With the Oscars just round the corner, award season is in full swing. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for Cartoon Saloon’s The Secret of Kells, which wowed us at Annecy last year.
Closer to home, we were delighted with 4mations director Emma Lazenby’s BAFTA success last week with ‘Mother of Many’. Beating stiff competition, her team at Arthur Cox took home the Best Short Animation award for their rich tale of childbirth combining painting on glass, hand drawn and Flash animation with After Effects. And to top it off, producer Sally Arthur gave birth two days later to a baby boy. Many congratulations to both!
Don’t miss the charming interview with a slightly bewildered Emma on the BAFTA website - you’ll even discover the unusual place where she intends to keep her trophy!
February has little to recommend it. It’s grey, cold, and dull. There’s that whole ghastly business of Valentine’s day, with its deformed army of festering hearts and tedious angels. There’s Chinese New Year, which leaves me scanning the streets disconsolately for dragon dancers and illusive suckling pigs.
And then, there’s the British Animation Awards. Every two years, they delight us with a programme of animation screenings to brighten up our darkest hours. From the 8th to the 27th of February, you can catch the Public Choice screenings at a cinema near you, and vote for your favourite from a fantastic range of animated films made over the past few years.
Look out for fresh-out-of-the-oven 4mations films The Moonbird and The Astronomer’s Sun. Then get your sketchpads out, because you only have two years to get your next masterpiece finished before the next awards.
The best and brightest filmmakers descended on Bristol last week for Encounters, a week of shorts, showcases, awards, and dips in the tropical waters. That last bit might be a lie, but congratulations are certainly in order for the talented animators who took away the very desirable 4mations International Newcomer in Animation Award.
Supported by 4mations.tv, Kudlian Software and Canon, the award recognizes originality and technical achievement in animation, and the £2,000 cash prize was won by Rabbit Punch directed by Kristian Andrews. Please Say Something, by David O’Reilly, was rewarded with the Jury’s special commendation.
Didn’t catch the films? Here’s what the Jury had to say about them:
Rabbit Punch
This film combines dramatic story-telling with great designs. It very accurately portrays the secret life of teenagers in a rural British setting, (a theme not often explored in animated shorts), in an economical and effective way. The story and the lead character’s dilemmas feel very real and emotionally engaging and there is a lot of tension and humour in the story-telling. It is technically adept, with excellent framing and composition.
Please Say Something
This deceptively powerful film is a kind of anti-Hello Kitty assault on the senses. Exploring the relationship between a cat and a mouse it uses very sparse and economical character designs in a futuristic setting to tell a cinematic and multi-layered story. It was extremely thought-provoking and ambitious, using fractured narrative, multiple perspectives and bold sound design.
Did you watch the shorts? Tell us what you thought!
There’s nothing better on a cold, dark, rainy day, than spreading a bit of competition joy.
That’s right! We can finally announce the winners of Month 2 of our Toon Boom competition.
Here are the four talented winners who impressed our judges Adam Gee (Channel 4 Commissioning Editor) and Hugo Sands (Managing Director of Passion Pictures)
Smigly by Allen Mezquida
Adam Gee: “Great, snappy script; cinematic feel; fresh visuals; wry satire; tight and to the point - about as much fun as you can get in 1 min 33 secs.” Hugo Sands: “A well-structured story, crisply told, with engaging character animation. ”
Happy Cloud by Ilias Sounas Adam Gee: “A little burst of bouncy, colourful cosmic joy.” Hugo Sands: “A cohesive, coherent and nicely-designed execution of a simple idea.”
Posthaste by Rob Zywietz Adam Gee: “An enjoyable interlude in a pastely water-colour world.” Hugo Sands: “Expressive drawing, skilled animation and finely-honed look make this an effective piece of film-making.”
Three Times by David Gilbert and Maxim Lucas Adam Gee: “Good mix of graphic and photographic, building to a satisfyingly chaotic climax.” Hugo Sands: “This has very pure, while slightly ‘homemade’, aesthetic using a simple-looking technique. But lot of work has gone into this with impressive results.”
