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robbiejohnsonyr2ax2000 · 5 years ago

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University - Animation Research project - Development of Sylvain's films

During my research project on Sylvain Chomet, I have been curious as to what the production is like when producing his films, for example, what are the thoughts at the beginning of the project which lead to the final product. Whilst looking into this information, I have come across a few interesting bits of information, of which will be included in this blog post based on what I could find behind the scenes on some of Chomet’s films.

The Old lady and the Pigeons

The old lady and the pigeons had a very interesting development, full of twists and turns a plenty. Sylvain had been living and working in London, where he was creating tv adverts during the 1980’s. In 1990 Chomet decided to move back to France, where he came up with the up with the idea of his first film. Inspired by creators such as Nick Park (supposedly with his work on “Creature Comforts” in particular), Sylvain pitched his idea called “La vieille dame et les pigeons” (The Old Lady and the Pigeons) to a man named Didier Brunner, who was the producer of at “Les Amateurs”, Didier liked the project and 1991 production of the film began.

To begin production, the two required a bit of funding to get the project started, after the funding began, unfortunately not enough money was made to reach their goal, but they started on the project anyway (with the main funder being the “National Centre of Cinematography”). When starting production, the two brought on board Nicholas de Crecy, who had worked with Sylvain before on comics. Together they made the first four minutes of the film and pitched it to different investors and Broadcasters in hope of being picked up, unfortunately this had no success either. After little success. In 1993 Chomet decided to move to Canada for a fresh start of sorts, but shortly after Brunner was able to get an investor, that investor was the “BBC” which then led to more broadcasters catching wind of the project and production continued and five years later the project was complete and would go on to win many awards, including a BAFTA for Best Short Animated Film and cementing Chomet in the industry.

The link below is to the full short film on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqhVcRrrauY

The Triplets of Belleville

“The Triplets of Belleville” is Chomet’s second film and one that would gain a lot of success and recognition in the industry, but the making of the film and what it achieved is interesting on multiple fronts. The two popular topics that are usually brought up are the background and character designs and the music.

The background designs where inspired by places Sylvain had visited before and had mashed them together. The city where most of the film takes place is based on a mixture of Paris, New York and Montreal, Chomet was very precise with the design and direction he wanted for the backgrounds, being a metropolis-esc city with the people living there following consumerism and a deep love for food.

Speaking of the characters the films approach to character design is fascinating, from small and quirky to large and round, the film as wide variety on show. In regards to characteristics, some characters do quite little, but these small moments create a lot and develop the character. The following quote from the article I found explains this best.

“At first a character doesn’t do anything and then with just a little gesture his emotions come to life, and those emotions transform it into a funny or sad character”

The film also manages to make characters identifiable from their shapes and sizes to identify with the audience. A short round body identifies “Madam Souza” (The old lady and main character), A tall fin body identifies her cycling son “Champ” and the wide rectangular bodies are identifiable as the “Mafia”. The film also uses a unique mixture of 2D and 3D visuals, the film favours 2D over 3D, but any form of vehicles within the film is actually 3D. The goal of using both 2D and 3D was the team wanted the two to coexist within the same film without over bearing one another, to achieve this the team took the smooth CG from each 3D object and repeatedly drew over it to give the vehicles a 2D look with depth. Another quote from my source states “Chomet also noted that the reasoning behind this was because if you give a 2d animator something like a car or a bicycle, he is going to go mad and it’s going to be a terrible job for him because there is no life to a bicycle.” Vehicles weren’t the only use of 3D as some explosions (particularly in the final act) also used the same technique of CG 3D animation, which had been drawn over to look 2D.

Lastly, I thought the music was notable as the music sounded unique, this is because the instruments The Triplets of Belleville play are actually everyday appliances and objects. These include bicycle wheels, hoovers, fridge trays and more. Some of which where recorded directly from Chomet’s own appliances, this direction was chosen as Chomet heard certain sounds that had a distinct and unique sound to each of them, so he tested some of his appliance to find these sounds and what did and didn’t work.

The Illusionist

The Illusionist had a very interesting start, as the project wasn’t The Illusionist, but a short script by French film maker Jacques Tati. One of Tati’s daughters found Chomet during the Edinburgh film festival in 2002, the script then ended up with one of their caretakers and was then was given Chomet, Tati’s daughter wanted the film to be animated as it was originally live action and the thought of another person playing her father did make her feel comfortable, the final product became “The Illusionist”.

The Illusionist was produced in a multitude of different locations including London, Paris and Dundee with primary production taking place in Edinburgh. This was at the time the animation studio “Django Films” was around but was shut down over time due to multiple reasons, with the main culprit being production difficulties.

Some key production methods for The Illusionist, where brought over from “The Triplets of Belleville”, these include the use of 2D and 3D CG coinciding with each other and the drawn/ sketched appearance of the characters and backgrounds.

The Links below, lead to a Behind the scenes clip and to the website “Art of Animation” which features a lot of production sketches & interesting information.

Behind the scenes clip

https://www.traileraddict.com/the-illusionist-2010/featurette-bringing-it-to-life

Art of Animation website

https://characterdesignreferences.com/art-of-animation-1/art-of-the-illusionist

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robbiejohnsonyr2ax2000 · 5 years ago

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University - Animation Research project - my findings over the last few weeks.

Over the last few weeks, I have come across some more interesting information about my research project on Sylvain Chomet, this post will highlight the information I have found was able to find.

He has worked with Stormae on a music video

Sylvain has not only made animated and live action films but has also worked on a music video. Sylvain has worked with Stormae a musician from Belgium, the two collaborated on a music video together, with Sylvain having the role of Director as well as co-writer for the song itself. The song tells the story of how social media is taking over and how unhealthy it can be, the song appears to target towards “Twitter” a lot as one of the main characters in the music video is a blue bird. The music video is interesting to watch and has that unique Chomet style to it with its characters and environments.

Link to the music video Via YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKftOH54iNU

Sylvain and “The Simpsons”

Popular TV show “The Simpsons” is no stranger to having guests on their show, one of the most common guest roles in the show is said guest’s take on the “Couch gag” at the start of every episode, Chomet was one of these guest appearances. Sylvain’s take on the Couch gag has each family member drawn in his style as well as a few nods to his home country France, an example of this is the character “Homer” can be seen eating and enjoying snails, which are a delicacy in France. The animation was also drawn by hand, then scanned into a computer, where the colouring and music where added combining Sylvain style of traditional animation and modern-day animation.

Link to the Simpsons couch gag by Chomet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5Tfq_bwyLs

Link to the making of the Simpsons Couch Gag

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CgxoNo9_qU

Setting up shop in Edinburgh (for a short time)

After the roaring success of Sylvain’s film “The Triplets of Bellville”, Chomet received offers from big industry locations like Hollywood for him to move there and start his company there. However, from all the offers provided, Chomet decided to set up shop in Edinburgh Scotland. When interviewed by newspaper company “The Guardian” Sylvain explains that “Scotland is very like Provence”, this leads to Chomet explain further in the quote from the article below.

“"No, no, I am serious," Chomet insists, half in outrage. "Laugh if you like, but they are very similar. The light is exactly the same as in Provence. That is, when there is light in Scotland. And I am telling you, you only get this special light in these two places, nowhere else."” Chomet now currently lives in northern France, running his own school called “SChool” (The capital SC are his initials).

