Astronomers Sun wins Best Film at the Northern Future Awards

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!

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

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

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!

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

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!

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

SIFF Spotlight: The Lion At Home

Lion at Home wins in the Czech Republic!

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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!!!

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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!

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!

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!

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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.