M.A.F / In Your Own Time

Manchester Animation Festival:

Panel: In Your Own Time 

 

This was another interesting panel at M.A.F which I went into not knowing what to expect, but left feeling very fulfilled, entertained and educated. Twenty- five years after its release, Ian Mackinnon introduced us to the amazingly inluential short The Sandman and it still remains as an impressively scary piece of work. It's always amazing to hear creators talk about where they came from, the difficulties that came with having little money and resources which are overcome with pure passion for the art. The Sandman can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjgHbRrnjhU

Then we viewed possibly one of my favourite pieces of the whole trip when Mike Mort presented Chuck Steel: Raging Balls of Steel Justice (which can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAuqceq8jME). Honestly I don't think there was a moment where I wasn't in hysterics laughing, or reeling from said hysterics; nor have I been in a situation where my peers, tutor and I were all cry laughing for fifteen minutes straight, stuggling to compose ourselves even when the panel had begun. Comedy is so hard to perfect, punch lines and excellent timing are not something to be taken for granted, it takes real mastery.
This partnered celebrating 40 years of Aardman with Peter Lord and David Sproxoton, which serves as a reminder that traditional methods of animation can still be successful amongst the overwhelming popularity of CG films.

M.A.F / Women in Animation

Manchester Animation Festival: 

In the Frame: Women in Animation

This was a panel that I was excited for all week, it was very refreshing for the importance of this subject to be recognised by the festival. Animation is known to be a male dominated industry and this panel sat to discuss how women have historically been presented in animation as well as the women's involvement behind the screen. Whereby representation has always seen the female character to be inferior to the male protagonist, needing his help as she stands as a damsel in distress, or presented in an overly sexualised manor, as seen in so many different forms of media. It was interesting to hear a female, expert opinion on this topic.

The panelist Lindsay Watson works in association with Animated Women UK whom aim to support a network of women in fulfilling their potential in the industry. They believe that "This change will be visible when we see results such as: better female characters on screen, an increase in women-led start-ups and an increase in women winning awards in technical areas." Saying this, I think it's important to mention that there are no women of colour amongst their assigned "amazing team".

Another notable panelist was Terry Wragg, who showed us the work on Give Us a Smile which was in partnership with Leeds Animation Workshop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81z4A1g2T6Q .
I loved this piece of work, it was another healthy reminder that animation can be a platform for dicussing topics that are considered 'taboo'. In retrospective I can now see that this may have influenced an initial idea that I had for the module 'Make 'em Laugh' which dealt with the every day sexisms that women encounter. 

M.A.F / Studio AKA

Manchester Animation Festival: 

Masterclass: Studio AKA

 

Studio AKA showreel:https://vimeo.com/204385299  

This was one of the most memorable panels of the trip for me, I thought that I wasn't aware of the Studio prior to the panel but I soon discovered that I am very familiar with a lot of their work. Studio AKA are multi-BAFTA winning, Emmy awarded and Oscar- nominated; yet you could not link all their extensive pieces of work back to the studio and I think this is indicative of their work ethic. The talk was led by AKA partner and director Philip Hunt, who talked about the fact that the Studio do not maintain a house style, and as he mentioned with a somewhat dry but amusing humour, they take commissions wholeheartedly without prejudice often to fund their personal projects. This results in an awe inspiring range of work, all showing character and narrative, flexibility and adaptability, undeniable talent in a way to approach any brief. Hunt also enlightened us that in every Lloyds TSB advert, one of the head animators made it their mission to include a trainspotter, which can be seen in the montage below:

Trainspotter Spotting: https://vimeo.com/75868029

M.A.F / Shorts and Student Shorts

Manchester Animation Festival: Shorts and Students Shorts

This week we had the joy of attending Manchester Animation Festival where we were able to watch a multitude of Shorts, Short Shorts and Student Films. Amongst many that I enjoyed, the films below particularly stood out to me.
(As well as Mr Madila by Rory Waudby-Tolley (which I have already written about on my Studio Practice blog) and Perched by Liam Harris.

Jonas and the Sea by Marlies van der Wel was a beautiful watch for me, I instantly fell in love with the decision of combining cut outs and 2D animation, I found the style very reminiscent of a children's illustrated story book which served to enforce the hopeful, youthful energy of the character and narrative. We follow a man on a pursuit for his dream, a place to call home. He must face trials and tribulations but his perseverance just allows us to love his character even more.

https://vimeo.com/139247915 

The Wrong End of the Stick by Terri Matthews is a film that we watched by the National Film and Television School and it's safe to say it is one that will be at the forefront of our M.A.F memories. Something so refreshing about Student Films is that they don't have anything to lose and you can sense a real creative freedom, which is why I think we were all taken aback by the subject matter of this animation. It was such an interesting watch to have the characters rotascoped and the backgrounds being real, I think it was a perfect way to approach this story with a dry (and somewhat uncomfortable) humour. A lot of the more risque shots definitely would've lost their comedic charm if they had been live action.

https://vimeo.com/178512561

Previous to attending the festival I had seen work from Ainslie Henderson, such as the music video Moving On and have been in awe of his ability to create such character and emotion with mixed media. I thoroughly enjoyed the viewing of his animation Stems, it starts as a documentary style of filming where we learn about the making of stop motion models and flawlessly transitions to seeing the characters sprout to life. We watch their life cycle flash past so quickly in an inspiringly creative way.

https://vimeo.com/131547587