The Flip Animation Festival brings three days of animational loveliness to the Light House in Wolverhampton, starting on 5 November (although the launch will be at Millennium Point in Birmingham).

There’s a fair amount being packed in – portfolio reviews, screenings of shorts and student films and workshops on game design and scriptwriting. Greg McLeod, from the Brothers McLeod will be animator-in-residence on the Friday, allowing all and sundry to watch him working. In fact, borrowed from the newsletter, here’s a summary of what’s on (follow the links for detail):

Thurs 5 Nov

• Scriptwriting for Animation Workshop
• Games Design Workshop
• Big Screen Gaming
• Get Involved with First Light
• Festival Launch: Animation in the West Midlands: A Snapshot

Fri 6 Nov

• Open Shorts
• Looking at Sound: Hearing Animation
• Studio Spotlight: Axis Animation
• Portfolio Reviews
• Coraline (PG)

Sat 7 Nov

• Open Shorts
• Family Animation Day
• Personal Views: The Brothers McLeod
• Studio Spotlight: ArthurCox Studios
• Flip Animation Challenge
• Student Screening and Awards Ceremony
• Flip Closing Party

Tickets are now on sale via the Light House box office (01902 716055) or on the Flip Animation Festival website.

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Some brilliant experimental musicians have provided tracks which animators can download for free. The animators need to use the tracks as a starting point to create music videos which can be submitted to the challenge Vimeo group. The best and brightest offerings will then be screened at a special event in Wolverhampton’s Light House Cinema on 21st July.

The bands supplying tunes are Pram (Domino Records), Epic 45 (Make Mine Music), Laurel Collective and Beat To Paris.

To enter:

1. Download one or more of the tracks.
2. Create an animated music video for the track(s) of your choice.
3. Upload the finished video(s) to The Great Animation Challenge Vimeo Group anytime before the 6th July deadline.
4. Contact david.luke.allen@bcu.ac.uk with your full name, email address, phone number and the title of your short.
5. The animators behind the best shorts will then be contacted in July for a screening copy of the piece.

The contest is open to animators across the UK at all levels (entries by studios are welcome) and the winner of the best short will receive a subscription to Imagine Magazine and a copy of  The Imagine Animation Directory at the Light House screenings on 21st July 2009.

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As with previous ‘…on Walls’ events this will be your chance to screen your animated shorts and chat with fellow animators. Entry to the event is free, and all Animation Forum WM members are encouraged to make submissions. To attend simply RSVP by email to info@animationforumwm.co.uk.

To submit work email Dave Allen on the above email who will give you all the details.

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The short had it’s first screening at a 7 Inch Cinema event back in September. Ian gave some context to the film:

Codswallop is based on a series of postcards Greg McLeod sent to his son, and it’s similar in atmosphere to their Spamland shorts. Some nice mucking about with splitscreen and stereo sound too, so we’ll have to make sure we don’t get our left and right mixed up.

Also, Ian Ravenscroft interviewed Greg McLeod for 4Talent and they discussed Codswallop.

If you want to see the short for yourself, go along to The Victoria on 14 March for the next Animation Forum WM event, Shorts on Walls (always recommended), taking place as part of the Flatpack Festival.

Here’s the film’s trailer:

It’s a heck of an achievement, so all the best to the Brothers on the night (8 Feb).

(Via Louis from Dice Productions)

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Now the trailer for their new piece ‘All Consuming Love (Man In a Cat)’ has been featured on the global YouTube homepage. That’s pretty impressive stuff – the online video equivalent of being hit by lightning twice, so congrats to them.

Here’s the featured trailer:

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The Flip Animation Festival (6-8 November at Light House, Wolverhampton) has been assembling a rather tasty line-up over the past little while, as documented on their nicely informative blog.

Highlights include:

A retrospective of work from Osbert Parker, best know for his cut out animation style mixed with live action; BAFTA & Screen WM Presents: Ninja Theory, the game developers behind the stunning Heavenly Sword and Kung Fu Chaos; Sita Sings the Blues, a screening of this modern classic and Indian epic; a day of Doctor Who animation treats and a real Dalek fleet will invade Light House!

The line-up is up on the Flip Festival website and tickets are available at very reasonable prices.

It’s competition time!

However, if you’d rather swipe a ticket for free then here’s your chance.  There are two available, to be given separately (ie not as a pair) so there’ll be two winners.

All you have to do is leave a comment claiming your ticket, first two claimants will win.  Rules are as before (except for the first one) and please use a proper email address so I can get in touch.

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The Brothers McLeod were commissioned to make some short animations for 4mations, two of which are now up with the third to follow on 7 October.

The show follows the escapades of a Dogg whose enthusiasm outweighs his intelligence. In the three short episodes Dogg must find new ways to chase cars, clear up his mess and retrieve some stolen sausages.

