting, crew supervisor Adam Kirk and Madeliene Thorne

"Going Up" stars, Francesca Jackson and Mathew Oldreive

The Astronomers Sun East Asia Premiere

2011-08-05T12:40:00.002+01:00

The Astronomers Sun is playing in competition at the Kavalan International Short Film Festival 2011 in Taiwan.

London Straight 8 premiere

2011-08-05T12:37:00.002+01:00

It was a one amazing premiere in London. Young directors Hannah Turner and Harvey Griffin joined Nicola Dixon and myself for the Straight 8 premiere at Rushes Soho Shorts Film Festival. The mix and quality of films was breathtaking. Ahead of todays Goole premire, here's some pictures for the big day!

Hannah and Harvey waiting to see their films for the first time with an audience!

Nicola Dixon, who's bold vision inspired all of our journeys.

The technical challenge of producing any straight 8 film is immense. One brainy filmmaker wowed us all with his 3D super 8 film technique.

Harvey's Dad, Harvey, David, Hannah and Hannah's mum.

The walk of fame. The Straight 8 directors on stage at the ICA.

Driving Inspiration celebration

2011-07-13T20:11:00.002+01:00

Really looking forward to tomorrow's Driving Inspiration celebration in Aylesbury.
I've been working on a really partnership over the last few months with extraordinary company Sign Dance Theatre International and Buckingham Primary School on Buckinghamshire's main Cultural Olympiad project. Working with five schools, Driving Inspiration partners disabled artists with paralympians, to share their inspiring success stories.

It all began last year with paralympian James Morgan sharing his inspiring story with pupils at Buckingham Primary School. (Somehow I seem to have been too in awe I forgot to take a picture of that one). I then told the pupils about my battle with dyslexia... something I never thought that ever give me the chance to work with such a remarkable company as Sign Dance Collective on a multi media piece combining theatre and animation. The results of all of this are celebrated tomorrow in a live performance. Fingers crossed the technical rehearsals go well tomorrow when we finally see the animation, made by year 6 pupils, come together fully with the dance in its final form. The permance is being filmed to create a cinematic experience we can share beyond the live performance.

Working with five schools, Driving Inspiration partners disabled artists with paralympians, to share their inspiring success. Driving Inspiration is a project led by Creative Bucks a partnership between the District and County councils of Buckinghamshire. This project has been funded by Art Council England, and the South East's Legacy Trust project, Accentuate, to encourage young people to explore the inspiration behind the achievements of Paralympics Athletes.

We did it! Goole Straight 8 films in London premiere!

2011-07-13T19:48:00.002+01:00

Great news from Straight8 that we have got 2 films in the London Screenings!! Woo hoo!!

Roll out the red carpet!!

And the films are . . .
Going Up - Director Harvey Griffin

Man From the Moon - Director Hannah Turner

Comisserations to the Remember to Smile team - we will be screening your film in Goole (more details on that soon) The London Screenings will take place on 25 +26 July at the Rushes Soho Shorts film festival at ICA, The Mall, London! Hannah and Harvey will be attending to represent each film.

Straight 8, has become one of Rushes Soho Shorts’ most popular events, puts filmmakers into the unique position of seeing their own rushes at exactly the same time as the audience.

The brief is to shoot a film on one three-minute cartridge of super 8mm cine film. No editing is allowed, and the cartridge containing the film must be handed over exposed but undeveloped, along with a separate original soundtrack. Because there is no creative brief the resulting selection of films is always wildly diverse and the quality of the best films is astounding.

Straight8 Festival organiser Will Cummock said

‘Straight 8 is a tough challenge for any filmmaker, so it's fantastic to see young people taking it on so successfully. 2011 has been one of our most competitive years to date so the standard of selected films is particularly high.’

More info on the other films on the Straight8 website http://www.straight8.net/
Have a sneaky peak at the ICA http://www.ica.org.uk/
Goole Straight8 was made possible by a grant from Screen Yorkshire and UK film Council through the Regional Investment Fund for England. Jay Arnold, Head of Cultural Sector Development at Screen Yorkshire says '

Screen Yorkshire is delighted to congratulate Hannah and Harvey on their success and very proud to have been able to support Goole Straight8. To get through to this stage in an international filmmaking competition is a fantastic achievement and testament to the team at Junction who work incredibly hard to ensure that young people in Goole have access to such life shaping opportunities.'

Nicola Dixon Youth and Community Arts Co-ordinator at Junction said ‘We are immensely proud of what these young people have achieved; they really put so much hard work into the planning and creativity in these films. I’m so pleased that they have been chosen to premiere in London, a great opportunity for 2 teenagers from Goole to showcase the fantastic talents the youth of Goole has to offer.’

Speaking personally, I’m so pleased for the young people, this is a hard film competition – there is no young people’s category, no special favours because they are young people – their films have been chosen on merit alone. Well done to all involved’ !!

Premiere buzz

2011-07-01T18:15:00.001+01:00

Tickets are selling well for tomorrow. Close Up Film have written a great news story about tomorrow's premiere. Molly and Jayden, stars of Bricknell Primary Schools "I wish I went to Ecuador" will be on BBC Radio Humberside tomorrow morning before traveling to the premiere at the National Media Museum in Bradford. It all started 3 months ago when we took a group to see "This is Cinerama", which the film plays alongside tomorrow. You can see a cool making of film made by the school here.

Carbon Cycle Caper travels Down Under with SCINEMA

2011-06-30T17:43:00.005+01:00

Carbon Cycle Caper has been selected for inclusion in the travelling festival program, and in Official Competition for SCINEMA 2011. The travelling program will see it play at around 400 venues across Australia, from high profile venues like Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum, to the obscure, like Dripstone High School in the remote Indigenous community of Tiwi Island!

“Carbon Cycle Caper”, an innovative animated film promoting an education game for pupils, luanced on the Science Museum website in April. I directed the film at Sunderland University, with a team of student animators. Sound by the Digital Audio Company. Editing and compositing by Digital Keyframe.

Part of the Science Museums new set of resource exploring climate science, “Carbon Cycle Caper”, enables students to understand the carbon cycle, how it has been affected by our use of fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution and how this underlies current worries about climate change.

Conceived as a way to forge new links between the sciences and the arts, SCINEMA has explored ways to enhance communication to raise public and stakeholder excitement and trust in science through the medium of film, while also celebrating the scientific advances in film technology itself.

News coverage for "I wish I went to Ecuador"

2011-06-30T14:34:00.002+01:00

"I wish I went to Ecuador" was filmed using DLSR cameras with Pro Animate software and we are indebted to Kudlian Software for sponsoring the film and being so accommodating to production needs. There is a good article about the upcoming premiere on their website.

Pete Haslam (above) will be broadcasting news about the premiere on his radio news programme on WHCR, 106.9FM in Hull tomorrow at 12pm. He came to visit us on the set last month and interviewed some of the pupils. He'll be visiting Bricknell Priamry School again next week to speak to the pupils about the premiere.

Animated conservation film made by Hull children is set to make history during its world premiere on Europe’s only Cinerama screen this Saturday

2011-06-27T17:08:00.002+01:00

Really really excitied about the premiere of new film made by children from Bricknell Primary School this Saturday. “I wish I went to Ecuador” tells the true story of a life changing expedition by a primary school teacher, Mrs Jones, to the Andes, the Cloud Forest and the Rain Forest. Her story enthralled her pupils so much, they decided to make an animated film to help create awareness of rainforest conservation around the world.

Filmed in Cinemascope, over 600 children worked on the film in with me, editor Adam Kirk and Sound designer Dave Aston. It is believed to be the first film made by children to be presented in the new industry standard high definition Digital Cinema Format and surround sound. Audiences in and around Bradford can see the incredible result when it premieres on Europe’s only Cinerama screen, Pictureville Cinema at the National Media Museum on Saturday 2^nd July at 12.30pm. The film plays alongside “This is Cinerama”, the first 3-strip film ever made. In showing their support to One Hull of a Rainforest, the museum is granting free entry to children to see the film.

One Hull of a Rainforest is a project started by a group of primary school teachers, including Victoria Toothill Jones, with the vision of inspiring the children of Hull through a sustainable curriculum and direct action. The project aims to raise approximately £250,000 to enable One Hull of a Rainforest to purchase and protect 100 hectares of land which lie adjacent to the Maquipucuna reserve.

Tickets for the film premiere can be purchased from the National Media Museum box office. Under 18s are free!

Lion at Home roars in at Kids First!

2011-05-17T20:19:00.001+01:00

Wow, well good things keep happening with “The Lion at Home” - scooped 2nd place for BEST STUDENT PRODUCTION, ELEMENTARY at the Kids First Best Awards 2010! The World's Largest Film Festival for Kids!
Lauren Longworth, Jury Manager at Kids First, said “This designation is quite an honour and, with it we hope to express our appreciation for the outstanding work you do on behalf of children.”

The Lion at Home was made by an incredible year 4 class and thier equally incredible teachers at Bricknell Primary School in Hull in collaboration with the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull as part of the National Media Museums anim8ed programme, under my mentoring.

It won the Chec television award for the Best animated Film made by Children at AniFest 2010, ‘Best Child-Made Animation’ award at the first Silver Salt Animation Festival 2010 in India and third prize at the National Young Filmmaker’s Award, Leeds Young People’s Film Festival

Now in its eleventh year, the KIDS FIRST! Film Festival is a showcase for children's films, TV shows and DVDs from major studios and independent filmmakers. The festival partners with more than 150 venues worldwide who host more than 10,000 screenings of KIDS FIRST! films year-round to an audience of more than one million.

A full list of winners can be found here.

I'm currently working again more with Bricknell Primary School on a new film that's every bit as exciting - I'll start blogging about it very soon!

Carbon Cycle Caper

2011-04-27T12:34:00.009+01:00

The animated film, "Carbon Cycle Caper", which I produced, storyboarded and directed for the Science Museum, has launched on the Science Museum website! The animation supports a teacher’s pack that enables schools to play the game.