The link below takes you to the article by the Guardian as well as the next piece of information I found:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jun/10/sylvain-chomet-belleville-rendezvous-illusionist

Sylvain turned Jacques Tati’s script into “The Illusionist”

Speaking of Edinburgh, it was during the “Edinburgh Film Festival” in 2002 (The article states this happened 8 years ago when it was published back in 2010) that Chomet received the working script for a project by French film maker “Jacques Tati”. The script was handed to Chomet during the festival by one of Tati’s daughters, this was due to Tati realising he spent too much time with his work and wanted to be with his daughters, as Chomet puts it “…Little girls turn into a woman in such a short period,…”. With this script in hand, Chomet was able to turn Tati’s script into one of his next big films “The Illusionist”.

The link to the article by “The Guardian” as well as the previous information is below.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jun/10/sylvain-chomet-belleville-rendezvous-illusionist

His next film is in production

In 2014, Chomet announced he was making his next animated project titled “The Thousand Miles”. Production of the film began in 2016 and had music and voice actors hired including “James Lipsuis” who would be making his debut in the film. The film was slatted to be released in 2017, however the film hasn’t come out yet 3 years later, however, Chomet has stated that the film is still under production and hasn’t been abandoned yet (No new date has been announced yet).

Link to “Annual Top Film Lists” webpage for my information

https://www.ioncinema.com/news/annual-top-films-lists/foreign-films-of-2019-the-thousand-miles-sylvain-chomet

The many awards over the years

Like most successful directors, Chomet has won a variety of awards over the years for each of his projects. Some of his awards include the following:

· Genie Award for Best Animated Short – The Old Lady and the Pigeons

· Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Animation – The Triplets of Belleville

· European Film Award for Best Animated Feature Film – The Illusionist

· BAFTA Award for Best Animated Short Film – The Old Lady and the Pigeons

A full list to Sylvain’s awards can be found in the link below.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0158984/awards

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robbiejohnsonyr2ax2000 · 5 years ago

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University - Animation Research project - The Old Lady and the Pigeons

Today, I have watched the short film The Old Lady and the Pigeons, the first animated piece by Sylvain Chomet. This post will cover my thoughts and impressions on the short film and what I have taken away from it.

The film is very interesting, the concept of the film is unique as it threw twists and turns, I didn’t see coming. We follow a very poor, slender policeman (judging by his clothing) who walks around Paris looking for food, staring at strangers for food and eating anything he can. He comes across an old lady feeding a swarm of pigeon’s sweet treats, the man follows her home and devices the plan to dress up as a giant pigeon and visit her. The old lady feeds the man and he eventually becomes fatter and fatter the more he eats, this turns drastically when the old lady tries to kill the man with some hedge clippers. He escapes and returns to being skinny again, whilst developing pigeon-esc characteristics.

This film throws a lot on the table, all of which seem to work well. The characteristics of our main character are unique, as before he meets the old lady, he displays odd movements. His movements are both sharp and what I can only describe as static, from quick head and neck movements, to his stuttering walk, this also highlights that this character is a bit odd for reasons we see throughout the film.

The Animation is very smooth and works well with its hand drawn design, which helps give the film its own identity, of which would be carried on into Sylvain’s future works. This is particularly well done towards the end of the film, when the man is chased by the old lady, as they run, jump, climb and dance in quick succession. The Foley is also very good, with sounds being synced up well and in good quality, from rabid eating to pigeons cooing the Foley was clean and well implemented. A final point I’d like to bring up is the multiple uses of fore shadowing in the film. When a fat pigeon crashes into the police man slams on the floor and struggles to get up, foreshadows the ending where the police man escapes the old lady by crashing through a window, which leads to him falling out a building and slamming on the floor struggling to get up.

Admittedly there was one or two points in the film which did confuse me a little bit, the main being the American family’s inclusion. They only appear for a brief period of time that being the very beginning and the end, but I still feel a little lost. My best guess is that they represent Americans being over fed, consumption too much, similar to pigeons being fed a lot by a higher power (Humans) similar to the American economy in this film depiction of America. But the pigeons themselves being overweight fit that criteria already, so I was a little confused by this detail.

Overall, I thought the short film was very good, from its quirky characters to its use of sound and background design. It is also evident that a lot from this film was implemented and expanded upon in Sylvain’s future films.

The link below is to the full short film via Vimeo:

https://vimeo.com/132751171

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robbiejohnsonyr2ax2000 · 5 years ago

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University - Manchester Animation Festival - Day 5

During this week, we are attending the “Manchester Animation Festival” (Or MAF for short). During each day this week I will write a post giving my thoughts on what I watched, as well as add anything else we did such as meetings and Talks. I will also provide links to any form of clip or trailer, if I can find one.

(This Post will contain spoilers)

Student Films

The Song of a Lost Boy

The Song of a Lost Boy, tells the story of a young boy who is a choir singer for a church. One day during a performance, he loses his voice causing him to be kicked out of the choir and judged by the other members, this causes him to run away. The next day he finds some traveling performers who tell him to go with them, he does just that and everything is fine, until he must do a singing solo. Filled with anxiety he runs away and ends up in a cave, where he finds his voice, the performs watch in shock and accept him in their group as they continue traveling.

This short film was good, I liked the setting of the film taking place in a dessert as it could be seen as a place of isolation and endlessness. I also enjoyed the moral of the story being, trying to find one’s self, even when you feel like you can’t, you could be something one moment then have it all taken away from you in an instant, its getting back on your feet and moving on what makes you who you are. Lastly, I liked the sense of progression from calm choir, to loud performer, showing a sense of growth for the main character throughout the story.

Link to the Trailer below

https://vimeo.com/442375078

Chant of The Printing Machine

Chant of The Printing Machine is a short film matching visuals to audio from an old-fashioned print machine. From start to end the Print Machine with audio create, scenery, objects and much more with its unique diverse sounds of creaks, bumps, clangs and more.

This film is a creative visual treat, based on the sounds coming from the machine and how their translated into visuals was great. I liked how Whirring sounds were visuals of two snake looking lines wriggling around the screen and when I heard a squeak the screen displayed an old looking tire. The visuals being old fashioned paper with looks to be ink on it was a nice touch, as if each frame came out of the printer itself.

Big Fish

Big Fish is a fun musical short film about a fisherman going fishing. At first everything is normal, he sits down, ready’s his rod, places bait and catches fish, rinse and repeat. However, each action he does makes a distinct sound which becomes a short musical piece. In the end he catches something what surprises him and the film ends.

I really enjoyed the creative Foley for this film, combining and matching different sounds together to create a catchy fun tune was fun. I also like other elements, such as the bird causing pauses in the song and randomly appearing later. I also liked the message at the end of the film “Big Fish are worthy of fishing, even if you don’t catch one.” To me this means, even if you think you can’t do something, still give it a try you never know what you can do until you try it.