Congratulations are also in order for the other 3 shortlisted films:
The 4mations Digital Shorts films are finally nearing the end of their assembly line. It’s been a dark, sweaty, animated summer for many of our Directors.
You’ll remember ‘Slow Joe’ from the interview we featured a few months ago with its directors Steve Boot and Phil Gray. With their Digital Short all wrapped up, they’ve put their zombie pigeon back in their coop and have shared a little highlight of their film with us:
Intrigued? Here’s what Steve had to say about the production…
There’s nothing I like more than being in a dark room with a doll, but then that’s because I’m a stop-motion animator. In fact one of the things that made me want to become a stop-motion animator was watching the old late night “4Mations” series on Channel4 and seeing films such as “The big Story” , Paul Berry’s “The Sandman” and Jeff Newitt’s “Loves me Not” . So I’m proud to have been chosen to be part of this commission. It’s been a brilliant and worthwhile experience and here are some of my highs and lows.
Highs
Being grouped together with some of the most amazingly talented animators from the other regions. It’s been great to look at their blogs, interviews and websites and see their films evolve alongside ours.
The development. It’s an exciting part, so many problems to solve, so many challenges. This is were we got to throw a lot of ideas around and really stretch our imagination.
The filming. I’m happy being in a dark room with a doll for company (have I said that already?), this is the fun part, making it all come to life.
Lows
Being grouped together with some of the most amazingly talented animators from the other regions. Sometimes I just look at their blogs/websites to punish myself, why do they all have to be so talented!? Why isn’t ours as good as theirs?
The development. It’s a stressful part, the film could go off in so many different directions, so many questions to answer, why this? Why that? What if?….. I think my head’s going to explode.
The filming. It’s a lovely summer’s day and I’m in a dark room with a doll, again!
And there’s still time for you to get in on the action! We’re looking for the best animation shorts you can throw at us.* The Month 2 competition is running until midnight on the 9th of September. That’s midnight TONIGHT!
Our big-wig judge will be Hugo Sands, Managing Director of Passion Pictures, one of Europe’s leading independent production companies. Want a chance to show him your work? Our handy submission form only takes 5 seconds to fill in. So what are you waiting for?
We’ve already told you about the dark side of animation. But did you know it can turn you into a snowboarding vampire? No? Then you must get to know Bob Lee, one of our fine 4mations Digital Shorts directors, who’s been sinking his teeth into his short film ‘Tomorrow’…
We have seen, we have heard, and we have adored - that’s right, we can finally announce the winners of the 1st month of our Toon Boom Studio competition!
Without further ado, here are the four talented winners, whose superb animated shorts impressed our big-wig judges Adam Gee (Channel 4 Commissioning Editor) and Nigel Pay (Director of Academy Award winning Tandem Films):
Blip by Sean Mullen and Ben Harper
Adam Gee: “Simple but gorgeous, with shades of Wall-e.”
Nigel Pay: “Charming, well animated story set within a clear visual framework, has all the ingredients a grad film should have as two aliens fight it out to own the planet.”
Good Bye London by Murray John
Adam Gee: “Energetic use of live action which helps capture a particular experience of living in the city.”
Nigel Pay: “Fun, vibrant animation/pixillation pop promo extravaganza, Camden never looked better, and no room for Banksy!”
The Birdwatcher by Ross Phillips
Adam Gee: “Has its own inexorable logic leading to the one blackly humourous ending possible.”
Nigel Pay: “A new take on twittering, but getting blacker by the minute. Another grad film that ticks all the boxes as Birds v. Artist takes a sinister turn.”
Hey by Eatliz Animation
Adam Gee: “A skillfully executed fantastical vision, built around beautiful pastel-toned imagery.”
Nigel Pay: “Technically excellent and well crafted 3D animation in a very filmic short with seamless editing and composition.”
With a wonderfully varied shortlist of a remarkably high standard, congratulations to the other 4 shortlisted directors:
We’ve featured Jon Dunleavy’s work on 4mations before. He’s currently busy working on “Crash Bang Wallow”, a 4mations Digital Shorts production with an 80s twist. In this interview, he talks to us about aliens, action, and punctuation. Punctuation?!?!?
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