I had a ball working on this film, which is designed to have the look and feel a homemade cartoon. There were two exciting sides to Carbon Cycle Caper. First was the innovative concept - creating a short animated film to promote a major new schools activity for the Science Museum that would visually explain to teachers how to run the game in schools nationwide. The second was the way we set up a production team to create a film to the high production quality needed on a tight production schedule, within a relatively small budget.

As I was working part time as a tutor for Sunderland University, it seemed to me that forming a team mixing a professional crew and students could be a possible great solution to this, providing real world production experience for a group of our star students and also giving us access to equipment and studio space at the University.

Student animator, Frazer Barrington working on Kate Youngs beautiful set.

Combining teams of seasoned professionals and new talent is something I have seen work extremely well in the past, not least as co-producer on 4mations Digital short film “The Astronomers Sun”. For “Carbon Cycle Caper” I was able to reunite some of our professional crew with a handpicked group of student animators. This included lighting cameraman, Alistair McKenzie, editor Adam Kirk and Sound Designer Dave Aston from the Digital Audio Company. In addition to this we employed a wonderfully talented young artist, Kate Young, a recent graduate at the University of Sunderland to take first bat on the films art direction and design and build the set.

The animation team at Sunderland Univeristy team with some of the cast characters- From left to right

Robert Lawson, Bianca Pollio, Dominic Shaw, Aaron Warters, Frazer Barrington

Animation studnet Dominic Shaw was my props character man - and boy what a job he had! His deask became which became an asortmant of frankenstein collections, wtih canibalised miniture plastic body parts of the 50+ chidrlens models we needed to create. Dom was responisible for all of these and the many impossible challenges I gave him during production.

A lot of the charm and style of the film, came from having no movement at all in the characters. When we did need body movement, such as picking up the 'atoms', Dom created replaceable characters for each movement.

Below - a still from the film of the energentic split screen game.

The Independent

2011-04-14T21:27:00.000+01:00

Interesting article about animation careers in the postgraduate section of the independent by Russ Thorne which I contributed some musings for. You can read it online here.

Anim8ed & St Aidans win Hollywood film award!

2011-03-26T11:14:00.002Z

I'm thrilled to announce that pupils from St Aidans CE High School in Harrogate are celebrating after their animated film, “Hungry for Health” won Best Youth Fest Animation in Hollywood, California, at the 16th edition of the annual International Family Film Festival!

This is even more special for me as I am a former pupil of St Aidans, so having the chance to work at my former high school was a really special experience. There is a chance to see a special TV report on the films success on BBC Look North next Friday at 6.30pm.

The 2011 IFFF awards celebration was held in the Chaplin Theatre at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood. The IFFF’s comprehensive program of screenings, panels and special events ran from March 16 through March 20 on the Raleigh lot. With over 23 countries represented in the films officially selected this year, the IFFF truly added emphasis on its “International” status.
The St Aidans pupils made Hungry for Health, an animated campaign film promoting healthy lifestyle choices for young people. The film was made as part of the National Media Museum’s DCMS Strategic Commissioning funded Anim8ed project in collaboration with the British Library’s "Campaign! Make an Impact" initiative using public service campaigns from history to inspire young people into creating their own contemporary versions.
There is a chance to see it play closer to home, at the National Young Filmmakers' Awards, taking place on Monday 4th April as part of Leeds Young People's Film Festival.

It also plays in competition at the VAFI - International Children and Youth Animation Film Festival Varaždin, 29th April - 1st May 2011, partner of the Los Angeles International Children's Film Festival.

Hungry for Health also won critical acclaim last November, winning the BAF 2010 Films by Young Animators Award at the National Media Museum.

Dennis Richards OBE, Headteacher, said: “It has been an inspiration to discover an art form which hitherto we knew nothing about, which has made such an impact on so many children and the school as a whole.”

Deb Singleton, director of Bradford Animation Festival said: “This year we had a fantastic response to our call for entries for the Films by Young Animators category, both in terms of number of films submitted and the quality of the films. We awarded Hungry for Health the top prize in recognition of the filmmakers’ ambition and success in creating an engaging, funny and pacy film with a clear message. We particularly admired the creation of films within films, each of which had a distinct style, as part of the overall story.”

St Aidan’s art teacher Jane Smithson, said, 'It was a tremendous experience for our young people. They were utterly engaged with the research, writing and artwork. Some comments from the young people were "Best time of my school life", "It really improved my confidence in my ability in art". As a teacher I found it built their confidence and made me think about how I deliver my lessons, as the risk taking is what they really enjoyed'.

Simon Lee, student animator, said: “It was an amazing experience being in such a creative atmosphere led by David Bunting. I never would have thought at the start that we would finish with anything reasonable, let alone an award!”

This is the second BAF win for an Anim8ed project. The scheme has produced animations that have won awards all around the world. Anim8ed was set up in 2004 to enable young people to engage with various museum collections through animation.
IFFF is a non-profit educational and cultural organization in Los Angeles County, California.

Filmming Remember to Smile

2011-03-20T15:03:00.003Z

Well yesterday we filmed our final Straight 8 entry, "Remember to Smile", Written by Laura Arnott and directed by Laura Arnott and Katy Burns. Film and Theatre director Darren Bolton supervised the shoot, along with crew supervisor Adam Kirk with myself producing. Sophie Backhouse played our lead role, and with the range of emotions she sensitively portrayed it was hard to remember that this was her first acting role.Maisy-Rae Millward and Evie Peta Backhouse played the central character at different ages of her life with other performances from Tiger Watkins-Bailey, Maidie Deighton and Jessica Barker, with our Executive Producer and Youth and Community Arts coordinator, Nicola Dixon taking a guest role.

The films now go to the Straight 8 competition organisers for developing and judging, so the first time we will get to see the film is at the premiere on July 9th!

Here's a few photos from the shoot:

Samuel Burrows on camera. Behind him, crew supervisor, Adam Kirk offers guidance during one of the tricky handheld shots in the film.

80s children. Maidie Deighton and Tiger Watkins-Bailey dressed in 80s gear by wardrobe supervisor Emma Renhard and assistant Kimberley Scott.

Directing supervisor Dannen Bolton discussing a scene with Laura and Katy.

Filming Going Up

2011-03-14T20:29:00.002Z

Behind the scenes stills from our second film, "Going Up", written by Harvey Griffin and Sam Pratt, Directed by Harvey Griffin. Filming these in one day is not easy and our young crew did themselves, and us, proud working in demanding circumstances on a very long day. Especially for our two lead actors, Mathew Oldreive and Francesca Jackson, who heroically contented with the smells of festering cream and a crammed crew in a lift.... for five hours... it was quite an achievement! Of course we had a lot of fun in the process too. Here's a snapshot. We'll post fresh pictures with words from the director soon.

From lef to right: Francesca Jackson, Mathew Oldreive, Shaun Schwegler (with reflector) and director, Harvey Griffin.

Harvey Griffin cheking a shot, with camera opperator Sam Burrows with Directing Supervisor, Madeliene Frost.

Crew supervisor, Adam Kirk checks a shot.

Trapped in the lift - Madeliene Frost talks through a scene (seperated by a wall of glass!) with Mathew and Francesca.

All in a days work!

Mathew Oldreive and Francesca Jackson in the lift.

On location with "Man from the Moon"

2011-03-14T19:52:00.003Z

More pictures from the making of "Man in the Moon", for Goole Straight 8 and a few words from the Hannah Turner, the films young writer/director.Hannah Turner (Writer,Director)
On set: Alec Clark, (Man in the Moon) Hannah Turner, Director; Madeliene Frost. Supervising Director and Sam Green, Crew

Producer David Bunting talking through a scene with the Man from the Moon, Alac Clark.

Shaun Schwegler filming on Super 8, with Adam Kirk, Crew supervisor, filming digital video assist.

David Bunting, Producer talks through a shot with Shaun on camera. Director Hannah Turner is in the red jumper.

The day of the filming was great! It was a long, cold day that tested the best of us but it was all worth it to see all of the ideas come together to make one brilliant film. The cast and crew were all excellent and co-operative and easy to work with. I found the process very interesting and I have learnt a lot from the entire film course.

Hannah Turner, Director

"Man from the Moon" in the can!

2011-03-06T18:23:00.001Z

On Saturday we filmed our first short film, Hannah Turner's "Man in the Moon". All the live action is now in the can, with just one animation shot and final credits ready to film.

Shooting Man in the Moon on film, it felt only fitting that the production stills were also captured on film as well, so we will post most of the location stills in a few days, once we have them developed.

In the meantime, here's a few pictures of last last week's progress.

On Thursday we welcomed director Madeline Frost from the Lawance Baltley Theatre in Huddesfield, who worked with our cast.

Emma Renhard did a and a couple of her students from Yorkshire coast college helped provide the films Victorian and romantic and magical themes with beautiful costumes. Here Josh Robert Darby and Jessica Perryman, pose for a Victian photograph as the Young Man in the Moon and his wife.

As well as playing the love interest, Jessica Perryman also helped with the films magical animation scenes, something as a professional animator, I had a lot of fun guiding.

There's still plenty to do on "Man from the Moon", but today we started work on "Remember to Smile", which we film in a couple of weeks. Professional actor, Paula Henstock travelled over to Harrogate to provide the voice track for the films central character.

Paula, who is busy rehersing with Madeliene for a writing festival at Lawence Batley Theatre later this month, gave a beautifully tender reading of the films dialogue track. After a long and cold location shoot yesterday, recording dialogue in the comfort of my own home with coffee to hand felt a real treat!

Goole Straight 8 Production week

2011-03-02T17:57:00.003Z

Well we've had an amazing and frantic Production week. - On Saturday, we shoot our first film, "The Man in The Moon". Can't wait! Here's some of the highlights of our week in pictures.

Tuesday - Cinematography with Adam Kirk.

Tuesday afternoon - Auditions and screen tests!

Wednesday - Shaun calling the actors from Tuesdays auditions to tell them the good news.