The Last Mother

The Last Mother tells the story in a dystopian future where the earth is nothing but scorching sands and ruins of what once was. We find a woman approaching a wilted tree with small wooden carved masks on it. She prays to the tree and she meets some golden spirits wearing the masks on the tree, with her own mask she too becomes a spirit. With the spirits power combined, they restore the earth to its original form, luscious green fields, lakes and artic weather, all the spirits around the world join together and leave the earth.

This film is interesting to me as I see this film as a sign of what will happen to the planet because of humans, but also reflecting back to what it was before civilisation. I also liked the idea of combining famous architectures, such as the Eiffel Tower in an exotic natural environment. As a final point, I liked the idea of everyone (represented by spirits) coming together and willing to let go of what once was, which is represented by all the spirits leaving earth and moving onto the other side (Possibly the afterlife).

100,000 Acres of Pine

100,000 Acres of Pine is a short horror story, about a man who goes missing and dies in a woodland national park. The man’s brother Meg who is a park ranger can’t come to terms with his death and goes in search for him, after seeing a weird figure in the forest. As she explores the woods, she finds herself in structures that were once destroyed now fixed and an old Van. Blood follows her wherever she goes and eventually finds her brother Danielle, suddenly a tree comes to life and grabs her, she escapes and finds herself back where she started.

This film gave me shivers, I have to say I was intrigued and fascinated by the direction of the story and how the story unfolded with Danielle explaining what is going on through old cassette type recordings. He was explaining what Meg was seeing without being there, meaning Meg was having an identical experience to her now deceased brother. The way the tape changes from Danielle’s voice to Meg’s voice was a really good touch too as it gave a sense that she met the same fate. The animation style also works great in this film, as the rough (but well crafted) look of the environment works great for a horror setting, as well as effective use of lighting to signify danger and normality slowing creeping in on one another with its eerie red glow.

Link to teaser Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVWE72UWTaw&app=desktop

Pearl Diver

Pearl Diver is a collection of three short stories, all of which happen between each other. The first of a hedgehog trying to keep a balloon, order to do this he shaves off his quills to not pop the balloon. The next is of a polar bear and a penguin who get separated when the small chunk of ice breaks, the polar bear finds a small engine, attaches it to his piece of ice and goes to find the penguin. The third are of two clams with pearls within them opening and closing. The polar bear finds the penguin, excited the penguin finds a pearl to thank the polar bear, but arrives too find that the polar bear has stolen her half the ice that broke. The pearl was taken from the two clams, now just one, the clam the penguin took is thrown back in ocean next to the other clam. Saddened (or shocked) the other clam loses its glow and dies. Lastly the hedgehog has popped the balloon so many times, he lets go of it and watches it float away.

This short film tells three separate messages all of which have in common the message of letting go. For the hedgehog, its learning to let go of something you love, for the clams its letting go of someone you love and for the penguin and polar bear its letting go of the trust you have with someone (at least that’s how I interpreted it). The animation and design are very nice and detailed with the polar bears fur rustling in the wind and the light from the clam’s pearls. I also liked how empty the environments where, as this can be seen as a sign of each character’s story and the thing they have, being the only thing, they have left.

Link to trailer

https://vimeo.com/415941751

My Favourite Hill

My Favourite Hill is a short film about a sentient hill, who loves people being on and around him. The people drink water from him and change cloths on him and play on him and much more. However, come night fall, everyone goes back to work in a factory situated nearby. This upsets the hill, who wants everyone to go back to him and the next day they do. Even more people arrive in cars, tour buses and more, until once again nightfall comes, and everyone leaves.

This short film is interesting in its narrative of loneliness and rejection, but most of all in its animation and design. The film is constructed out of moving pieces of art and cut pieces of paper, moved and swapped to give of the sense of movement and dialogue. An interesting choice for the story, but I also feel with the characteristics of the hill and some of the peoples actions (Such as kicking an old man to the moon before his limbs fall off) fit surprisingly well with this animation style.

Link to trailer

https://vimeo.com/414535202

The Quiet

The Quiet, is an interesting story from an astronaut stranded in outer space. He tells the story of him and his twin brother, he wanted to go to space and his brother wanted to be rich and had a love for diamonds. We are told of a robbery the brother committed at an elderly mans house, he is caught after knocking a globe over, in a blind panic he assaults the old man (implied death) with the globe and says it was self-defence, the court don’t see it that way. The brother is arrested and that’s the end of story, until the astronaut says how he misses his brother and the constellation Gemini is his favourite as its shared with him and the brother, who died at birth. It is revealed that the astronaut was actually the one committing the crimes and is arrested in a silent prison and says how the quite is terrifying.

This short film is fascinating in both its execution and story, I love the way how we are told and invested in the story between two brothers, only to have the twist reveal at the end. The moment of realisation was great, as the film goes silent for a brief moment at the reveal then escalates to reveal what really happened. The visual story telling is also really good, I love the outer space story telling for a story about theft. The way the stars align to create images and scenes is a very imaginative method of storytelling, I also liked how some Foley of everyday sounds where implemented into the stars, such as the sun being a gas cooker, or how a galaxy is matched with a light turning on.

Link to “The Quiet” Facebook page with trailer

https://www.facebook.com/thequietradheya/?fref=tag

Delphine: No Dogs

Delphine: No Dogs, tells the story of a woman arriving by boat into the country with her one year old son. They find a place to stay in an apartment building of which they meet an Irish woman, the woman looks after the baby whilst the mother goes to work. One day whilst at work the baby keeps coughing, the Irish woman checks on the baby to see if he’s alright. When she asks the mum about medicine, the mother says there not working, after the Irish woman complains at the doctors, the baby is sent to the hospital. There it is discovered the baby has newmonia, the mother thanks the Irish woman for saving her son’s life and the film ends with a picture of the child in a frame.

I enjoyed this films style of animation, opting to go with a paper putted style with different light layers for backgrounds, props and characters. The design also sets the scene for what kind of time period this story takes place in, being likely the 1950’s, with its look of being worn like a memory. The message of the story is also interesting to me as it highlights a time when immigrants where treated unfairly when it came to medication and that it takes someone from different ethnic origin to stand up for them (In the credits it details how this was a story from “… Irish and Afro-Caribbean Immigrants to the U.K and the evolving relationships to Britishness of their descendants.”.

Link to Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sacProWHDyE

Hijack139

Hijack139 is an animated adaptation of a true story of a plane from Norway being hijacked. A very drunk passenger who drank all his beer, called the airline hostess for more beer, before being given the option or the price he pulled out a gun and demanded more. The man drank lots throughout the flight, other passengers offered him more and even wine, when they arrived the man let all passengers with a connecting flight leave the plane, so everyone did. The police asked what his demands where asking things such as money, fame, power but the man just wanted beer, the police took him in, found out the gun was fake, the man was actually a 24 year old boy and was sentenced for three years in prison.

I liked this animations 3D style and design, the characters and environments look rubbery, allowing them to experiment with movement, especially with the drunk mans swaying body movements and body language. I also liked how the story was also told through rhyme getting a melody stuck in my head and making it memorable. As a quick side note I’m glad they added the real news reports and interviews of the incident, because initially I was sceptical and too silly to be true (I certainly laughed at the response of the passengers).