I was going to embed them for you to watch but that feature on the 4mations site doesn’t seem to be working.  No matter, here are some links:

• Episode 1
• Episode 2

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I really do recommend these.  Shorts On Walls and Ads On Walls were great, even for someone like me who never got past using the corners of school exercise books as flipbooks.  These screenings are just like a trip to the cinema.  Only free.  And they serve drinks.  The work screened is consistently excellent too.

Of course if you are an animator then it’s a good chance to meet like-minded souls.

If you’d like to go down then RSVP (check the site) to let them know you’re going.

If you’d like to submit work then read this:

Submissions for Grad’s on Walls can include short films, music videos, experimental and commercial pieces. The only requirement for submissions is that animator should either be currently based within the West Midlands, or have graduated from a University within the region. Good quality student work will also be considered for screenings.

then go to the AFWM site for details of where to send a DVD of your work.

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and so the beginning of our benevolent colonial rule of Birmingham began

A passing mention on 7 Inch Cinema’s latest blog post (they’re just back from Tilda Swinton’s Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams) led me to this – an episode of Rex The Runt where Rex wins the city of Birmingham:

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Digitoons Talks

• 2 Sept @ The Theatre, Custard Factory with Tobias Fouracre (Tandem Films) and Chris Randall (Second Home Productions)
• 3 Sept @ The Herbert, Coventry with Greg & Myles McLeod (The Brothers McLeod) and someone from Cosgrove Hall Films (TBC)
  
• 4 Sept @ Light House, Wolverhampton with Helene Friren (Tandem Films) and Richard Hayes (Cosgrove Hall Films)

All talks last from 6.30 to 8pm with nibbles until 9pm.  They’re all free too but places are limited to you’ll need to book – call 0121 753 7700 or email kate@hi8us.co.uk for that.

Digitoons Masterclasses

In addition to the talks:

The Brothers McLeod, will give six budding animators the opportunity to take part in five masterclasses to enable them to create their own one-minute animations. The finished product will be screened alongside renowned industry professionals at Millenium Point, as part of Hello Digital.

The classes will take place weekly between 16 Sept and 7 Oct 2008.  To apply for that call 0121 753 7700 or email kate@hi8us.co.uk.

For more info on the talks and masterclasses see the DigiToons eflyer.

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I mentioned Winnie O’Brien back in May thanks to a tip off from Supercool but bemoaned a lack of information.  I’m pleased to say Winnie’s website is now up and running, from which we learn that she produces animation, design and illustration for an impressive, international client list.  What’s more:

Her work has received many awards including a Broadcast Designers Association Silver Award and an Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Design and Animation

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They also mention that they’re working on a couple of feature films in preference to companies from London, although details of the projects can’t be divulged just now.

So yes, that’s all well and good.  However my favourite thing on their blog is a short entry for a computer animation competition – you can read about the background to it on the blog and watch it here:

Robotochan_15s (HD) by EESB

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The Flip Animation Festival is on from 6-8 November (Thurs to Sat) at the Light House in Wolverhampton.

This year the festival will feature the C-Games Conference, a Drawing in the Digital Age symposium, an afternoon of animated Doctor Who and various screenings, talks and so on.

The website’s just coming together but the peeps at the Light House are running The Flip Blog and have put up a few quite charming items already.

For the animators out there, the last date for submissions is 8 August, so get your skates on if you’re planning to send something in.  Here’s how to submit to Flip 08.

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Many Forum members often don’t realise how many animation studios and companies there are dotted around the region, and part of the ‘big idea’ behind Ad’s on Walls, is to introduce animators to what’s actually going on, on their doorstep.

The Shorts On Walls event that AFWM ran a few months back was well worth going to (even for a non-animator like myself) and this one seems to be following a similar format.

If you’d like to go along then entry is free but you’ll need to RSVP to david.luke.allen@bcu.ac.uk or call 0121 204 9886.

If you’d like your work to be screened at the event then submissions are open – get in touch on the above details to find out where to send a DVD of your work.

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Also on that page is the evening’s screening schedule with links to the animators’ profiles. I understand they were trying their best to accept last minute submissions meaning giving out a running order on the night wasn’t possible, so it’s good to see it here.

It also helps me to pick out the films that I particularly enjoyed and give them an extra plug here.

First up, ‘Don’t Touch’ by Louis Hudson from Dice Productions.

The Nickolodeon-style anarchy of Pedro & Frankensheep from the Brothers McLeod was great and has apparently been picked up by CBBC.

A name that cropped up again and again was Natalie Ann Hinchley. She has a credit on Pedro & Frankensheep, her Second Home Productions outfit produced the jaw-dropping ‘The Animal Book’ (only the trailer here but it’s still a treat)

and, although I can’t find a video to embed, go and check out the Light House commissioned ‘Onions’ on Natalie’s website – animated bunnies are always a winner.