Rece - Finding locations for the films (the one day it rained!) Harry and Sam are testing our our Super 8 Cameras.

Thursday - Rehearsals with Director Darren Bolton.

Thursday Lunchtime - a video conference with the crew from ITV's This Morning! Thank to Joe Eibin production coordinator (right) for making this possible and the rest of the team who kindly gave some of their time to talk with our filmmakers and answer their questions. Jo was one of our production apprentices in Goole Silent Movie, and a terrific role model for our current young filmmakers.

Friday - music auditions with Dave Bainbridge and costume fittings with Emma Renhard.

Hungry for Health travels to Hollywood!

2011-03-02T17:15:00.008Z

I'm excited to announce that the animated short film, "Hungry for Health", made by pupils at St Aidan's C E High School, is nominated for an award in Hollywood at the Youth Fest International Family Film Festival Youth Fest! on March 19th, 2011, at the Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, CA, USA.

An animated campaign film promoting healthy lifestyle choices for young people, Hungry for Health offers a unique young person's perspective on diet and childhood obesity, referencing social pressures, advertising and new media. Hungry for Health was made as part of the National Media Museum's anim8ed programme in partnership with the British Library's, Campaign! Make an Impact innovative initiative that uses history to inspire young people into active citizenship.

Leeds Pals plays in Hollywood

2011-02-24T22:02:00.008Z

I'm excited to announce that the animated short film, "Leeds Pals", made by pupils at Kellback Primary School is nominated for an award in Hollywood at the Youth Fest International Family Film Festival Youth Fest! on March 19th, 2011, at the Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, CA, USA.

Leeds Pals has played in festivals around the world. It has won awards for Emerging Talent: 12 and Under and the Audience award at Fresh Flix, Encounters Short Film Festival 2009 and the Best Child Made Animation at Silver Salt Animation Festival 2010. It is also currently screening on a worldwide tour at the worlds largest film festival for kids, KIDS FIRST! The Festival partners with more than 150 venues who host screenings year round to an audience of more than one million.

“Accurate portrayal of a real battle using hand-made drawings and cut-outs. A tribute to an important battle, and set to poetic lyrics which were clearly read and delivered an easy to follow story.”

Kids First! Jury

“Powerfull and subtle use of mixed media to tell a powerful tale - brilliant. Loved the genuine input of children's styles and their voices. the stop motion sequence of drawing soldiers and barbed wire was a creative first! So appropriate.”
Sheila Graber, Animation Director

Astronomers Sun wins in Seattle!

2011-02-09T21:48:00.002Z

We were thrilled to hear that “The Astronomer’s Sun” won Grand Prize in this year’s Science Fiction + Fantasy Short Film Festival! The awards were announced to a sold out house at Seattle’s renowned Cinerama Theatre. We were really sorry not to be there in person, but I'm told it was was an incredible night, and an amazing experience watching the films on the big screen with a rapt audience of sci-fi/fantasy film fans. Thanks to everyone in Seattle for who made this such a festival to remember.

Amazing new young peoples film workshop starting in Goole

2011-01-28T20:42:00.000Z

If you have every thought you would like to make a film - a real film - and you live in the Goole area, this is for you!

We are NOW seeking young people aged 13 – 18 who are budding actors, film-makers, writers, animators, researchers, technicians, musicians and costume designers to make the film. Over the next 2 months, four films are planned to be shot using Super8 film cameras, supervised by professional filmmakers from across Yorkshire and beyond. The challenge - to submit to one of the toughest and most exciting film festivals in the world - Straight 8, and be considered for screenings in London and Cannes!
The first films I ever made were with a Super 8 camera. Learning to use film gives young people the chance to use the technology that founded the film industry. The flickering projector takes us right back to the magic and dream of cinema. The particular challenge - and the skill in this competition, comes from creating and editing a film in camera. We have no second changes. No take twos. No chance to ‘fix it in edit!’ Our young filmmakers are going to be taught skills and the techniques not normally taught outside film school. We have an incredibly talented team of people from the four corners of the film industry from writers and directors to actors, editors, composers and costume designers, who will all be sharing their knowledge with these young people. What we are doing is totally unique. We are creating a mini film school for budding filmmakers. It’s going to be incredibly exciting and will push our young people to realise their creative potential.

Visit the new Goole Straight 8 blog to find out more!

Free CPD animation training, 1st Feb at the National Media Musuem

2011-01-16T15:53:00.004Z

Thanks to Estelle Baker and everyone from the museum development service for Hampshire at the Isle of Wight Museum. I've just come back from a wonderful week training teachers and museum educators animation skills as part of the British Library Campaign Make an Impact training days.

For those of you in the Yorkshire region who may like animation CPD training a little closer to home, I am delivering a a FREE CPD programme at the National Media Museum in Bradford on Tue 1st February, 9.30am-3.45pm. At the moment there are 5 places left and places go on a first come first served basis.

Due to government cuts, I’ve been told this will sadly be the last CPD day that the National Media Museum offer for the foreseeable future, and I’m eager we sell out this event. I’ve taught this programme around the UK, from York to Hull to the Isle of Wright to amazing feedback.

During this 1 day course teachers will learn about how to use animation as a creative learning tool in the classroom.

This course aims to:

1. Demystify the process of using animation in the classroom

2. Identify the links between animation and the national curriculum

3. Discuss the practice of using animation in the classroom

4. Gain practical experience of using animation as a tool for learning

The CPD day is being run as part of the anim8ed learning programme, Supported by DCMS and DCFS through the Strategic Commissioning programme.

To book places, contact the School Services Officer, Di Carey on 0844 856 3799, or email learning@nationalmediamuseum.org.uk

For an example of one of our previous training days at the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull click here
To find out more about anim8ed and for fee animation resources visit the webstie:

Shaun Goes Potty

2011-01-03T20:26:00.005Z

It's wonderful to finally see Shaun Goes Potty transform from story sketches into full animation. I worked as a story artist on this episode from Shaun the Sheep, which was an amazing experience. In terms of story issues, this was a difficult episode to work on with a huge script crammed to bursting with just too many good ideas!

One of those was a dream sequence of Bitzer being a legendary pool champ, which was a lot of fun to board, but in the end was rightly cut to give Shaun and Bitzer more screen time together.

I remember looking at this episode in story reel form with the director, Chris Sadler and an editor and it came to aprox10 minutes. At which point we asked - what is the story really about. The resulting changes, which many story artists and great minds worked on, see the various location shifts changes to one which allows screen time to concentrate on the entertainment of a terrific concept. I had a ball, to pardon the pun, working out some of the visual humour of Shaun and Bitzer challenging each other to a game of pool. Catch it now on the BBC iplayer!

Happy New Year

2010-12-31T17:15:00.001Z

As we look back on 2010, we are very pleased to announce our 9th award for The Astronomers Sun!

On Sunday December 12th, The Astronomers Sun won the The Audience Choice award at Anima: a festival of contemporary animation by women.

This follows winning the Best of the Festival award at the Flip Animation Festival!

Thanks to our directors Simon Cartwright and Jessica Cope, our talented team, and most of all everyone who has seen The Astronomers Sun this year and made 2010 such a special year for the film.

This has also been a great year for films made my young people I've mentored. Hungry for Health won Best Film by Young Animators at the Bradford Animation Festival and “The Lion at Home” received an award in the Animated Films Made by Children category at the 9th annual AniFest 2010 – the International Festival of Animated Films.

The Lion at Home" (Bricknell Primary School) and "Leeds Pals" (Kell Bank Primary School) also won the “Best Child Made Animation” award at the first Silver Salt Animation Festival 2010, India's largest ever animation festival and the Lion at Home came second at Flip Film Festival and 3rd at the Leeds International Film Festival.The New Year kicks off with the The Lion at Home (Bricknell Primary School/National Media Museum), and Leeds Pals (Kell Bank Primary School/Awards For All) selected for screening at the worlds largest film festival for kids KIDS FIRST! Film Festival showcases new and classic children's films and videos from studios as well as independent and youth filmmakers. The Festival partners with more than 150 venues who host screenings year round to an audience of more than one million. They will be included with approximately 75 films at our events running through January 15, 2010.

Happy New Year!!

BAF award for St Aidans!!

2010-11-14T14:20:00.000Z

I'm absolutely thrilled that my former school, St Aidans CE Hight School in Harrogate, won the Bradford Animation Festival award for Best Film by Young Animators with their film "Hungy for Health"! I worked with teachers and pupils at St Aidans earlier this year to help with with their film, which was made in partnership with the National Media Museums Anim8ed programme and the British Libraries Campaign Make an Impact and funded by the DCMS.

Headmaster, Mr Dennis Richards and along with one of my old art teachers, Mrs Smith, and a huge group of pupils who made the film, made a special trip to the BAF to collect the award. Sadly Jane Smithson, who ran the project in Art was ill and unable to be their. The film was made in collaboration with departments in History, English, Art, Music and Drama and is testament to the talents of the pupils concerned and the commitment of the school from Mr Richards down to go the extra mile and produce something that is expectational in every sense of the word.

The jury said:

In awarding Hungry for Health the top prize, the Jury admired the filmmakers' ambition and success in creating an engaging, funny and pacy film with a clear message. The jury particularly admired the creation of films within films, each of which had a clear a distinct style, as part of the overall story."

A still from of the films adverts praised by the BAF Jury.

BAF 2010

2010-11-12T20:30:00.000Z

Well I'm currently at BAF, and have been immersing myself in an amazing films and speakers from all occur the world. This year, Sunderland University invited me to take a group of their students so I've had the immense privilege and excitement of travelling around with the group and being inspired in animation together. Highlights so far include a look at the visual effects of Inception with Double Negatives Frankin, the wonderful Gene Deitch, Clair Kitson, Paul Mendoza from Pixar and Phil Mulloy's feture film, "Goodbye Mr Christie".

Tomorrow at 10.30am I'm marking the 50th anniversary of AISFA and presenting the UK premiere of a film made by young people all over the world including here at the National Media Museum.

