Bristol Animate Encounters Day 3 & 4:

Networking Breakfast

After the joy of last night Myself, Tommy and Gareth got up nice and early and went over to a filmmaker’s breakfast networking event. We sat down at a table and many different people went around the room and came over to talk to use. We got to the meet and chat to some very interesting people, some were fellow animation students, resent university graduates and the film and animation advisers from the British Council. I learnt a lot from these people and found out some interesting ways to help you get finding for animation and short film ideas. These are something I will most defiantly be keeping in mind for when I leve university next year. 

The Lighter side

This is the last of the short animation screenings, and this one felt much more like a bigger mix of short and longer studio animated shorts. I had seen some of these shorts screened on TV over last year and it was fantastic to see them on the big screen were every detail looked amazing. My highlights from this screening were: Much Better Now, Phone Home, Pythagasaurus, Stopover, A Different Perspective, Chop Chop and The Gruffalo’s Child.

Nexus Studio Focus

Nexus Productions are an independent production company and animation studio based in London check them out here! This one was grate a mix of a show and tell presentation with the screenings, 4 people from the studio sat there speaking about the company; they would show a short then talk about the making of that short. This was a very different way to screen the shorts and I have to say I really enjoyed it, this is exactly how in my eyes the 2 Aardman screening should have been like. My highlights from this screening were: Back to the Start, Invade all of the Humans!!!, The Chase, Speed of Light and This Way Up. But if I was to pick one it would have to be Invade all of the Humans!! Hands down! 

Trip to the Aardman Lobby

After the last screening Tommy and myself decided to go for a little walk around Bristol and hopefully find The Aardman animations Studio. To cut the tale short we ended up finding the studio, and after about 5 minutes standing outside saying should we or should we not ring the bell, we rang bell. 

 The very nice chap behind the desk let us in and very kindly let us have a look around the amazing props, Puppets, sets and life size Wallace they have on display in the Lobby. To say that this was an amazing and very overwhelming felling to be standing in the middle of Aardman is a big understatement. One day it would be fantastic to get any form of Work experience there, or even the full on tour would keep me happy, but until then I have got theses pitchers to remind me of just how amazing it was.

Late Lounge

Still buzzing from are trip to Aardman we then mad are way over the Late Lounge. This screening was a mix of live action and animated shorts that are a little to adult themed to show in the day screenings. There were some that were very funny and some that were a tad disturbing, but the quality of shorts was fantastic. My highlights from this screening were: Tram, The Bob shorts, Curiosity Kills and Umshini Wam (Bring Me My Machine Gum)

Day 4:

Aardman Kids Animation Workshop

This was my last day in Bristol and a brilliant way to end it was to go to a build your own Gromit work shop with the very awesome Aardman model maker Jim Parkyn. Although me and Tommy were some of the oldest in the room this was a cracking work shop that lasted just over an hour. Using a sheet of basic shapes we used these to build are very own Gromit, and I have to say I was very happy with the way mine came out. And thank you Jim for letting me keep the modelling tool with the Aardman logo on it I will use it with pride!  

Once the workshop was over we stayed back and had a very nice chat with Jim about most things animation, I then handed him one of my cards and a Viv & Mandy badges. Once out of the workshop Tommy and I said a jolly good bye, parted ways and i got the train back to Sunny Stoke. 

Now I am back into the full swing of university life I can say that all in all this festival has been one hell of an amazing experience and I’d like to say a massive thank you to all the truly amazing people that I got to meet, chat to and spend time with. I very much hope that I can make it over to the festival again next year, so until then buy buy Bristol! 

Bristol Animate Encounters Day 1

On the 18^th of September I was getting ready for a 4 day trip down to Bristol for the Animated Encounters festival. This was my third year going down to this festival but the first time that I’ll be going down on my own. This gave me the perfect chance to catch up with as many of the online stop motion twitter gang as I could, as well as some old friends who left university my first year. 

I also wanted to make something that I could hand out to people as a gift and so that the people I know online would recognise me and come say hello. I came up with the idea of making some badges 28 to hand out and 2 different designs for me to wear.