I’m at risk of just listing everyone here so I’ll finish with a few quick mentions:

• Although less polished, the video for Nyoto Ndogo’s track Dunia (remix) has a good energy about it and I like the song (presented by Andrew Burchell).
• ‘What If’ by Mat Parker’s Short Animations 4 Education was uncomfortable viewing for the right reasons (trailer only on the site).
• Steven Spencer describes ‘My Brown Friend‘ as a “dark exploration of addiction” which it is.
• Finally, the YouTube embedding has been disabled but I’ll forgive that (just about) to mention ex-BCU MA student Guillaume Weiss’s ‘4:51‘ which I thought was just incredible.

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Whether or not you actually make short films, Shorts on Walls is a great chance for animators to meet and network after work with other freelancers, animation companies and professionals over a mid-week beverage.

It’s free to attend but please let them know if you’ll be going down. There are contact details and more info on the Animation Forum West Midlands website.

Incidentally, props to AFWM for showing how this web promotion lark should be done – the news page of their site has an RSS feed and features a map of the venue. There’s also a Facebook group (with a list of participating animators/studios) to join as well as a newly-minted YouTube group.

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Here’s their Animation Forum profile which is where I heard about it (though I think I saw a preview on another blog a while back).

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Louis Hudson’s animation Don’t Touch is currently in the lead on the Clipstar Animation chart. If it stays there for 72 more days he’ll win a load of money. via Animation Forum

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This is an excellent opportunity for Animation Forum members to voice their opinions on the skills needs of the regions’ animation sector, as well as discover the business support available. The Animation Group at this event will be chaired by an Animation Forum representative; Peter McLuskie of Light House.

Details here.

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More info at the Animation Forum.

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Animation Forum has a new website with a members area for people to upload their work to and connect with others in the area. Interestingly they’re also using a Facebook group for discussions which is a sensible move – using a service that already exists and most people are already on.

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This panel discussion will look at the impact of new and emerging online platforms and tools and will ask what the opportunities are for animators and filmmakers and can online distribution and exhibition lead to professional commissions? The panel comprises an exiting line up of animators who have had a significant impact online and who mix this ‘amateur’ work with professional commissions: Greg McLeod, from the Brother’s McLeod who are responsible for the recent Skittles ad campaign and whose ‘Spamland’ has received nearly 1m views on You Tube; Lasse Gjertson, whose films have had a huge impact on You Tube, particularly ‘Amateur which has received more than 6m views and 6 honours, including most viewed all time; Katy Davis, who has been shortlisted for the MyMovie Mashup competition and has been a feature profile on MySpace and produced the award winning short animation, Gone Fishing. The panel will also include Ana Kronschnabl: author of Plug in Turn on: A Guide to Internet Filmmaking and is the founder of plugincinema.com. The panel will be chaired by Kate Taylor who has worked in short film distribution and exhibition since 1998 and has been involved in a number of leading festivals and agencies, including Kinofilm, onedotzero, British Council and is co-founder of the London Short Film Festival.

While this has the potential to be full of people who don’t know anything spouting off about “user generated content” and coming up with strategies to make the wonderful mess of YouTube into something resembling the old ways (sorry, I get carried away) I have a feeling this will be rather more interesting and useful than that, mainly because of the appearance of Lasse Gjertson who does stuff like this:

There is, of course, loads more going on over the three days of the festival. Check the site for details or pick up a program about the place.

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The launch was introduced by Dave Harte of Digital Central with a few of his obligatory stats (apparently the West Mids has 30% more startups in film, tv and animation than anywhere else in the country – [Update: see comments for Dave's clarification of this]) followed by 20 minutes of screenings in including the Animation Forum’s showreel. Since this was included in the goodybag on DVD I’ve ripped it and uploaded it to YouTube. It seemed the right thing to do.

There was also a showing of Natalie Hinchley and Chris Randall’s The Animal Book, previously blogged here and I’m happy to say it’s as glorious as you’d hope. Good work chaps.

After the screening was a Q&A hosted by Sara Harris from Animation Forum with David Ledsam from Screen Burn, Chris Randall from Second Home, Peter McClusky from Light House, Alan Batson from Friends and Heroes and Dan Lawson from Screen WM.

I made notes. Here they are.

Regarding the importance of a real world festival in the age of online distribution and promotion through YouTube the panel said an event was important, primarily for the animators as a networking opportunity and a chance to get out of dark studios and away from computer screens. Alongside this was a chance to meet the next generation face to face through student competitions and graduate showings.

There the fact that it was curated was also appreciated, putting specific works in the formal context of a cinema rather bubbling through the morass online.