Then I'm going to be cheering on 4 schools I've had the privilege to work with, who all have films battling it out for the prized Film made by Young Animators Award.

Leeds Pals made my pupils at Kellbank Primary Scool as won awards at Encounters Film Festival and Silver Salt Animation Festial, India.

Also nominated and playing in competition for the first time are:

Journey to Gaurna, Dishforth Primary School

Hungry for Health, St Aaidans CE High Scool, Harrogate
I Have a Dream, ASIFA UK group, National Media Museum

The Astronomers Sun is also in official selection, with a nomination for Best Children's Film, so it's going to be a busy and exciting day!

Ralk and screening of The Astronomers Sun in Bradford

2010-10-31T13:42:00.000Z

Lion and Home and Leeds Pals tour USA with Kids First!

2010-10-22T17:58:00.001+01:00

I am pleased to anounce that two wonderful films made by children, The Lion at Home (Bricknell Primary School/National Media Museum), and Leeds Pals (Kell Bank Primary School/Awards For All) have been selected for screening at one of the world major children’s festivals in the USA. KIDS FIRST! Film Festival showcases new and classic children's films and videos from studios as well as independent and youth filmmakers. The Festival partners with more than 150 venues who host screenings year round to an audience of more than one million. They will be included with approximately 75 films at our events running through January 15, 2010.

The Kids First Adult jury said about "The Lion at Home"

Very enjoyable story about a lion who gets shaken out of his picture at an art museum and visits the other artwork. It's told by claymation figures, statues in the museum. Their voices, with British accents are hilarious and very easy to understand. Wonderful student film by elementary students!

The Kids First Adult jury said about "Leeds Pals"

Accurate portrayal of a real battle using hand-made drawings and cut-outs. I especially liked the short section where they showed in fast speed a kid's hand drawing the pictures. It was a tribute to an important battle, and set to poetic lyrics which were clearly read and delivered an easy to follow story.

The Astronomers Sun scoops Silver Blaster

2010-10-22T17:52:00.000+01:00

We were thrilled to accept the audience award at the National Irish Science Fiction Film Awards this weekend. Thanks to the audience in Dublin who made our Irish premiere so special. We've been touched by how The Astronomers Sun has resonated with peoples in Ireland.

The awards host, John Vaughan said,

The Astronomer's Sun runs a gamut of emotions in under six minutes, covering hope, loss, friendship and loyalty... if you don't go "Ahhhhhhh!" at the end of this picture and try to hold back a tear... then there's something wrong with you!

The Golden Blasters (The National Irish Science Fiction Film Awards) is a film festival dedicated to short science fiction, fantasy and horror stories. We aim to bring the best speculative fiction to Octocon and expose more people to the wonderful art of the short film.

watch The Astronomers Sun on 4oD!

2010-10-09T15:31:00.001+01:00

If you missed the network premiere of The Astronomers Sun last Thursday, you can watch the whole film, for a limited time only, on Channel 4s 4oD, along with some of the rest of the fantastic 4mations series. 27 days left and counting... Go on! don't miss it!

The Astronomers Sun TV Broadcast Premiere

2010-10-02T11:43:00.003+01:00

The UK television premiere of The Astronomers Sun is on Chanel 4 Television, Wednesday 06/10 at 0125 (i.e. early Thurs am) It will show after a selection of 4Music programmes.

Apparently it’s impossible to get short animation on TV earlier than 24.30 these days, such is the cultural decline of British TV!! This is a landmark for the film on the week of news of our 30th festival screening. There is a press embargo on this screening right now – so check the Astronomers Sun blog for updates!

Autumn screeings

2010-09-25T21:22:00.001+01:00

There are lots of opportunities to see The Astronomers Sun this Autumn. Highlights include Fantastic Fest, the largest genre film festival in the U.S, the Spainish Premiere of The Astronomers Sun at the Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya, Imagine Science Film Festival competition a unique film event that celebrates the integration of science in New York, a special screening at the world famous Ottawa International Animation Festival and screenings at Encounters, Flip and BAF in the UK. Check the Astronomers Sun blog for full details.

2 awards for The Astronomers Sun in USA and Russia!

2010-09-14T19:37:00.002+01:00

Saturday 11th September was a big night for “The Astronomers Sun”. It is with huge pleasure I am able to announce two new awards.

“The Astronomers Sun” won the animation award at the 2010 Rome International Film Festival on Saturday in Georgia, USA!

Then across the Atlantic, the VI International Short and Animation Film Festival OPEN CINEMA awarded "THE ASTRONOMER’S SUN" Special Prize from the Organizing Committee «For the mystery of liberation»! I’m told the film was highly estimated by the members of International Jury, organizing committee and rose an enthusiastic response from the side of public.

I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to Simon and Jessica and our wonderful team who got behind this film and to realise the director’s vision so exquisitely.

Congratulations!

To see the recent BBC TV news report about the films recent success at the Northern Futures Awards, you can view it on the BBC news page here.

BBC TV interview for The Astronomers Sun

2010-09-02T19:40:00.001+01:00

We had a very special guest in the potting shed this week. Amanda Harper from BBC Look North came to do a story following the films success at the Northern Futures Awards. We invited her to Simons potting shed in Ilkley to show her were the animation was filmed. You can see the report on BBC news.

From left to right: Amanda Harper, Jessica Cope and Simon Cartwright. With most of the set on display at the National Media Museum, there’s not much left in the potting shed but Simon managed to pull together a small set corner perfect for day.

Henry was let out on day release from the National Media Museum. Here he is having his interview.

Amanda was so friendly and professional and made the whole experience a delight.

Smile - Henry,Simon Cartwirght and Jessica Cope and in the potting shed.

Henry accepting his award.

Well done Peter!

2010-08-23T21:27:00.000+01:00

Congratulations to my college and freind, Peter Kershaw who's succsfully completed pre-production funds for his new short film What? Or a Road trip to Europe. Peter has now launced a funding drive for production. To find out more, and become a film supporter and even an producer, visit the films IndiGoGo page.

Astronomers Sun wins Best Film at the Northern Future Awards

2010-08-18T21:16:00.003+01:00

Great news that "The Astronomers Sun" won the Best Film award at the Northern Future Awards last night. The award recognises and rewards the best emerging creative talent in the north of England, showcasing it to a wider national and international audience and confirming the north as a hotbed of creativity.

The award was jointly awarded to directors Simon Cartwright and Jessica Cope, and myself as an emerging producer. It represents the incredible talents of everyone who worked so hard on this film, and I'd like to thank the entire crew for making this film what it is today and my co-producer at Duchy Parade Films, Peter Kershaw. Huge hurrars and thank you's!

My thanks to Simon who wrote a great piece on our Astronomers Sun blog which, dear readers, you can read see below:

All the shortlisted films had their own screen and some information about the productions beside them.

Myself and the other nominees sat together on the film table waiting nervously!

David and myself accepting the award off head judge Caroline Cooper Charles

David making his acceptance speech.

The both of us chatting with Caroline afterwards.

The judges for Film were Eddie Berg Artistic Director, BFI (British Film Institute) Southbank; Caroline Cooper Charles, Head of Creative Development, Warp X Ltd; Claire Spencer Cook, Senior producer / Curator, Onedotzero; Michael Knowles, Producer and Creative Director, Made up North Productions; Keith Dando, Northern Film School; Rob Speranza, Film producer, South Yorkshire Filmmakers’ Network; Brett Wilson, TV Production, BBC North/The Peoples Republic.

The Astronomers Sun is continuing to perform well on the worldwide festival circuit. So far, we have the film in 17 festivals worldwide. This summer it’s been playing in Melbourne, New York, London, Toronto and Seattle and is due to screen in Rome, St Pietersburg Seol and Albuquerque in early Autumn.
Full details on screenings on the Astronomers Sun webiste.

See Goole Silent Movie on Yorkshire Film Archeive!

2010-07-30T11:45:00.000+01:00

It's great to see the "The Lost Princess" and Doctor A.D Holmes up for prosperity at the new Yorkshire Film Achieve.

To this day it remains one of my most special projects I've had the pleasure been part of, which seems to be born out by the demand for the film at Yorkshire Film Achieve. The project started in October 2006, with local young people between the ages of 13 and 20, co-ordinated by Goole Town Council. With the help of outside professionals, all the writing, acting, directing, filming, animation, editing, and research for the films, was undertaken by this committed group of young people.

The origin of the project began when Goole Arts Officer, Nicola Dixon, took a group of young people from Goole to an International Youth Theatre festival in Poland. One of the items in the festival was a showing of Charlie Chaplin's 'The Kid'. The young people enjoyed the film so much they began thinking about creating our own silent film based on the history of our local area.

I am a huge fan of silent film and as soon as I head about this project I got in touch with Peter M Kershaw (producer and film-maker) and Madeleine Frost (dramatist) both of whom came on board, and the rest as they say, is history!

One of the first things I did was to get in touch with the Yorkshire Film Archive to find some local film history on from the period. who found a 1920s Pathé newsreel. This inspired one of the styles of film that they decided to make. The idea for this story of Dr A. D. Holmes came about from reading old newspaper clippings on display at one of Goole’s Museums. The project got going in October 2006 and the two films premiered at the National Media Museum the following October.

Whilst Dr A.D Holmes is based on a real person from Goole, Dr Home, "The Lost Princess" is a fictional story that nevertheless has its roots in Goole’s heritage as an international port – one where many refugees have arrived. The film is based on the life of a real person, Anastasia Nicholaevna Romanov, the youngest daughter of the Tsar Nicholas II and Russian Royal Romanov family.

Fascinating backgrounds on both films can be found on the their websites accompanying the films.

What? A raod trip to Europe

2010-07-26T18:00:00.002+01:00

My long time producing colleague and friend, Peter Kershaw has a new short film in development from his new base in New Mexico, And in an new innovative indie funding scheme, you have the opportunity to fund the film and get a credit for doing so from just $5. There are some great film perks and it is easy to click on the green button to become a supporter for very little.