Day 1:

After leaving my house at 6am been stuck on the train tracks for over an hour I finally arrived at Bristol for 10am after getting my tickets for the day’s events I had a look around the lobby of the festival and unlike previous years they have models sets and props on display. They also had some live animation going on.

 The creator of Angry Kid Darren Walsh was animating a new Bob episode. Like angry kid this was shot using a real person wearing a helmet were the front face can be replaced with a number of different masks to create lip sync while the actor has to stay very still and get moved like a puppet. This was fascinating to watch and amazing to see it all come to life over the 4 days.

 After I looked around I got to meet up with a stop motion twitter friend and hostel room buddy Gareth Hurst. We got are passes, programs and headed over to the next screening. 

The Trials of Life

This was the second set of animations to be screened at the festival as I missed the first one thanks to the train delays. All the animations in this set were all loosely themed around the everyday lives of people and have some very hart felt emotional shorts. My highlights from this screening were: Head Over Heels, De riz ou d’Armenie, I Am Tom Moody, To the Heart of The Matter and Being Bradford Dillman

Aardman: Early Years Claymation

This was the first of 3 Aardman themed events of the day. This one focused just on the very early Claymation work of the studio. All the shorts shown in the screening are available on the Aardman classic DVD. However it was brilliant to see them on the big screen and see all the small details, With an introduction by Aardman cofounder Peter Lord  My highlights from this screening were: Next, Pib and Pog, My Baby Just Cares for Me, Adam, Loves Me … Loves Me Not, Early Bird and Not Without My Handbag.

Aardman: From Pigs to Pirates

This was the second set of the 3 Aardman events.  Like the last screening this was showing allot of the shorts that can be seen on the Aardman classics DVD. However this time they played the most recent CGI, Stop Motion and 2D shorts. It was brilliant to see a lot of these short on the big screen and there were some that i had not seen yet, as they were made after the Classics DVD. My highlights from this screening were: Stage Fright, Humdrum, Angry Kid, Fly, So You Want to Be A Pirate?, Len’s Lens and Blind Date. 

Aardman: In Conversation 

This was the third Aardman themed event of the day. Unlike the last to this was not a screening but an interview with the 3 company directors Peter Lord, David Sproxton, and the creator of Wallace & Gromit Nick Park. I have meat David and Peter before a number of times and they are very open and friendly chaps but I was most excited to see Nick Park as he hardly dose talks of this size. Although most of the stories they were telling I have heard before from books, interviews and DVD extras there was something about hearing them from the people themselves in-person that was just unbeatable. I could of listen to them tell stories all day but sadly it came to an end. When it did the 3 of them got mobbed by the fans, myself, Tommy and Gareth stood back and waited for them to be less busy.

I first got to speak to peter, were I shook his hand told him thank you for doing the talk and was great to see him again. I gave him my card and he said “I think I seen these before?” then when I gave him a Viv & Mandy badge he said “ah now yes I have seen these two before! I hope you’re doing more?” well as u can guess I felt like I was going to pass out with joy when he said he knew and remembered my work. Peter then did me this little singed drawing of Morph on my festival program, that I will be getting framed very soon. 

I then moved over to Nick Park and got to shake his hand and have a very small chat with him, I was trying not to focus too much on W&G as I did not want to boar him with just how much of a fan I am! I gave him a card and badge told him a little bit about Viv & Mandy and that he may have seem them before as I post them on the Wallace & Gromit creations site. 

He took a good look at card and said “oh thank you I will take a look over your work” he them looked at the badge and said “yes I think I may have seem them before I like their faces…very funny” well once again you can bet that i felt like I was going to freak out when Nick Park says he think Viv & Mandy are funny!  Be for I said anything daft I shook his hand and said a good night and thank you 

Here is a photo of me, Tommy and the man himself Nick Park!!

Me and Gareth when back over to Peter and we evented him to come to the after show drinks with us. To are shock he said yes and we got to have a 30 minuet chat and walk to pub with peter lord, in that time we got to hear some interesting stories and news that I can’t go into on here sadly. When we got to the pub Peter then got in a round of drinks and went to around pub chatting away. Me and Gareth stayed till bar shut and said a hearty good night to Peter and friends and made are way back to the hostel.

What a night I will never forget!!!