The Winter

The Winter tells the story of a man carrying sticks and logs in a foggy snowy wood, the man spots a pack of dear’s one of which has a bright aura which looks like the moon around its head and antlers, the other dears run away except for the specific one and the man investigates. He follows the dear through the wood, until he falls in a deep layer of snow and passes out, he wakes up and realises its day time, with the dear he was following staring at him, but now with no bright aura.

This film looks great and really stands out with its design. This film is crafted with what looks to be figure painting, creating the fine rough bark details on the tree and the brown on the mans coat. I liked the overall atmosphere of this film, going from night to day and the music is a perfect fit for the unfolding story, it gives a sense of mystery and intrigue.

And Something Else

And Something Else is a story about two crows being controlled and manipulated by a person, who’s face we do not see (only hands). The hands choke the birds, grab the birds, cause them to have an egg and more horrible things. The crows fall out attacking each other and crushing the egg, the hands try to intervene, and the crows fight back, causing the hands to go away, the two find each other beaten and hug.

This film was interesting to watch as for me the premise was not full there for me until the egg sequence. This is a story about manipulation and what it can do to someone and if so, to fight bac and stand up for yourself. The story also had sudden escalation from both a visual and audio standpoint admittedly making jump once or twice. The ending is also justified as the two crows come to terms with one another, knowing that they have both experienced the same thing.

Pandiculation

Pandiculation is a short story of men in an important business meeting, however one at the back of the table is tired/ bored. He tries to stay awake and stretches himself discretely, stretching legs, leaning back on chairs, etc. He suddenly lets out a sudden loud yawn, everyone pauses to look at him. Knowing he has been caught he then lets out a giant yawn, which sounds more like a yell and everyone silently stares at him. The rest of the men suddenly do exactly the same in different positions.

The plot of this film is relatable to me as I have been in this situation of staying awake during something important before. It is the exaggerated and comedic movements and timing which rounds this film out perfectly. I had an idea of what was to come with the definition of Pandiculation (meaning the act of stretching oneself, usually followed by a yawn) told me what it meant, but not to this extreme, I laughed at the end when everyone was in an agreement of sorts and joined in.

Tick

Tick is a story about a woman who keeps giving herself too many to do lists to finish, resulting in no sleep and working constantly. These range from work jobs, self-catering/ care, friend jobs, etc. She gets so into working constantly, that she forgets to feed her fish, the fish watches hinting for her to find him, but she does not. Once everything is finished and a wall of to do lists are filled with ticks, the last tick box is to feed her fish, which has died from dehydration, realising what has happen she puts in the fish food and ticks off the final box.

This film is unique in its message, to me the message is don’t overload yourself with work and lose site in the little more important things. A key feature in this film is the Foley as a variety of sounds can be heard, signalling different meanings. For example there is a faint tick sound of a clock in the background, signifying a concept of time passing and that it is also running out. Another is the sound of a kettle whistling, getting louder and louder throughout the film, possibly signifying the sense of pressure that time is running out.

Today’s talks

Frances Humphries

My first talk today was with Frances Humphries (Fran fir short) who is a past student from UCLAN and she explained her experiences at UCLAN as well as what she’s been doing since then. She explained how she enjoyed the university and got her first job through it, she also showed us her show reel promoting herself and her work. The show reel was very well put together, signifying that she stands out from the crowd, listing all the types of work she’s done and software she knows how to use. Fran also explained that a lot of her learning was whilst working as clients whereas asking for specific criteria from her.

Fran started working at a company that do festivals, she explained how she had done some adverts and even a sort of training video for sports direct, Fran also explained how the corporate world treats their colleagues with the mind set of making money fast and hitting deadlines. Over time Fran was given the job role of manager due to the previous one leaving, she explained how it was quite a lot at first from animating to animating, talking to clients, managing a team, etc. But still prevails none the less.

Fran also showed us her final projects spanning all her years at UCLAN and the development over the years was certainly there, good to start, great at the end. Fran also hinted about future projects in the second and third year including working with music student for sound and Foley. Lastly she ended with two things like that I feel will stick with me being try “Don’t get too attached to your work.” Because it’s the client could turn you down and the other being to not put yourself in a specific job role and try other things, this is backed up by her methods of learning new things online, even during a client call. Overall this was a very good talk, giving me more insight as to how clients view their workers as well as a potential heads up to what’s to come in my future years at University.

Joanne Edwards

My second talk today was with Joanne Edwards (Jo for short) who was a student at UCLAN. Jo began by showing us her showreel highlighting some of her work, with a good mixture of clips in there. Joanne then showed us an advertisement she created for North West Helicopter Ambulance Service, being a stop motion story of a child in a car crash, airlifted to hospital and how he wants to work there when he’s older. Jo then showed us a piece she made with the same characters and backgrounds, but this time of her dog terrorising the city, it was cute and funny (She also explained she was inspired by the movie “Frankenweenie”). Lastly she told us the story of how she entered a competition by Aardman animation called “Gromit Unleashed”, where she created a giant Gromit which won and was auction to Nick Park, where the statue resides in his office. This also landed her a works experience with Aardman, where she created props for “Shaun the Sheep” and got to test reel models from “Pirates in An Adventure With Scientists”, unfortunately the footage was never used.

Jo then told and showed us her current project, which looks like its taking off nicely. Jo wrote a book called “Not the Bed for My Rump” which is a children’s story, about a dog (Inspired by her own) who is trying to find the most comfortable spot to sleep. Jo want on to explain how important advertising and spreading the word about a project is, she explained how she created a Kickstarter for the book, of which surpassed its goal and looked for help via other websites. She also mentioned knowing when to stick to your guns and take on board advice, such as when people on Reddit and Twitter thought the title looked inappropriate with the dog on its back, but she stuck to her guns and nothing has changed. Jo also explained how the illustration was made with “Gooish Paint” and “water”, which could be used for two distinct and different designs, great for foreground and background separations as well as characters.

Jo ended by recommended illustration if your thinking of doing a book, but if you want to create your own book, its best to read many other books similar to the one you want to make for reference and inspiration. For Jo, her dog was the biggest inspiration due to how he acts and the general funny nature of Bull terriers. Overall Jo’s presentation was very good highlighting other potential opportunities aside from animation you could, skills you may also pick up from the course and the overall importance of collaboration and advertisement.

Below is a link to the “Not the Bed for My Rump” Kickstarter where you can find more information about the book.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jo-edwards/not-the-bed-for-my-rump-childrens-picture-book

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robbiejohnsonyr2ax2000 · 5 years ago

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University - Manchester Animation Festival - Day 4

(This Post will contain spoilers)

Short Films Children

Sea Major

Sea Major tells the story of a young girl, who really wants to fish. But her farther stops her and wants her to stay inside and learn piano, wanting to get back to fishing the girl sneaks out of the house and continues to fish. After hooking a very strong fish, she is dragged into the sea and nearly drowns, until the farther comes and saves her. Later that evening she wakes up in the house, with her saddened farther on their doorstep. Realising his mistake, the next day he decides to let his daughter fish with him and the two do just that.

This film was good, I can see how its 3D art style would look welcoming to young audiences. The story also tells the lesson of, if you really want to do something, keep at it and one day you will be able to go out and do it. The humour in this film was also pretty good, with the little girl wrestling a fish in the house, whilst remaining non-suspicious to her dad was a nice touch.