The film concept was born out of Peter, who has just relocated to New Mexico, reading a description of 20 things to look for in Arizona when looking for illegal immigrants. As an immigrant from Europe who has recently moved legally to America, he was a little shocked to think, if but for my official papers, he could fail all 20! He says, "The more I’ve seen and read the more their answer reminded me of a road Europe went down in the 1930’s. Every journey starts with the first step, the destination is all a matter of the direction you’re facing".

Check out Peter's 2 minute pitch to find out more.

Anim8ed website online

2010-07-25T20:37:00.000+01:00

The new Anim8ed website is finally online! I've been working hard on creating content for this website and helping on the new design. A one stop place for teachers, parents, museum educators and group leaders get started animating, it features films made as part of the National Media Museums animation programme which I'm been privileged to lead delivery for over the last three years. The website will continue to be developed over the coming months and I'd love to hear comments.

Last chance to vote!

2010-06-03T20:18:00.000+01:00

It's the last chance to see and vote for the award winning anim8ed films "The Lion at Home" and "Immersion Emergence" at the Seattle International Film Festival. Voting closes om 4th June. Don't miss out! www.indieflix.com/siff2010

Official selection success in Edinburgh

2010-06-03T20:16:00.002+01:00

We are proud to be screening in the official selection of the Edinburgh International Film Festival!

The Astronomers Sun plays in the McLaren Animation 1 programme on the following dates:

Thursday 17 June 15:00 Filmhouse 3 (McLaren Animation 1)

Saturday 19 June 11:45 Filmhouse 3 (McLaren Animation 1)

official screening success in London!

2010-06-03T20:15:00.001+01:00

The Astronomer's Sun has just been selected for official screening in this year's Rushes Soho Shorts Film Festival held in London, UK, in June 2010. Tickets for the Official Screenings will be available from Wednesday 16 June.

Check out all of our other official competition selections, about the directors and the crew who made the film at: http://www.theastronomerssun.com/ the new site from Duchy Parade FIlms dedicated to The Astronomer's Sun.

SIFF Spotlight: The Lion At Home

2010-05-31T19:41:00.000+01:00

SIFF Spotlight: The Lion At Home

Lion at Home wins in the Czech Republic!

2010-05-31T13:00:00.000+01:00

Yippee! The “The Lion at Home” received an award in the Animated Films Made by Children category at the 9th annual AniFest 2010 – the International Festival of Animated Films, which took place from the 18 - 23 May in the city of Teplice, Czech Republic.

The jury said:

"The children´s jury selected this film unanimously for its originality, meaningful story line and beautiful art.“

Bricknell Primary school have won a photo-camera with the award. Congratulations!!

Don't forget, you can see The Lion at Home" and vote for it at the Seattle International Film Festival!

We've been picking up some great comments including this from Simon Green, Director of Hull Museums & Gallery who worked with us on the film.

"Superb! This kind of creativity is the reason why I decided to move from the private sector to work in culture. The kids have clearly enjoyed the work and this shows in the end result. I am currently arranging to have this work shown on our service web site."

My storyboarding tutor at Aardman Animation, ex head of training at Disney Feature Animation and DreawWorks Feature Animation and all round animation God, Frank Gladstone says:

"Most excellent. Hurrah for the director, the teachers and especially the kids. Great work and storytelling!"

VOTE for your favouite to WIN!

2010-05-20T20:03:00.004+01:00

OK - this is very exciting! Two children's films I've mentored for the National Media Museums Anim8ed Stories education programme are screening in competition at the Seattle International Film Festival, the largest and most well-attended film festival in the United States with 150,000 attendees expected in 2010.

You can see these films and VOTE for your favourite. The winner will receive special recognition at SIFF so be sure to contact everyone you know and tell them to support your work by watching it and voting www.indieflix.com/siff2010

Voting ends on June 4 and the main festival runs from May 20 to June 13.

"The Lion at Home" was made by year 4 pupils at Bricknell Primary School in Hull. Last month it won Best Child Made Animation (joint award), Silver Salt Animation Festival 2010 in India! An earthquake causes a lion cub to tumble out of a painting and embark on an incredible adventure through a series of paintings at the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull.

"Immersion Emergence" was made by year 8 pupils at Titus Salt School in Bradford. It tells the story of Sohni and Mahiwal, one of the worlds classic tragic love stories. It won the award for Best Short Film by Young People at the Bradford Animation Festival last year!

SIFF sat "We are very excited about this competition, all of the films are spectacular and you all should be very proud of your work."

How is the winner calculated? Winners are based on a standard “Audience Award” style of most festivals. The number of votes are balanced against the average rating (1 to 5 stars) that the film receives. The number of views is posted but are there only help you get an idea of how well your marketing is going but isn’t calculated in when selecting the winner.

Only one vote will be counted and multiple registrations and votes will be removed. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or have any technical issues in watching the films.

Please do show your support to these films. Thank you and... Enjoy!

Immersion Emergence

The Lion at Home

Teacher training in Leeds

2010-05-08T21:47:00.003+01:00

I’m really looking forward to delivering this very special CPD 1 day CPD animation training for teachers in Leeds on June 17th. If you are a teacher interested in using animation in your class, this is for you! Email James Long for more information at james.long@kudlian.net or Click here for information

Best Child Made Animation - Silver Salt Animation Festival

2010-04-15T13:00:00.004+01:00

Congratulations to "The Lion at Home" (Bricknell Primary School) and "Leeds Pals" (Kell Bank Primary School) which won the “Best Child Made Animation” award at the first Silver Salt Animation Festival 2010, India's largest ever animation festival on Sunday!

As well as Silver Salt, the a collection of films from Anim8ed, the National Media Museums educational outreach programme, including "The Lion at Home" were given a special screening at the Cairo Children's Film Festival where I spent a glorious week, and will be shown at the Seattle International Animation Festival in May. The Lion at Home also picked up third prize at the National Young Filmmakers awards last weekend!

As I sadly couldn't make it over to the awards ceremony, they asked me to record a video acceptance speech for the award ceremony, so for fun, I though I'd share it with you!

Festivals like Silver Salt are incredible celebrations of child made films and I was asked to write a testimonial this testimonial for the festival.

Silver Salt Animation Festival offers a rare and important opportunity for the aspiring young animators of tomorrow to view their films in front of an audience on an international stage. As an animator who started making films with Super 8 at the age of 9, I can testify to the power such festivals hold. Screening films made by children and young people in mainstream festivals gives these films the prominence they deserve and serves to broaden the awareness of animation for both children and adults. Children’s films like “The Lion at Home” and “Leeds Pals” are wonderful in their own right, highlighting the unique way in which children see the world. But it is because these films support tomorrow’s animators that I view the “Best Child Made Animation” category as one of the most important awards in any festival.

Long may it prosper!

Tribute to Christopher Cazenove

2010-04-08T13:44:00.003+01:00

I was sorry to hear about the death of Christopher Casonove, who died yesterday at the age of 66, after fighting a battle with septicaemia. He is who is probably best known for playing Ben Carrington in the glossy 1980s television soap opera Dynasty.

I had the real privilege to see Christopher perform live alongside John Duttine and Les Dennis in Art at Harrogate Theatre in 2003. I was working at the theatre bar at the time, and asked Mr Casonove if he would be record the voice of an animated character for my University film, "Vernic"! Being the gentleman he was, he said yes, and encouraged Les Dennis and John Duttine to also take part! We recorded a whole sequence of which I only used about a minute. His performance was a pleasure to animate. The laugh at the beginning of the film shows the skill Christopher had to infect everything with the utmost character.

A message from Barry Purves

2010-04-08T13:30:00.000+01:00

Master animation director, Barry Purves, got in touch with us after seeing "The Astronomers Sun" in AnimFest animation festival in Athens last month. He liked the film much he has written this extraordinary write-up:

This exquisitely crafted and sensitive film manages to raise some profound and surprisingly emotional ideas, all in a few oblique, beautiful and economic minutes. Animation at its' mysterious and haunting best.

Barry Purves, who was a mentor on another 4mations Digital Short last year, is one of the worlds great puppet animation masters and inspires all of us. His new book "Basics Animation: Stop-Motion" hits the bookshops this week and includes a picture from - "The Astronomers Sun"! Co-director Jessica Cope's, graduation film, The Owl House, is also featured inside! We couldn't me more honoured and more excited to be featured in such distinguished company! Check out the Astronomers Sun blog for details information of where to see the film.

National Media Museum displays film set

2010-03-14T18:33:00.000Z

We are very excited to announce the launch of a yearlong exhibition of the set from "The Astronomer’s Sun" at the National Media Museum. The set, which opened in time for the British Animation Awards, takes pride of place in the Animation Gallery, in the old Animator In Residence booth. Being the birthplace of many classic short films financed by the prestigious and long running Channel 4 scheme, there is no more fitting place to exhibit this new 4mations Digital Shorts film set, supporting new and emerging animators than the National Media Museum.

Above: Deb Singleton, Director of the Bradford Animation Festival with Simon & Ed Cartwright and part of the set.

Ralph Shephard gets Migraine

2010-02-14T22:03:00.008Z

Well it’s been a busy New Year. With “The Astronomer’s Sun” premiering at BAA, my role as producer has moved into planning and co-ordinating a film festival strategy.

So while "The Astronomers Sun" is still in my in tray, I've been able to look to the future and get back into my own film once again. I’ll do a piece about the film itself shortly, (working title "Drawing Migraine"), but suffice to say it’s been quietly tormenting me for the last three years as I grab precious moments to work on it. Any film 3years in the making that still gets you excited simply has to be made. So in a concerted effort to make complete this film in a timely fashion, I’ve teamed up with a terrific artist, my good friend Ralph Shephard, who is lending his considerable skill to layout, backgrounds, and conceptual artwork.