For the local scene it was good to have a landmark event in the year giving some cohesion and promotion for the regional industry on an international level.

It was nice to hear that University graduates are concentrating more on storytelling these days whereas previously technique would have been dominant, implying students are more at home with the technology these days.

A question about where the large animation studios were was answered by David Ledsam saying that there used to be bigger companies in the past but they suffered from not having consistent workloads. These have been replaced with smaller outfits who are able to survive through the droughts and expand when work appears. There’s also an international aspect with Friends and Heroes specifically spread across the globe having animators in Korea and writers in LA. While they have a 3D studio in Birmingham it’s only a part of their business.

I made a note of The Character Shop, based in the Jewellery Quarter, but I’m not sure in what context. Worth linking to them though.

There were a few mentions of the Animation Forum which is primarily a networking organization providing opportunities for local animators to get together and share information. The next event of theirs is Animation in the YouTube Generation on November 2nd which, tying things up nicely, is part of the Flip Festival.

Also in the goodybag was a USB dongle which, cleverly, was loaded with high-res images from the animations on show. If you’re blogging about the festival you might find them useful so here’s a 10mb zip of them.

As it’s still a few weeks away I’ll be posting more about Flip nearer the time but you can follow their blog for updates. It does, unfortunately, clash with Gigbeth but most of the events are during they day so it’s possible to do both. Which I intend to.

The event then finished and we had food. Which was handy as I was hungry. Pretty good spread all told.

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The Cure Zone is:

An exhibition by a group of international visual communicators. Fusing ideas of European, Asian, North and South American students discovering their individuality through their studies at UCE’s BIAD. [...] A mix of diverse influences, oozing concepts articulated in photography, animation, moving image, illustration, graphic design, scenography, visual identity and branding.

The private view is on October 1st from 6-11pm and the exhibition runs from the 2nd to the 5th from 11am-8pm.

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Animation Forum has the first of a substantial two part interview with Natalie Hinchley and Chris Randall of Second Home Studios, a traditional animation house based in Digbeth whose first short, The Animal Book, went to Cannes this year.

If you had to sell the Animal Book to someone in a minute, what would you say?

CR: In the way it was made, as far as I can remember, I don’t think there has been either a studio or a film of this scale or ambition that has been produced here before. That may sound like I’m blowing our own trumpet a bit, but I can’t honestly remember a studio that’s had the experience or the willingness, or I suppose ‘passion’ is a better word because we love doing it, to actually do large scale stop motion animation. So that’s why The Animal Book came about, and the reason for The Animal Book was that we wanted to do something that wasn’t just animation for the sake of it, there was a story behind it, a tale to tell, and I suppose the pitch for the story is it’s about going to where you belong, finding a better life.

NH: Yeah, simple pitch: it’s about two sisters who maintain the giant machine that they live in, until one day a mysterious book appears. And from that point, they have really crazy adventures, things happen and they end up discovering some place that they really belong in.

Read on…

Their impressive showreel can be found on their site and the trailer and stills the Animal Book are here.

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Flip is an eclectic mix of all things animation. Based in the heart of the Midlands the festival provides a wide range of experiences from educational workshops for young people to experimental animation for grown ups; from industry led panels to feature film screenings and from international showcases and retrospectives of short films to spotlights on animation companies.

You can get a taste of what the festvial was like last year on this archived site an do the social network thang on their MySpace. The festival runs from 1st to 3rd November at Light House in Wolverhampton.

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Youth charity Kikass are seeking creative submissions (virals/short film clips/animations) for What Would You Do For A Pound, over the next month, offering the best entrant contacts and work experience with top creative agencies (as well as over £2,000 of stuff like a Nintendo Wii, i-Pod Video Premiership tickets and career coaching). We’re looking for young creatives age 16-25 with the talent to produce a creative/foxy/inspiring clip on the theme of money/debt/financial challenges. And it’s for a good cause, too – part of a charity campaign to help 16-25 year olds get out of debt and avoid being the victims of predatory banks and companies. Kikass works with people and brands like Channel 4, Virgin, Levi’s and O2 and are always up for promoting new talent.

Do you know of any young creatives or students who are looking for exposure and additions to their portfolio, who might be interested?

They’re specifically targeting Birmingham at the moment so if you’re young and interested, or know someone who might be, contact Jo Worsley at Jo@kikass.tv or 020 7729 0092.

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Flip is an eclectic mix of all things animation. Based in the heart of the Midlands the festival provides a wide range of experiences from educational workshops for young people to experimental animation for grown ups; from industry led panels to feature film screenings and from international showcases and retrospectives of short films to spotlights on animation companies.

They’re currently open to submissions from animators until August 3rd. More details can be found in This document (Word) or by contacting Angela Slater at Light House on 01902 716055 / flip@light-house.co.uk.

via Creative Wolverhampton

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