The Witch and The Baby

The Witch and The Baby is a short story about a sad witch who isn’t looking as good as most other women. She decides to create a potion to make her look pretty, there’s one missing ingredient to the mixture though, a baby. Meanwhile a royal castle is hiring for a babysitter, the witch turns the other participants into frogs, gets the job and steals the baby. Once home, the baby keeps preventing the witch from finishing the stew, pooping, throwing potions playing with explosives the baby does it all. Suddenly the baby hugs the witch’s leg and calls her it’s “Mama”, this cause the witch’s heart to grow and care for the child. The two end up back at the castle and the witch is hired to keep looking after the baby.

This was a nice short story, with a friendly look and nice exposition. The story is a re-used, but effective one being someone who looks mean, is not always as bad as they seem. As well as you do not need to be pretty to be accepted into society, you can do things your own way.

Link to Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmBX6gWqWZQ

Tricked

Tricked is a story based on a street criminal stealing money from people on trams. One day a magician comes onto the tram with a pocket full of cash, the criminal tries to steal a $100 when he is suddenly pulled into another world within the magician’s pocket. The criminal chases the money through a variety of magic trick acts, such as cards, being cut in a box, rabbit in a hat, etc. The criminal grabs the $100 and fly’s out of the magician’s pocket onto a stage, where it is revealed the tram was a trick and is handcuffed by a large $.

I really liked the comedic and wacky nature of this film, seeing what magic act was going to happen next and how it would beat up the criminal kept me guessing. The lighting is also worth mentioning as there was effective uses of stage lights for magic act and even the shadows of the characters on the tram and when the criminal first lands in the pocket, where very well executed.

I could not find a Trailer, but here’s a link to the full film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcROiQ6PEuI

Margin of Terror

Margin of terror tells the story of a mad scientist, trying to create a terrifying monster. All seems to be according to plan, when suddenly the switch to turn on his device flips up and instead of a scary monster, create a small, adorable, friendly box creature. Annoyed the scientist throws the creature in the bin tries again, each time he tries the same result occurs with the same creature in varying colours, all of which are thrown in the bin. When the scientist losses hope in the experiment, all the small, boxed creatures, form into one giant creature, which excites and scares the scientist, he’s grabbed, and the creature gives him a hug.

This film uses its Claymation design very well, from the overtop expressions of the scientist to the squash and stretchy nature and interactions with the small box creatures. Even the ending where they all merge together, is a good use of mixing clay colours together. This story also reminds me of the well know saying by Thomas H Palmer “If at first you don’t succeed, Try, Try Again”.

Link to the teaser trailer

https://vimeo.com/365839199

Shooms’s Odyssey

Shoom’s Odyssey is a story about two baby owls hatching and exploring their surroundings, they meet squirrels, crocodiles, racoons and more. Along the way Shooom and her brother get separated when two children find her brother (still in the egg) and take him with them to take care of him. Shooom explores the town as she searches for her brother, meanwhile the kids grandfather finds out about them having a baby owl with them. Eventually Shrooom finds her brother the humans help them get home, until they part ways. On their way home they help a young racoon stuck in a duck inflatable get free, which later the racoons mother finds the baby owls and takes them back to her home.

This short film looks beautiful, an excellent use of 2D animation. I love that we watch Shrooom and her brother group up alongside each, such as learning to walk and experiencing flight for the first time, it’s also interesting that some things they learn are from other creatures, such as the squirrel shows Shrooom how to walk on two feet (Or claws/ Talons I guess for an owl). It’s also a very good story with Shrooom and her brother exploring the world from birth and attempting to find their mother/ family, but in the end are taken in by a family of racoons (sort of like adoption). Lastly, the kids final good bye to Shrooom and her brother, saying good bye to “Squeak” and the brother turns around and responds with a chirp was great to me kind of like closing the book on Squeak and the kids relationship.

Link to trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWP9orbO8vI

Stix and Stones

Stix and Stones is a short story about two cave men who were frozen in the stone age and are alive in a modern day museum after being thawed by accident, now they come out and of posing when everyone’s gone home. The two find a stool and try and experiment with it to figure out what it is, they sit on the stool upside, they sit on it right side up and snap the legs to make a fire. However, the fire alarm goes off, activating the sprinklers and causing Stix and Stones to panic, they run into the walls of the glass cabinet there in and the short ends.

This animation was an interesting short, I liked the catchy introduction sequence which is familiar to that of a mainstream cartoon introduction, with a catchy rhythm but also explaining how Stix and Stones got to where they are now. I also liked the chemistry between the two as they seemed competitive with each as well as brotherly.

Onigami

Onigami, is a short story of two cavemen-esc creatures breaking into a traditional looking Japanese home, one is small and wild the other is large and gentle. Whilst the short creature goes wild smashing up the place, the big one discovers origami and tries to create an origami bird from a book. He repeatedly tries and fails, becoming sad about it, the short creature picks up on this and decides to use the pieces of the house he has smashed to create a large origami bird. The two manage to create the bird and carry on with their day.

This story delivers a unique aspect to trial and error, showing that you can repeatedly try something, over and over again and never get it correct. But there is always a solution/ work around to what your doing. I also liked how the characteristics of the pair is represented in their movement, the short creature is fast and sharp with his movements, whereas the big creature slow and cautious, but always smiling. In one part he even shakes his wooden club like a baby rattle giving off the impression off a young child.

I couldn’t find a trailer, but here’s a link to the full film

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P_01Rh9-m4

The Mandrake

The Mandrake tells the story of a rabbit vegetable farmer, one day a badger witch (at least I think it’s a badger) approaches the rabbit and places a drawing on a potted plant, she gives the rabbit a bag of money and leaves. The next day the potted plant grows into a baby made out of stems and leaf’s, the rabbit decides to take care of the new born, although it takes a while two form a bond. A few days later the witch returns and wants to take the baby with her, the rabbit tries to return the money, but the badger wants the baby. She attacks the two and damages the farm with her hex spells, she hits herself and transforms into a large goo monster, before she can harm the two, she melts, and the rabbit and his child carry on with no harm done to them.

This story is unique as it shows the a growing bond between two unlikely friends/ family and how to deal with sudden large responsibility’s like taking care of a child. I liked the art style of this film too, with the thicker more solid colouring on characters and what they interact with, in comparison with the lovely water coloured and painted backgrounds of the farm and its landscape.

The Little Bang

The Little Bang is a short story about planets in the solar system smiling and playing with smaller plants/ asteroids within their atmosphere (Like parents and children), everyone except for a flaming planet that everyone looks away from because its too bright. The planet is sad and alone, until a new planet just like him is made in the distance, the flaming planet gets the attention of the new planet and shows it how to grow arms, exploded and much more. Everything is fine until a black hole comes and the two can’t reach each other, the flaming planet uses the black to swing over to the new planet and they hug, causing a large explosion, this creates hundreds on new planets with the twos colour scheme on them (Orange and cyan).

This story is sweet, as it sends the message of there is someone for everyone, even if no one particular likes you. I liked the concept of planets being parents to smaller planets giving a parent-esc relation ship between the two. I also enjoyed the chemistry between the two planets as it seemed similar to that of a love story between two very different people but represented as planets. A final point to make is I liked the glow of the two planets, not only as a nice-looking design choice, but it also shows that the two of them stand out from the rest.