Ralph is a true old school artist whose enviable talent has taken him from giant sculpture, model making, corporate character prototyping, graphics, set design and building. In animation he’s worked as a storyboard artist and character concept designer for Aardman Animations, Cosgrove Hall and Splash. Ralph has been a Fellow of the British Society of Painters since 2004.
If anyone needs a true fine artist on their team, they need look no further than Ralph. Check out his stunning work at London Art

"Joan of Arc", Ralph Shephard, Acrylic on canvas.

The Astronomers Sun World Premiere at the British Animation Awards

2010-02-08T17:11:00.003Z

It’s finally here. The world premiere of “The Astronomers Sun”! We are very excited to launch the film at the British Animation Awards UK tour this month, where the film has been nominated for a Public Choice award for Best Short Film!

From the 8th to the 27th of February, you can catch the Public Choice screenings at a cinema near you, and vote for your favourite from a fantastic range of animated films made over the past few years. Three programmes containing a mix of animated shorts, music videos and commercials are screening at 27 venues across the UK. The Astronomers Sun plays in programme 3.

The British Animation Awards (BAA) covers all aspects of the UK animation scene, from student work to commercials, children's entertainment, short and experimental art films, music videos, new technologies.

We’d love to hear comments from people who catch to film on the blog. We are travelling to as many of the venues as we can, so if you see us, say hi!

A natter with Shourjo

2010-02-06T11:29:00.004Z

Well that was certainly a different way to spend a Friday night! Sat in BBC radio Leeds being interviewed by cool-cat Shourjo Sarkar on his late show. It was a surreal experience, but Shourjo was such an welcoming and easy person to talk to and in a few minutes I was having a great natter about animation and life as if we were life long friends. Thanks to Shourjo and producer Darren for making me feel so welcome and putting me at ease. For anyone who missed it, it's available to listen to anywhere in the world on the BBC iPlayer for the next week.

Shourjo Sarkar's late show - this Friday!

2010-02-03T14:18:00.003Z

I'm excited to say, I'm going to a guest on Shourjo Sarkar's late show this Friday at 10.30pm.
I'm going to be making announcing a couple of exciting anouncments about projects I'm currently working on, as well as having a good chat. So if you want to be the first to hear, tune in! It goes out across the North on BBC Radio Leeds, York, Humber and Sheffield.

Talk: Magical Stories and Special Effects

2010-02-03T14:14:00.001Z

Wednesday 17 March, National Media Museum 10.00am - 12.00pm KS4, FE: Creative and Media Diploma, Media Studies.

I'm really excited to be doing this talk For any schools interested in attending, there are spaces still availble at the National Media Museum. Hopefully see some of you there!

David Bunting will talk about his work as a professional animator. With live animation demonstrations and behind the scenes clips, David will chart the animation process, from concept to completion, giving insights into how to tell a good story.The talk will be followed by a hands on animation Worksop! Bookings are available through the National Media Museum.

OSCAR nomination for The Secret of Kells!!!

2010-02-02T17:42:00.006Z

My old college pals, Tom Moore and Paul Young have done it! Today its been announced that their first feature film, "The Secret of Kells" has been nominated for an OSCAR for Best Animated Feature Film!

Produced by their Kilkenny-based studio, The Cartoon Saloon, The Secret of Kells is one of five nominees in the Animated Feature Film category.

Since its release in 2009, The Secret of Kells, which features the voices of Brendan Gleeson and Mick Lally, has been lauded around the world, collecting awards and heep of critical acclaim and a buge amount of buzz in festivals. It is quite simply one of the most beautifully designed drawn animated films I've ever seen.

Kells , directed by Tomm Moore, will go up against massive studio films: Coraline, Up, Fantastic Mr Fox and The Princess And The Frog.

So just in case that's not clear, a small independent film, a feautre film debut for Tomm Moore and The Cartoon Saloon in Kilkenny, Ireland is up against mighty box office grossing films with major studio backing.

What a triumph!!! But I've knew Tomm and Paul well at college, and you know what - I'm not surprised, just THRILLED! These guys are and have have been extraordinary. It was Toms dream to make this film since he was about 14, and at college, he was working up a development package for the film while the rest of us were being toilet trained and discovering Guineess (well the latter for the International Students). Actually, Tom led a fair few fellow students out to Kellkenny some of whom worked on the film with him.

I'm still itching to see this film, after missing it at the London Children's Film Festival and Annecy earlier this year, but hopefully, this news will bring a much bigger distribution deal. I hope so!

The film follows 12-year-old Brendan (Evan McGuire), a mischievous monk who lives with his uncle, Abbot Cellach (Brendan Gleeson). Brendan's life is changed forever with the arrival of Brother Aiden (Mick Lally), a celebrated master illuminator who awakens Brendan's hidden talent for illumination. With the terrifying Viking hordes closing in, the future of the precious Book of Kells is in jeopardy and it falls to Brendan to save the day.

The Secret of Kells was produced by Cartoon Saloon, Les Armateurs (France) and Vivi film (Belgium).

Congratulations!

The Astronomers Sun preview screening

2010-01-23T14:54:00.001Z

Editor Adam Kirk outside the mighty 4.

Mentor Sara Mullock, Director Si Cartwright, Director John Williams

Director Jess Cope talking to Producer David Bunting

If you live in York and care about the Arts read this!

2010-01-23T14:06:00.006Z

I am shocked to read proposals that the community arts budget and the arts education consultancy service budget are proposed to cease as part of the savings process in York.

This means that the two community arts posts will be lost, as well as the three schools consultant posts within the Arts Education Service.

In the words of the council, "This will obviously have an impact on the range of services provided and offered to residents and the community, education and arts sectors."

No kidding! These people do small miracles every day that make real difference in peoples lives. Cutting the arts is an easy hit in a recession but it's in times of hardship that these services are needed even more.

If you live in York and want to see the arts survive, The public is able to formally respond to specific proposals through email to your local ward councillors.
Ben Drake (Unison representative) - ben.drake@york.gov.uk

Any comments or views should be sent by Monday 25th January.

The recommendations arising from the Decision Session will be put to the Council budget meeting on 25th February 2010.

An example of the valuable work York were part of is the BioMation programme which explored heath issues through animation with patients, medical professionals and artists. The Aspergers film, which I was proud to work on won Best Short Film at the Edinburgh Mental Health Festival and is now considered an invaluable aid in helping young people and families diagnosed with aspergers.

Hand drawn special effects - The Astronomer's Sun

2010-01-10T20:19:00.000Z

Lots of job sharing occurs in the making of short films, so it feels in the spirit of things that as well as co-producing “The Astronomers Sun”, I also got stuck into the film making like everyone else.

Back in 2001, I animated effects for another 4mations short film, the multi-award winning “How to Cope with Death”, directed by Ignacio Ferreras at Tandem Films. So I was proud to lend my expertise to “The Astronomers Sun”, climactic effects showstopper.
As a stop motion film, we were all keen to ensure that the effects reflected the ethos and style of the hand crafted world. Digital effects tend to jar and look out of place in stop motion films. For “The Astronomers Sun”, we used a combination of effects elements, optical, miniature, drawn and digital, with many shots combining several techniques to achieve the final look.

The majority of the drawn animation elements I produced were used for the transformation sequence. Henry was filmed with an LED light in his chest and shot using a Vaseline filter which gave a wonderful rich glow. I added hand drawn sparks and vaporous smoke.

Before and after: TOP: The original stop motion footage, complete with an LED light and Vaseline filter, and ABOVE, the final composited image with hand drawn smoke and light particles.

One of over 700 tonal charcoal drawings made of the main smoke pass, all animated on 1’s.

The sparks and smaller smoke elements were animated with a wacom tablet straight into ToonBoom Animate Pro, which sped up the production work flow as well as making it possible to create incredibly rich painterly shots. The drawn smoke elements then went to Kevin Herbison who created mattes for the smoke interacting with Henry and other objects in the scene. Finally, all of these elements were exported and sent to Zoe Matzko in London for compositing in After Effects. What’s exciting in tackling drawn visual effects now is how much modern compositing has transformed the toolkit of possibilities of open to drawn effects artists. Zoe took all of these various layers and made them work together like one beautiful and seamless photograph.

Interview with editor Adam Krik

2009-12-12T09:38:00.003Z

Well yesterday was a huge day in any measure of a film. While I’ve been in York teaching animation to school pupils and staff from the National Railway Museum, Jess and Simon have been doing the final picture edit with our editor Adam Kirk. To mark the event, I asked Adam to share the process of editing animation with us - you can read the interview on the Astronomers Sun Blog here.

All in a days work

2009-12-09T20:15:00.004Z

Well in case anybody wondered what I'm paid to do, here you go! A mini film we made today as made as part of an animation training workshop for museum staff. Animated in Pixilation (starring Rachel Preston from the National Media Museum) – we covered animation acting and timing, (anticipation action and reaction – beginning middle and end, I Can Animate, I Movie and Garage Band. The staff edited the film and recorded the soundtrack themselves. As you can see, we even covered how to download to a movie format suitable for web upload!

Leeds Pals films now on YouTube

2009-11-29T16:03:00.003Z

The award winning animated film "Leeds Pals", made my pupils at Kell Bank CE Primary School is now on You Tube! if you've been following the news about this film on BBC Look North, BBC Radio York or the local press, this is what it's all been about! The film commemorates the 750 people who died from the Leeds regiment on July 1st, 1916 and draws on the expertise of the entire community including local artist Simon Palmer. It was an absolute joy to help KellBank realise their ambitions to make this film. To see all 5 animated Nidderdale films on the big screen, visit us at St Cuthberts Primary School on Monday at 6.30. It's free entry and all are welcome to attend.

Notes from a small shed

2009-11-27T21:58:00.002Z

Check out animators Steve Warne's brilliant post on 4mations "The Astronomers Sun". I first had the pleasure to meet Steve when I was training in feature film storyboarding at Aardaman Animations last year. He was studying animation at the Edinburgh College of Art and had hit the jackpot doing work experience at Aardman. Well, he's still at the ECA (now in his final year) has spent more time at Aardman (he's even animated a shot on Shaun the Sheep) and spent most of his summer holidays animating some of "The Astronomers Sun" most heartwarming shots. He is a prodigiously talented young animator, and a great guy to boot. I can't wait to see his graduation film.

