ToonBoom blog

Thanks to ToonBoom for posting this great post about my recent workshop at Thomas Ferens Academy using FlipBoom Cartoon!

3 hours, 30 iPads and a 30 pupils from Hull

Something to get you in the weekend mood... completely bonkers and one of the most joyous times I've had in a classroom...ever!! A big thanks to Andrew Richardson for inviting me to Thomas Ferens Academy earlier this week. My good old fashioned animation story improvisation class blasted into the 21st Century.

The Musicians of CuxAire

An amazing premiere yesterday at the National Media Museum.
Here's a few stills from the film.

Lord Mayor Dale Smith makes a guest appearance!

Premiere - Sat 9 March, National Media Museum

Sorry for the woeful silence this year... what can I say... it's been busy.... I must try harder. But here's something I'm presently very busy on. Preparing for an amazing premiere of a school project 

It's an international collaboration between Titus Salt School and Amandus-Abendroth-Gymnasium in Germay, and, funded by the British Council as part of a Comenius School partnership. This is the first time animation and film has been used as a devise to bring alive the aims of a school exhange through Comenius and what an amazing idea it is. After visiting Germay in Nomveber with the British students and filmming some of scenes, the German school have now arrived in Bradford to finish the film. 

We film is finished on Thursday in time for a premiere at The Pictuville Cinema at the National Media Museum on Saurday, where it plays as a short to Terry Gilliam's terrific The Imaginariam of Doctor Parnassus to a public audience. Tickets are available at the box office and booking is recommend to avoid disappointment. Don't miss this out! It is the first time a film made by teenagers has been shown to a paying audience beside a feature film and what an opportunity for young filmmakers that is. 

Loosely inspired by The musician’s of Breman by The Brothers Grimm, The Young Musicians of Breman, brings the 200 year old classic up to date through the eyes of young people. Four troubled teenagers, with little musical talent, from Saltaire in England and Cuxhaven, Germany, enter a magical world triggered by images of the German folktale ‘The Musicians of Bremen’. The journey they take, through the vibrant and unusual world of CuxAire, changes them both personally and physically.

This week we have animator and illustrator Andy Skyes and musician Dave Dunn-Birch joining me in workshops. 

For updates through the week, check out the project blog set up and run by the young filmmakers, http://cuxaire.weebly.com

Film of the Week

Here's a New Years treat - "The Astronomers Sun" is film of the week on Collabor8te! There's also an interview with me about my job as a producer the the film. Some great questions - thanks to Will and the team at Collbor8te for featuring this really special film made with love by an amazing little team for 4mations produced by Duchy Parade Film and written/directed by the talented Simon Cartwright and Jessica Cope. Catch it while you can!

Students get North East panto animated

Just before I flew to Germany I wrapped co-directing on animation on South Shields Dick Whittington at the Customs House. It was a wonderful opportunity to fulfill a theatrical passion and also work with  Ross Allen and her talented team of student animators in Sunderland, many of whom I taught earlier in the year. 

The animated scene features is a live action/animation mix, featuring two of the South Shields theatre’s  long-standing pantomime’s characters, Dame Dotty and her son Tommy, played by Customs House director Ray Spencer and local comedian Bob Stott, escaping from a ship’s trunk and being chased in comic fashion by monsters of the deep.

Ray and Bob have developed their own unique brand of comedy over the last four decades, which has audiences coming back for more, smashing record after record. Last year Aladdin brought in almost 27,000 people and this year’s show could reach new heights with more than 15,000 tickets already being snapped up.   

This year it was decided to add an extra special element on stage as it’s Bob Stott’s final performance as Dame Dotty, retiring his famous bloomers and hairpiece after almost 40 pantomimes, one of the UK’s longest running Dames!

After meetings story meetings with Ray where we trashed out the sequence, I worked closely with my co-director Ros Allen who story boarded the scene. We spent a lot of time ensuring Ray and Bob appear life size on the projected image, and the compositions were adjusted for Ray and Bob to appear to be standing on the stage.

 Ray and Bob as Tommy and Dotty filmed their scenes at the green-screen facilities at the Media Centre, Sir Tom Cowie campus at St Peter’s, using professional camera operator Alistair McKenzie and the assistance of animation students, who worked on various animated characters and prop designs.

 With a low budget we had to invent on our feet. Here's me pondering how to pull of an ambitious effect Bob and Ray riding on a swimming turtle with just a table on wheels to play with.

Making a panto dress billow in the sea currents - Ray looks on as a student in a green screen suit puts his hand under Bobs skirt to create the wave action.... possibly the most embarrassing day of said students life!

Award-winning multi-media artist Chris Lavelle removed the green screen, added backgrounds, lighting and animated thousands of bubbles. And animation students at Sunderland animated an ocean full of wonderful animated characters.

 

The result is making waves with audiences and critics alike - Spike Mike calling it "One of the spectacular highlights of the show".Here's some stills. Dick Whittington, sponsored by Hays Travel, is running until Sunday, January 6.

T

ickets start from £8 and are available from the Box Office on 0191 454 1234 or by visiting customshouse.co.uk