Below is a link to the trailer.

https://vimeo.com/395077314

Meow or Never

Meow or Never is an interesting story as it follows the journey of a Cat traveling through space to find the meaning of life. She becomes stranded on a planet when her ship malfunctions, thanks to a dog. The two journey around the planet looking for her ship and find marshmallows and spirits along the way. Once the ship is found, the cat decides to stay on the planet with the dog and the two become close friends.

This short film is interesting as it informs kids that there is no official meaning to life, it is what you make it out to be. The way how it is presented in a musical fashion will have kids hooked and adults, likely surprised. I also liked how each character on the planet had their own answers, bugs were to eat food all time, Marshmallows where to be set on fire in a campfire further backing the point of the film. The puppet animation in this film also gives it a unique charm and is well executed throughout.

Link to trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d16qEQGViO0

Todays Talk

Stephen Dee

In today’s talk, we had Stephen Dee (One of my tutors) who told and showed us some of his work from over the years in the animation industry. Stephen explained how his start came from when he went to live in America for a short while, made friends, went back to London with one of them and together they were able to get a job. This job was in creating set designs for locations such as city’s and parks, this was just the start for Stephen as he would eventually find his way into projects which involved making sculpts for theme parks and doing large sculpt the same size and much bigger than him, such as an enormous elephant and a large tiger shark.

Stephen also showed us some of his animation work, as over time his lines of work brought him into the stop motion scene, he had helped on children’s TV shows such as “Fifi and the Flower Tops”, “Little Robots”, and “Prank Patrol” amongst others. Stephen went into a lot details on each of the projects he had made and to me it was very interesting, as he explained the materials used to create each one and some of their measurements (E.g. One of the Robots in a shot he showed us from “Little Robots”, although looked small, was actually 42cm tall).

To end Stephen mentioned some advice from what he had learned in the industry, such as explaining the importance of having a good, coincident work ethic, as twenty good jobs will mean nothing to one bad one. As well as “Know your own worth” when it comes to approaching each project. As a quick side note, in the Q and A at the end of the talk, each tutor who spoke with us, over the last four days, were complimenting each other on their presentations and reflecting on each other’s work, which was interesting to hear as they shed light on each of their projects and little things that weren’t mentioned in there presentations. It was nice to hear at the end.

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robbiejohnsonyr2ax2000 · 5 years ago

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University - Manchester Animation Festival - Day 3

(This Post will contain spoilers)

Short film panorama

Change Return

Change return is based in the far future, where we see robotic servants helping and giving people things such as drinks and food. We come across a poor man, who tricks the machine into bringing him a pig. This doesn’t end well as the owner of the pig finds them and shoots the pig and injures the man and blows two of the pig’s legs off. The man feeling guilty goes to the machine that magically heals his wounds, but also the Pig’s two legs, which turn into human hands instead. The owner of the pig reports him and decides to take him in, the poor man is tasered and about to be arrested, when the pig saves him.

I like the idea of society and nature still getting along, even if it seems like all nature is gone from the world. The lighting is another aspect pulled off very well as the mixture of bright neon lights and darker, shadier areas, reflect the lifestyles of people who are living in those areas. The story although heart-warming also gives a bit of a statement of how dependent civilisation is on technology and the negative effects of it (E.g. possibly a loss of jobs if their all replaced with robots).

There was unfortunately no trailer, but the full film has bee uploaded to YouTube if you’d like to give it a watch (Link Below).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo2ZmeiIr1I

Umbrellas

Umbrellas tells the story of a young child who as baby in an umbrella and basket was dropped off at house in the forest. A man comes running out to inspect the crying the baby is making, finds the child and brings them up as his own. The Man (Now a Dad/Farther) looks after the kid and protects her from the rain, with his umbrella shaped beard. One wind, rainy night their dog runs off and the two go in search, they are separated by a broken bridge and are apart from each other for the first time. The young girl finds the dog, trying to save its puppy which has been sent in an umbrella caught in a tree over a violent, river rapid. The puppy is saved, and the girl takes off her hood, experiencing rain for the first time and the world goes from dull and grey, into a colourful environment.

This is a very heart-warming tale as we watch the bond between farther and daughter grow and how much they care about each other and their dog. The drawn style of the animation gives a great look to the character designs as well as details to the backgrounds/ environments, becoming even better (as well as quite satisfying) when the colour come towards the end of the film. I also liked the final scene, where the daughter is cutting the dads umbrella bearded into a regular one. This is used as a visual sign to show narrative, that the dad has learned to let go, let his daughter be independent instead of shielding her all the time. As a final point, I enjoyed the idea of instead of the classic tale of storks delivering babies to parents, its umbrellas instead.

Link to trailer

https://vimeo.com/327840550

Leaf boat

Leaf boat tells the story of two friends in a small beachside town, who decide to go sailing at night on a small boat made out of a leaf, lamppost and a blanket. All is well until one of the friends becomes nervous and starts questioning things such as what if they get lost or fall in the sea and they don’t know what is down there. These thoughts cause high winds, stormy weather and even a sea monster to confront the two. In the end the nervous young woman explains that she doesn’t want her friend to leave her in an unfamiliar place again, the two (now back on shore) watch the sea together and smile.

This story is interesting to be, as it gives a look into rejection and abandonment from others and close ones and how surprising it can be for others to learn and accept. The two girls are slightly different, one is very active and running headfirst towards things, the other is calmer, quitter and more cautious. These character traits show how the two are different and have come from two very different backgrounds. I also loved the creativity of the film having the two girls manipulate their surroundings to build the boat, almost like an optical illusion of sorts and the art style accommodates this very well with its shifting, drawn design.

Link to the trailer

https://vimeo.com/452520927

Armstrong

Armstrong is an inventive story on a man and a woman working in a factory creating 3D shapes from more shapes 3D shapes, the woman secretly has deep feelings for the man to the point of spying on him and create sculptures of him. One night the moon disappears causing the world and themselves to break and fall to pieces, the two meet up and work together to fix the world. They do this by creating a new moon and return it by using pieces of the world on themselves and creating giant strong arms. They return the moon back where it belongs, and the world returns to normal.

I really enjoyed the creativity in this film, using simplistic 3D designs, allow the creators to expand and build upon what they’ve got. I enjoyed the premise of building not only what you make, but what you make of yourself. The character animations where also very good, they don’t talk any verbal language, so they speak in mumbles and sounds, mix this with facial and body language and you have here a very expressional and understandable film. I also liked the idea of the factory uses stars as their source of shapes at the end.

I couldn’t find a trailer, but here is a link to the full film.

https://vimeo.com/388446129

Heart of Gold

Heart of Gold tells the story of a mother trying to pay her bills for her house and for her son, she does this by giving body parts to an elderly couple. An old woman is dying, and her elderly husband can perform very bizarre surgery. Piece by piece the of the mother is placed in the elderly one and her body parts are replaced with golden robotic body parts. Eventually the old woman looks just li8ke the mother, the only part remaining is the mother’s (now robot) beating heart. The son rips out the robotic mother’s heart and puts it in the elderly woman. With the new heart the elderly woman is now the mother again and robot and elderly husband go live in together.