Nidderdale animated film wins 2 awards at Fresh Flix Film Festival!

2009-11-26T21:45:00.003Z

Well, WOW, another week and two more awards!

The animated short, “Leeds Pals”, made by pupils at Kellbank Primary School as part of my Big Lottery Awards for All community animation project, took home 2 prizes at Fresh Flix, part of the Encounters Short Film Festival in Bristol on Saturday! It won Emerging Talent: 12 and Under and the Best of the Festival Audience Award. The judges were Noel Goodwin from the British Film Institute, Anne Threkold from the UK Film Council and filmmaker Geoffery Taylor.

The film commemorates the 750 people who died from the Leeds regiment on July 1st, 1916 and draws on the expertise of the entire community including local artist Simon Palmer.

“The Lion at Home” (Anim8ed Stories/Bricknell Primary School) was also shown in the same category making this its second nomination along with “Cool it” (Creative Partnerships/Creative Junction/Animation Station/North Oxfordshire Academy) which was nominated in the 13-15 category.

Kellbank Primary took their pupils all the way to Bristol to see their film play in the festival. The film was up against live action as well as animated films, which makes it even more satisfying.

Head Teacher Kathleen Allison said, “I thought the whole event was fantastic. For our pupils to see their work brought to life on the big screen, was an experience they will remember for the rest of their lives.”

Commenting of their success, pupils said:

“I was speechless when I found out we had won because there were so many good films.”

“I was amazed to win because we are such a small school and it was such a big competition.”

“I really enjoyed the whole experience, drawing the soldiers and making the animation. Winning was just the best.”

Encounters is the umbrella title for two of the UK's leading film festivals, now combined, with a host of cross-over attractions, at venues in and around the Harbourside area of Bristol, UK. . Kell Bank Primary School will creating their next animation entry with the help of an HD Web Cam and some Pro Animate animation software thanks to prize sponsor Kudlian Software.

The resulting films can be seen closer to home at St Cuthbert’s Primary School, Pateley Bridge on Monday 30th November at 6.30pm, completing a tour through Nidderdale. Village halls have been packed with appreciative audiences who have enjoyed watching all the films and were delighted to have this unique glimpse of life in the Dale past and present.

Right: School Governer, Ian Whittiker accepting the award. He said, “The response of the audience to the showing of our film was one of the most moving experiences I've ever encountered.”

A special news report was broadcast on BBC Look North Leeds tonight and on Sunday Radio York running an interview at 11am. Maybe I'll see some of you on Monday at Pateley Bridge!

Immersion emergence wins BAF award!

2009-11-16T21:23:00.006Z

Well what an amazing day Saturday was! "Immersion Emergence" won Best Film Produced by Young Animators at the Bradford Animation Festival 2009!

A tale of doomed love, the story of Sohni and Mahiwal is one of the world’s classic tragic love stories. Told in cutout animation and inspired by Arpana Caur’s painting “Immersion, Emergence”, was made by year 8 pupils at Titus Salt School, Bradford and inspired by a trip to Bradford’s Civic art gallery, Cartwright Hall. Produced as part of the anim8ed stories educational outreach programme which I am currently delivering for the national media, supported by DCMS. The Jury said, “We were very taken with the style, which expressed the narrative very well. We were extremely impressed by the discipline exercised in this school project, which achieved the set task within the self-imposed limits. The combination of warm colours, coherence and depth makes this film an all round achievement.” The school also won a copy of ToonBoom Studio.
Titus Salt School richly deserve this award as they proved to me last year the value of Anim8ed in a secondary school contest. Brining in the music department and running after school workshops were examples of the commitment and value Titus Salt School placed on the education programme. Congratulations!

My sincere hope is that, particularly in the present funding climate, this award will go some way to creating awareness of the value and quality of the work we have been doing with Anim8ed, and help make it possible for these type of project to continue into the future.

It was wonderful to see so many people connected to Anim8ed Stories at BAF. I also presented a special preview of the BAF Kids: ASIFA Workshop Screening. ASIFA Family Learning Animation Project: I Have A Dream, followed by a live interview on BBC radio Leeds. And that was all before the late night party! Quite enough excitement for one day!

3 nominations at Fresh Flix!

2009-11-10T17:16:00.006Z

The Lion at Home, (Anim8ed Stoires/ National Media Museum/Bricknell Primary School/ Ferens Art Gallery Hull), Cool it!, (Animation Station, Creative Partnerships, North Oxfrodshire Academy) and Leeds Pals (Kell Bank Primary School, supported by the Big Lottery through Awards For All) have all been officially selected to screen in competition at Fresh Flix: Young Peoples Short Film Festival 2009.

"The Lion at Home" and "Leeds Pals" are playing in the 12 and Under programme and "Cool It" in the 19 and under programme. The film will be eligible for the following awards: Emerging Talent: 12 and Under, Emerging Talent: 19 and Under & Best of the Festival Audience Award. The awards will be announced at the main Encounters Short Film Festival Awards Ceremony on Saturday 21 November at 19:00 at the Watershed.

Encounters Short Film Festival is celebrating its 15th year showcasing new talent in filmmaking and providing a platform for emerging filmmakers to screen their work. Over 150 films in competition will be screened over five days with a chance of winning one of 12 awards and up to £15,000 of prizes. The films and animations are a selection of the best new dramas, comedies, music videos, documentaries and animation from 58 different countries.

Fresh Flix will be celebrating its first year with screenings, workshops and events all in support of young people’s creativity in the short film format.

Congratulations to everyone involved!

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-30T16:32:00.004Z

Duchy Parade Film's Cinema of Horror, distributed by the British Film Council has special Halloween screenings!

In the South, you can see it at Horror UK!

In Yorkshire at Hebdon Bridge:

FRIDAY 30TH OCTOBER, TRADES CLUB, screening at 9pm

And in Huddersfield at:

SATURDAY 31ST OCTOBER, LAWRENCE BATLEY THEATRE, rolling screening thru night.

Spooky!

Anim8ed training at NRM

2009-10-22T19:29:00.002+01:00

It’s been my pleasure to train learning staff at the National Railway Museum for Anim8ed this week. Over the next couple of months I’m working with the learning department to develop, pilot and support the training for a bespoke education outreach programme that will see the National Railway Museum work with primary schools in York to bring to life their collections using animation as an enabler for learning. I worked closely with the NRM last year with Anim8ed Stories but this is the first time I’ve been responsible for training museum staff, all of whom are so incredibly talented and inspiring to work with. They made my time with them a delight. This week we workshoped the chosen programme and I’m looking forward to working with them again after half term when we take it out to schools for a pilot run! Anim8ed is a DCMS funded programme with the National Media Museum.

The co-op film fest and the Attack of the Killer Naan

2009-10-10T14:28:00.008+01:00

I was delighted to be invited back for the 3rd year at the Co-op Young Peoples festival yesterday, giving my Animation Unearthed talk to a room full of young fillmmakers as well as a couple of flipbook workshops. I had the pleasure to screen a sneak peek of the 4mations digital short, "The Astonomers Sun" which is looking very promising. For an extra bit of razzmatazz, I animated a simple candle flame in front of the audience, and composited it with a painted background to demonstrate some basic principles of traditional fx animation. Despite several seamless rehearsals, the software froze mid way through my demo for a heart stopping moment but I got there! Hopefully it added to the talk and not just my nerves!

I've attached a movie of some of the great flipbooks some of the Young people made in my workshops during the day. Awesome stuff.

It was great to see Clinton Osborne who traveled up from the Animation Station in Banbury for the festival. After the fun of the festival we sampled the wonder that is a Bradford Curry. The size of Omar's Naan bread has become an urban legend in Oxforshire, thanks to Clinton. If all of that wasn't enough for one day, we went to see the hugely entertaining Star Treck in Imax. Days don't get any better than that!

Guest DOP

2009-10-08T11:10:00.001+01:00

We were honoured to have a special guest at the Astronomers Sun studio last Wednesday. Director of Photography Alistair Mckenzie, who brings 20 years experience in live action cinematography, including Duchy Parade Films 35mm cinema short, “Wilfred”. He loves animation and even turned down a DOP job at Cosgrove Hall! He kindly offered to spend a day looking at the film’s most complex lighting set-ups with Simon and Jess.

Alister’s says, “We talked a lot about the ways that I approach a live action set and how I split lighting the background with the foreground subject. These rules can easily be translated into lighting a miniature. We also talked about how the lighting of a scene is governed by the light that we have least control of ... in my case that is the ambient light of a location, in their specific case it is governed by the light of the LEDs which have a limited maximum brightness. We also looked at when having a light source in shot (The Orrary) it is also essential to have supplementary lights to mimic the effect of the light on the rest of the set.

They certainly have taken on an ambitious storyboard for their first film, but the results so far look great and I can't wait to see the finished film.”

Further information about the art of cinematography from Alistair Mckenzie can be found on the Duchy Parade Film’s website here.

WOW!

2009-09-26T15:17:00.002+01:00

Holy cow! 5 nominations and a special ASIFA screening at BAF!

A whopping 4 films from the National Media Museums educational outreach programme, Anim8ed Stories, which I taught last year, have been selected to screen in competition during the 2009 Bradford Animation Festival as part of the “Official Selection: Films By Young Animators”.

“Evacuation Devastation” National Railway Museum York/Lakeside Primary School, “Immersion Emergence”, Cartwright Hall Gallery, Bradford/Titus Salt School, “The Lion at Home”, Ferens Art Gallery Hull/Bricknell Primary School and “The Fish Market” Ferens Art Gallery/St Ricards Primary School. In addition “Cool It!” (Creative Partnerships Slough, The Animation Station & Creative Junction) has also been nominated.

