One day on Earth screening

The feature length documentary of One Day On Earth will premiere on 22nd April, 2012 - aka Earth Day. The most recent global recording took place last November (11/11/11) and was a massive success, collecting video from every country on Earth! I was lucky to have been given a dvd for Christmas and it was awe inspiring!

A behind the scenes look at Aardman

I came across this YouTube video and found it really interesting as I know that Aardman do not allow any visitors to their studios due to privacy issues around their work, so it was great to be priviliged to take a peek at their sets and models! The narrator from 'hey you guys' is a bit stilted, but its still worth watching!

Finding inspiration from Traci Bautista for my Prague journal

I have just returned from a College trip to Prague. We took the animation students to visit the Hafan animation studio (which was amazing...), the Mucha Museum and the Barrandov Film Studio. It was a great trip, albeit a bit of a whirlwind visit! We were told while we were at the visit to Hafan animation studio, that they do workshops to create puppets and a short stop motion animation - I did some searching online and found the details for these on the puppets in Prague website.

Some gorgeous stop motion characters - Hafan Animation Studio

During the visit to the Mucha museum, I purchased a handmade journal and have been trying to create a journal of the visit. It has taken ages to get back into a creative vibe, and my first attempts at this were torn out by myself as the pages just did not do the trip justice - so today I have been trying to get some inspiration. I initially visited Danny Gregory's website and after lots of different links from various journal blogs and web pages I stumbled across Traci Bautista and felt truly inspired - this may have been due to me having an affinity with her style and also my wistful yearnings to be able to live a creative life as she does! Below is a picture of some of her artwork. 

Traci Bautista undertakes lots of 'Collage Unleashed Workshops', which she does all around the World. Below is a slideshow of some of the artwork created in her workshops.

The Illusionist (2010) Directed by Sylvain Chomet

I was lucky enough to have been given 'The Illusionist' (2010) as a Christmas present and must say it was excellent - the animation, the background scenery and the narrative - nothing was a let down for me - I absolutely loved watching it. 

Above are some still shots from the animation, where you can see the beautifully drawn and atmospheric scenes.

The animation is based on a script by Jacques Tati. Director Sylvain Chomet gained permission to adapt it into The Illusionist from Tati's family and Chomet based the main character Monsieur Tatischeff on Jacques Tati himself.

'The result is utterly distinctive and beguiling, with its own language and grammar of innocence: gentle, affectionate, whimsical, but deeply felt and with an arrowhead of emotional pain.' (Bradshaw 2010).

I agree with the above quote entirely - I could not have put it any better myself! I borrowed this quote from a blog that I came across and where I viewed a really good review - Lavey's Blog.

Bye to 2011 - hello to 2012

2011 was a busy and eventful year! I must admit to feeling drained, but elated at the same time.... At the beginning of 2011 I was a lecturer and personal tutor for animation and interactive media students - at the end of 2011 I have my own course to run and have become an Advanced Practitioner in teaching (we will have to see how that transpires in 2012 to know if it was a good decision to take this position on...). I also passed an MA in 2D Digital Animation (this is something I still struggle to believe myself). Not sure I can aim to do as much in the coming year.

I do have a huge concern about the future of the animation industry in this country and I think we need to be pro active in attempting to make the Government aware that it would be a traversty if some of our great animation studios move from this country because it is not viable to stay here anymore. Mark Field (MP) has discussed securing the future of animation in the UK on the Animation UK website and says: 

'...if we allow this industry to be eroded, we could face an exodus of opportunity from our shores. Skilled young talent may be driven abroad; we could lose the chance to exploit highly lucrative ancillary licensed products; we may see the leaching of expertise, creating a skills dearth in complementary industries such as post-production; and we risk undermining our cultural heritage. Indeed it is precisely because of the vast opportunities that flow from a thriving animation sector that other nations are so keen to attract the business.'

Animation UK campaigns for fairer trading conditions for UK animation producers, to help protect or increase the production and ownership of IP that is of such value to the UK. On their website there is a pro forma for a letter to send to a local MP and one of my New Year resolutions is to write one of these letters. We need to be pro active for the past, present and future students to ensure that an animation industry is maintained in the UK!

On a more personal note, one of my resolutions is to do an animation course at St Martins. I have thought about it for the past two years, so it is about time I actually did it! Originally when I applied to Hertfordshire University I wanted to top up my HND to a degree in order to improve my animation skills, but was persuaded to go direct to the MA and although I have learned so much about media and animation theory at Herts (huge thanks to Alan Peacock and Dr Ivan Phillips), and my animation skills are improving - all that I have learned about animation is self taught and I really feel the need to absorb some guidance on traditional animation as I have only ever really done digital 2D animation. 

Well, we have 4 hours left of 2011 - I have learned so much during this year and hope to continue to learn and impart what I learn and know to others more effectively. Au revoir 2011, I hope 2012 is even half as productive :).

Creative yearnings...

After the full on August and part of September that I had working on my interactive animation - I have been creatively barren due to focusing on inspiring the students to be creative, which I hope to have been partially successful at - I cannot honestly say that 100% have the creative bug, but the ones that have are really buzzing and the others are at least working on it! It has been a very hectic term and it has absolutely flown by! I have lots of marking to do, reports have been written and I also recently applied for an additional post of Advanced Practitioner for our creative sector and amazingly I got the job, after a very nerve wracking interview - I must say, it has been a very busy and eventful year. Things will be even more hectic now, so I am looking forward to taking some time out over the Christmas break to get creative again!   

The only creative link that I have clung onto this term is my photography - I've been carrying my little Canon G12 everywhere with me. I took lots of photos at the Science Museum this week (I took the FdA degree students and the BTEC year 2's to the Science museum and the Natural History museum) - they were getting inspiration for an animation based upon Steampunk and I personally was inspired by so many objects up there - I should take time to go myself as it was rather rushed as I had to run from one museum to the other checking that everyone was ok and sketching for inspiration. I ended the afternoon by going to the Cafe with the FdA's and we sat on the observation gallery watching the skaters on the ice rink - I took some photos and the students did some movement sketches.... it was very festive :) - wished I could have stayed longer, but had to rush back to College for parents evening.

MA in 2D Digital Animation!!!

I cannot quite believe that I have actually passed the MA! It still has not quite sunk in! I have to say a big thanks to Alan Peacock from Herts Uni for motivating me when I was struggling to keep going because of the pressures from work. I can also now reflect on how much I enjoyed his lectures and those of Ivan - truly inspiring.  I learnt so much and will continue to learn as much as I can, albeit without their excellent guidance.