This film is unique in its story direction and cinematography, using Claymation effectively to show body parts being taken out and replaced. It was also quite intense at times (As someone who isn’t great with gore), although there wasn’t any inclusion of blood, see body parts like lungs being ripped out and cut open, or eyeballs being gouged out certainly left me with shivers. Admittedly I got a little confused with the ending, but it’s possible its open to interpretation (Or I’m missing something).

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any clips or trailers for this short film.

Grab My Hand – A Letter to My Dad

Grab My Hand – A Letter to My Dad is the story of two friends told by one of their sons. The story is of two boys, the son’s dad and uncle Dewayne (no blood relation) who were best friends since school. They would get in contact with each other daily saying “Gate Check”, which was there way of knowing that the other was alive, awake and ready for work. The two would always talk and meet up, until one day the Dad dreams that his son had died, although this doesn’t happen, he rings Dewayne with “Gate Check” but receives no response, Dewayne’s wife rings the Dad and says he’s not waking up. The Dad rushes to the hospital to be with Dewayne, one night he sits next to Dewayne almost saying a final goodbye of sorts, he keeps saying “Gate Check” and eventually Dewayne grabs his hand and is back. Dewayne’s back for roughly a week, until he passes away, we are then told the life lesson of surrounding yourself with good people who want to be with you.

This story is very deep and impactful, reminding us of our own mortality and the time we have people closest to us. It’s great the son is explaining the story as it gives a personal side of sorts to the story. The art style is effective as some of the happier scenes earlier in the film are active and wacky, in comparison to the slow and sometimes still sections of the more intense and sad moments later.

Although not official, here is a trailer for this film created by the “Miami Film Festival” (Link Below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGkmsJifrCU

The Gift

The Gift is a story about a young woman who is experiencing paranormal and demonic dream like sequences. She begins to feel pain in her down belows and tries to ignore it, this changes when she falls asleep in a bath, as she finds herself in a hellish landscape. Surrounded by an angry mob yelling to burn her and that she is a witch, she smiles, levitates into the air and her eyes widen and flash. Cut back home and she catches a knife zooming towards her as if it was nothing.

This story is interesting as it plays into beliefs and a supernatural aspect of someone and discovering these anomalies. The build-up I liked a lot, as a viewer I was questioning what was going on, with the flying knifes and the bloody hands, my initial thoughts were the birth of the anti-Christ with all the blood and pain below. But was equally as bad as its implied that woman did something bad to the mob of people, and her catching the same knife from earlier felt like a good sense of progression and acceptance.

No Trailer, but the BBC have the full film on their website in the link below.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p089z7dd

Wade

Wade is a story set in a dystopian future where due to climate change the world is engulfed in water. We follow a small family as they traverse the streets of water in search for food, they have two small children with them, one of which is sat on a raft of plastic bottles. The family is ambushed by tigers killing off two of them, the family hide in an abandoned shop, but leave the child on the raft with the tigers. The situation looks bad for the raft child, until the leader of the pack of tigers walks over to the child, however this tiger isn’t like the others as it is able to walk on top of water. The baby in the shop with the family cries and is drowned not to give away the family’s hiding spot, suddenly the tiger leader gives birth to a cub. The tiger who killed off two of the family members charges towards to child on the raft, but has its neck sliced by the leader. The tigers leave and the child on the raft feels something odd, the water changes the same way the tiger leader made the water when walking on top of it.

There is a lot to unpack with this short film, I liked the dystopian setting as it not only works with the story but could be seen as a reflection of what the world could be like if climate change gets worse. The graffiti on the walls with evacuation and warning notes and signs show a that this was once a thriving society, it’s now every man (Or animal) for themselves. The film got me with the tigers, earlier we are shown an alligator in the water, so I assumed that was the main threat, but the sudden tiger attack really caught me of guard. The film also looks beautiful, with its wide array of colours and lighting, once again capturing the feeling of something that once was and has been run down and abounded.

Link to the Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk9uHHZl6m4

Wood Child and Hidden Forest Mother

Wood Child and Hidden Forest Mother tells the story of a huntsman armed with a shotgun killing woodland animals, until he comes across a small creature he cannot kill. The man looks through a hole in the creature’s chest (which he shot) and sees a bright jolly colourful world, compared to his own dark and dull one. Intrigued he chases the creature, until they both go off screen (Literally of the screen boarders) and wake up in a colourful magical world. The huntsman wakes to find mini variants of the creature come out of his stomach, like a mother he feeds them with his nipples, but refuses to feed the original creature. Out of juice he cuts wounds on his body to keep the creatures happy. The man bleeds out and dies and so do the creatures on his toxic blood. The only one left is the original creature who feeds of the huntsman’s dying tears, finds another huntsman and the cycle continues.

This short film shows that just because something is happy and magical, doesn’t always mean it is, looks can be deceiving and this film certainly delivered. This film is interesting with its method of telling its story and move the characters along in the story, from jumping off screen to the drastic decisions made to progress the story. Little things such as the un killable creature drinking the man and gaining his appearance was a nice touch as well as in the end when there all dead, that their spirits leave off screen into the dark abyss of sorts.

Link to trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DSCpPFd_z4

Today’s talks.

Peter Bishop

In todays talk we had Peter (One of my tutors) who gave us some in sight to where is creativity came from and how it got him to where he is today. One of the earliest things he stated was he didn’t start off as an artist, which caught my attention as I myself have never done (or been particularly good at) art, so I was intrigued with how he got to where he is today.

Peter explained how his journey started by sending a drawing attached to a post card and from there he kept creating. He shared a variety of clips throughout his career of what he’s done including what he does to come up with ideas such as walking, doodling, looking at other people’s work. He also showed us a range of comic stripes he had read and made and went onto explain how this led to him getting involved with different industry and making friends, this lead to him going to India multiple times for roughly four to six weeks.

Peter also explained that past work he has created was repurposed for future work, for example they had shot footage of a bird in a garden setting, in a future piece of work, they reused the bird but gave it a hat, had it eat a skull and fly away revealing the Holland animation festival logo. One final thing I enjoyed about Peter’s talk was I enjoyed his “How to Destroy the World With” series which he showed how food and rubbish can do it.

Overall, the talk covered a lot of bases and forms of how animation can be used, from TV adverts, Illustrations, theatre or even a bit of creativity with Taxi horns. The talked expanded my knowledge as to where and how animation can be applied and used in the world and how important it is to stick to deadlines and what you can achieve if you put your mind to it.

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robbiejohnsonyr2ax2000 · 5 years ago

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University - Manchester Animation Festival - Day 1

(This Post will contain spoilers)

Short Films 1

Today I focused on “Short Films 1″ and watched each film, here are my thoughts on each of the films.

De Passant (The Passer by)

The Passer by was a very interesting short film to watch. The story followed two young boys with one of the name’s being Thomas (We never find out the other boys name). The story is so focused on Thomas that when he is hit by a car (Of which caused my heart to skip a beat) and we follow the second boy. I was fixated as to what was going to happen next. As the second boy pass up and down the street on his bike past Thomas, we learn on the second boys story, whilst being filled in on what’s happening to Thomas.