In recognition of the importance of developing talent, the winner of the Best Film by Young Animators Award will be announced at a special screening on Saturday 14 November at 3pm at the National Media Museum. The shortlisted films will be screened and the winner presented with their BAF Award. BAF is the UK's biggest and longest-running annual animation festival and this award is one of the most prestigious in the country for Young Peoples Films. There are a total of 8 nominated films up for the award from around the world, so it is destined to be a very exciting day.... to say the least!

I don’t normally find myself speechless, but 5 nominations has just flawed me. I’ve been expecting someone to call and tell me they made a mistake all week! It really a testament to huge amount of work and commitment of all the people who worked on these films and most of all, to the sheer amount of raw talent there is out there in the next generation. I love working with children and young peope to find their own voice and teach them the incredible art that animation is, so they can put their voice on film. These awards are so important in celebrating the creative talent of the young and raiseing aweness.

If all of that wasn’t enough excitement, then I’m also presenting a special preview screening for BAF Kids with an ASIFA Workshop Group Screening of our entry for next years special AWG film, celebrates the 50th Anniversary of ASIFA in 2010.

Six families with children aged 10-14 took part in a week-long project to make a two-minute film on the theme of peace, human values and international communication in August 2009... all with a piece of string!

Last year I was honoured to accept the prize for Best Film by Young Animators Award with Bricknell Primary School in Hull and my good friend Jess Wolff for “Up, Up and Away”.

Postcard from Skye

2009-09-24T12:45:00.004+01:00

Sorry for the long radio silence - In between setting up my new portfolio website, producing the 4mations "Astronomers Sun" production blog and generally being very busy, I seem to have fallen down the blogging abyss with my own blog. I've just come back from a wonderful family holiday in the Isle of Skye in Scotland. Here's a few doodles from my holiday sketchbook.

Pen & ink. The coastline of Skye is a series of peninsulas and bays radiating out from a centre dominated by the Cuillin hills.

Pen & Ink. This impressive rock formation on the Isle of Skye resembles the sort of stark rock faces you might associate more with a spaghetti western. The mountain range and its strange formations are the result of ancient volcanic activity.

Quick Pen sketch of Seagulls at Portree harbor, situated off the Sound of Rassay, Scotland.

I drew these quick sketches on a small boat trip to see a seal colony around the loch of Dunvegan Castle in Scotland. Watching the effortless and relaxed poses of these playful sea mammals lying on the rocks reminded me a little of my cat back home!

4Mations interivew

2009-07-22T11:15:00.003+01:00

Check out this great 4mations interview with directors Simon Cartwright and Jessica Cope about their film "The Astronomers Sun". Co-producer Peter Kershaw and myself popped over last Friday. All very exciting - after months gearing up, we entering animation production proper this week. Hurrah!

Culture Shock Festival

2009-07-05T14:28:00.007+01:00

I know its summer again when the Culture Shock Festival is back! This year the festival moved to Pickering for 3 fun packed days in my flipbook tent. These really are some of my favorite workshops. You just can't beat the fun and creativity of making flipbooks. In 3 days we made 300 flipbooks! Now that's a lot of animating! For extra fun we filmed some of the flipbooks on a rostrum stand - you can see the results below. Thursdays flipbooks were made by secondary schools. Fridays by Junior schools. These workshops were just 50 minutes each - so we didn't get to film that many. Saturday was a drop in day - very chilled, which more time to make flipbooks and film them. Enjoy.

For those eager to see their flipbooks - check back soon. I'm had problems uploading to my blog today - but never fear - they will be up very soon!

Selection of flipbooks made my Primary pupils at the Culture Shock Festival, Pickering 2009

Green light for Astronomers Sun

2009-06-16T10:18:00.006+01:00

Yippiee! After months of hard work of story development in script and storyboard, "The Astronomers Sun" has been given the green light and will be moving into production for 4mations Digital Shorts, backed by the UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund, Channel 4 and Screen Yorkshire.

Alongside my co-producer Peter Kersahw, it has been my pleasure to consult and offer guidance to writer/directors, Simon Cartwright and Jessica Cope , as they worked through the executives story notes and crafted their story. It is only by going through the blood sweat and tears of story development that you can really feel the accomplishment of approval as I'm sure Simon and Jess would tell you. A debt of gratitude must also go to editor Dave Long, who's brought pathos and a filmmic structure and to the story reel working to intense deadline.

Be sure to check out the production blog of the Astronomers Sun, and the 4mations website.

Flipbooks

2009-06-11T15:09:00.011+01:00

I love flipbooks and have a huge collection from all over the world. There is something nostalgic in flipbooks that captures the essence of animation. In fact some of my favourite workshops I teach use them. As we are getting into the festival season, I'm getting excited about the joy of flipbooks once again. I'm ordering a new batch of flip pads in preparation and thought wouldn't it be fun to add a cover with a few simple tips. I was keen to capture the nostalgic qualities of flipbooks. However my first design looks too old fashioned. It could have been made in the 60's!

Whilst I wanted to embrace the nostalgia, I also wanted to convey a fun and contemporary message that flipbooks are just as cool as they ever have been. So my final design uses hand drawn hands to bring a more cartoony feel, and in doing so I think feels less old fashioned. By the way, the character on the flipbook is from my short film Riffs of Rage made at Bournemouth University!

For all the information you could ever want to know about flipbooks, check out http://www.flipbook.info/

If you want to catch me at my flipbook tent over the summer, check out the Culture Shock festival in Pickering on 4th July.

Fantastic Films Weekend

2009-06-10T14:42:00.002+01:00

I'm looking forward to seeing Cinema of Horror which is playing at the Fantastic Films Weekend this weekend in Bradford. From Friday 12 – Sunday 14 June 2009, it’s the festivals eighth annual trawl through the vaults of new and classic sci-fi, horror and fantasy movies and television at NMM, Bradford. Cinema of Horror will be playing in the short programme every day. I directed the opening animated title sequence for Duchy Parade Films.

In the name of art!

2009-06-01T19:39:00.005+01:00

The things I do! Here's me being directed to scream by Jessica Cope for scratch track for "The Astronomers Sun". I asked Simon what type of scream he wanted and said he wanted 'to hear the sound of ultimate suffering'. Dutifully I provided. Well, we've just finished the second story reel on Friday during a marathon editing session at Duchy Parade Films. There's been many changes but my screams are still in. While we wait to hear back from the script editor and the executive producers Jess and Simon are gearing up so we are ready to go into production. Check out the production blog for the latest.

The Astronomers Sun

2009-05-15T13:33:00.006+01:00

One of my most exciting current projects is for the new 4mations Digital Shorts scheme. Over the years 4mations has been the bastion of independent animation in the UK, helping to foster a new generation of independent animators and award winning films, which have been the envy of the world. 4mations Digital Shorts is backed by the UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund, Channel 4 and 13 Strategic Partners throughout the UK. The aim is quite simple… to fund new and original narrative films. I am honored to have been asked to act as producer for this years 4mations film in Yorkshire, supporting two brilliant young animators - Jessica Cope and Simon Cartwright. I'm co-producing "The Astronomers Sun" with Peter Kershaw at Duchy Parade Films. Right now we are finalising the storyboards and gearing up for a new story reel. Developing any narrative story is a real challenge, and for Jessica and Simon who are working with a script editor and producers for the first time, it's been no exception. As a non-dialogue film, I have been keen for the directors to explore their story though pictures as much as possible, and it has proved to be a very positive move. It is a fascinating experience for me in combining my experience and skills I've learnt from storyboarding and feature storyboard training at Aardman Animations, teaching, animating and producing. To follow the production of "The Astronomers Sun" check out the production blog written by directors Jess and Simon.

Creative Arts Week

2009-04-29T20:04:00.009+01:00

Well the 10th Leeds Young People's Film Festival was awesome. I had an eager and attentive young audience for my Animation Fascination talk at Leeds exquisite Hyde Park Picture House. It was amazing seeing a film print of "The Tigger Movie" again on the big screen and it brought back a lot of memories. It was a pleasure to meet Adam Graham, Production & Programme Manager, and Martin Grund, Development coordinator. They are both a couple of cool cats who live and breath young filmaking and do a huge amount of great work in Leeds. They tell me it is was their successful festival year ever!

After that I got straight on the train for a week delivering an Easter animation workshop in Chipenham for the University of Bath. It was a pleasure for me to be joined by Aardman animator Dan Ramsay on what was his debut workshop. I first met Dan in the Aardman canteen last year, who originally trained as a teacher. He was legendary, as you can see the Aardman style seeping into the lip sync of this news anchor for a very imaginative "Wilshire news". Simply an unforgettable experience for all concerned. As Josh said on the University's blog, its such a shame that it's all over now. I wish it could have been longer, because 1) I would have liked to do everything in the storyboard, and 2) because it was such a great experience.

Animation masterclass & "The Tigger Movie", in Leeds next week!

2009-03-28T11:09:00.011Z

Well I'm in Bristol at the moment, where I've just had the time of my life doing drawn special effects animation on a really cool production at Hot Head Films. As it's in development, I can't say anything more than that without risk of castration, but I consider it some of the best work I've done, for which a large thanks has to go to the brilliant team who made my time so satisfying and pushed me to do my best.

I'm heading back to Yorkshire brelfy next week in time for my Animation Fascination talk at the Leeds Young Peoples Film Festival and a special showing of "The Tigger Movie" on Sunday 4 April at the Hyde Park Picture House.

Filled with tips for budding animators and behind the scenes clips from the big screen and TV. Animation Fascination is on at 10am and The Tigger Moive at 11.15. To book tickets please call City Centre Box Office on 0113 224 3801

Cinema of Horror screenings

2009-03-10T09:58:00.003Z

Cinema of Horror plays at the National Media Museum on Thursday 26th March, 20.00 as part of Braford International Film Festival 09. India City of Chennai in the 3rd International Short Film Festival of India on the 28th & 29th of March 2009.Glimmer Hull International Film Festival in the Yorkshire Film Award Competition on Sunday 26th April. I directed the opening animated title sequence for Duchy Parde Films short film, Written and directed by Peter M Kershaw.