This film is very unique in its storytelling, with viewers invested in Thomas till the point of the incident, only for the viewer to piece together what happens to Thomas from passing glimpse, with the other boy. It’s sad but very unique, I especially love the final scene as a young woman (Named “Karen”) waiting in the rain, sending Thomas voice messages asking him, where he is. Mean while the second boy is spying on her and you can tell he’s thinking I know what’s happened.

Link to Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFADLgrmnpQ

Cosmonaut

Cosmonaut is the story of an elderly man, looked after by (I’m assuming) his daughter. When the daughter leaves, the elderly man goes goes around his home grabbing family pictures, struggling to brush his teeth and much more. We learn through flashbacks and pictures in the house that the old man was an astronaut living in space and performing space walks. However after a fall and a trophy landing on his head it is implied he has died.

I loved many moments in this short film such as the elderly man trying to live/ act like he did in his youth. With what the man was doing at his age, then what he was doing when in space, being reflected (Via sudden flashback) in each action was a fun way to keep the viewers justified to each of his actions. In space astronauts relieve themselves through a pipe, in modern day he uses a hoover (To not the best results). However my favourite part was the implication that the old man died. This represented with the old man back in space performing a space walk, but he lets go of the tether keeping him from floating away, implying his let go of his last thread of life.

Washing Machine

Washing Machine was the short story of a man who seems to have a broken washing machine following him around his house. he calls a repairman to try and fix the washing machine, but to no avail.

Washing Machine was very unique to me, the most defining feature of this film compared to the others, is its simplistic, yet effective design. The main characters are mostly basic shapes with limbs, but convey a lot of character through body language and sounds. The short is also quite humorous at times, such as the man waking up to find the washing machine has got into his bed, or the suggestive ways the repair man was fixing the washing machine to then be kicked out the house. However, one feature that caught me off guard is towards the end, where I think the washing machine made some very human-esc moan implying that the washing machine may have been a person after all (I’m still 50 - 50 if I’m right with that conclusion).

Flesh

Flesh to me was a short film which was important as not only did it have narratives, but was also a statement of sorts. Flesh tells the story of five women, the women explain their past and what they are experiencing now. The first explains about how she found school difficult, due to her short size and round physic, but ultimately turned her negative into a positive with long distance running. The second explains how she finds herself in trouble due to her race and beliefs as well as being transgender. The third questions why women have to have their uterus removed and men don’t get their balls chopped off. The fourth woman describes the struggles of having menopause. The fifth and final women explains how women are seen as much lesser people in world struggling with many different things such as employment and being neglected.

This film is great with it’s change in character and their stories as the animation design changes with each one, from 2D sketch animation, to stop motion claymation, the variety on show is really impressive what was able to be pulled off. Each piece seemed to fit each story perfectly as well as teaching people these important lessons as well as possibly being an eye opener to some viewers.

Link to the trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL5Vr2NL88E

Songs of the city

Song of the city is a short film of us the viewer, seeing a vibrant city from the perspective of a small bird. We here cars, jazz bands, cats in the allys and much more as we go in both inside and outside buildings and landscapes.

This film is fun and creative as it represents the city vibrantly with its sounds and its method of transporting the viewer. Instead of us constantly following the bird at the start, we move from location to location with the (Presumably) the same bird in each shot. The art style is also unique, we see the bird being painted by someone from the get go and from their it fluently transfer into the animation.

Link to trailer

https://adelinacourt.co.uk/

Genius Loci

Genius Loci is a wildly creative film, which still confuses me slightly, but I’ll explain the best I can. Genius Loci is the story of a young woman called Reine who’s perspective on life is colourful and quite wacky, she travels around the city encountering people and animals alike until she finds her friends in a church. She has a sort of close connection to the woman who is playing an organ, this organ woman mentions someone else, which confuses Renie and she runs home back to her mother who calms her down.

This film is a pure creative mind mix of visuals and story telling, The story is interesting as we journey through the city with Renie and see how, she perceives everything around. I particularly like the exaggeration in some of her surrounds, such a spilling a glass of water leads to a small lake in the kitchen. However the best way this is implemented is when Renie runs home upset. Renie morphs into a hound dog and runs home running through roads and crowds and barking excessively, breaking things in the kitchen and scaring a baby, until her mother calms her down and she morphs back into a person. I really like how her anger and sadness is displayed in an aggressive out of control hound dog (The reveal left me with a surprised yet satisfied feeling).

Link to trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlEh9zsbaj0

I,Barnabe

I, Barnabe is a short film about a depressed reverend (who I’m assuming is called Barnabe) who spends his time drinking alcohol until he decides to climb on top of a church and stick a metal sword in the sky during a thunder storm. The lighting hits a metal weathervane chicken, brining it to life. The reverend tries to be friend the chicken to no avail, the chicken destroys his most proud possession and tries to kill him. Barnabe Captures the chicken is about to turn tables when suddenly, he is struck by lightning he wakes up and leaves the church.

This film has a lot going on and to explain, I can’t tell exactly if its claymation or 3D animation with it’s design, but it works well for the characteristics of Barnabe and the chicken. The biggest thing I enjoyed with this film is the use of both 3D and 2D animation to tell the story. The 3D being modern day and 2D for the past and for the final sequence which I thought was very clever, as I think the final 2D sequence is use to show Barnabe having an out of body experience and accepting to move and takes a golden feather (of which he still has when he’s leaving). I also feel like this film is about the difficulties of depression, Barnabe is always drinking alcohol with bottles seemingly being everywhere he goes as possibly a coping source of sorts and by the end leaving it all behind and moving forward.

I couldn’t find a trailer, but here's a link to some BTS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y9QOTCLHKs

Talk with our tutor on making “The Ticket Maker”

Lastly we got the chance to listen to a talk from my Tutor Mario Kkounnous on the making of is short film “The Ticket Maker”. Ticket Maker is the story of a man scared of being alone and waits for trains to stop for anyone to get off, a storm hits and he takes to a nearby wood for safety, however he must face his demons in order to make it through the storm.

In the talk alot was covered from the idea’s origin and a wide variety of concepts. To me the most interesting thing was how the film went from stop motion, to 3D animation (even by appearance I thought the film was stop motion). Originally the film was going to be in stop motion, but due to restriction and Coronavirus and plans switched 3D animation with the animation software Maya. However Mario took it a step further by using a software called “Agisoft Photogrammetry” to take high quality picture of the models, sets and armatures he made and rigged them with joints in photogrammetry the models and sets were scanned using the “Photogrammetry” software.

From this talk, I also learned the importance of creating a pre-visual version of your film, as it allows you to see how the film is developing since the storyboarding and animation phases of development. I also learned how drastic a film can change due to outside/ uncontrollable factors. Mario also mentioned how parts of the film where based of his own experiences, one of which was a cut character being a cat. Mario explains how the cat in the film was based of his own and how his cat helped him stay grounded which could translate well into the film.

If you/ we want more information and behind the scenes of the ticket maker, Mario left us a link to the official website (Link below).

Link to Ticket Maker Website (Which includes a Trailer too)

https://mkkounnous4.wixsite.com/theticketmaker

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