Will Becher

This next talk was one of my favourite talks, it was titles 'Will Becher Master-class' where Will talked us through the processes and workflows of Aardman Studios when working on titles such as Shaun the Sheep.

Will started as a trainee assistant on curse of the ware rabbit at Aardman studios. He became a lead animator on Pirates in an adventure with scientists.#

He started animating as a hobby with a video camera. After lots of letters sent to Aardman enquiring about working for them he finally got hired!

"The beauty of stop motion animation is that its all organic - you are creating something new each time you take a frame."

He went on to describe the development and pipeline of animations that Aardman take on. It starts with a script (this was hard during Shaun the sheep due to the absence of dialogue). then the storyboard is created using cintiques to achieve a more accurate digital visual representation. then onto the animatic which Will described as being in the form of a blue print for the whole film. going shot by shot to find out exactly what models need making for example, the animatic always has audio included.

Creating the world

The scale for Aardmans animations is what Will describes as 'bespoke' so they couldn't find props that are already built so everything is made by hand, this relates to my research as one of the differences between stop-motion and CGI, if Aardman have to create every element of the animations by hand this is going to bump up the man hours and cost of materials, not to mention the cost of those man hours. where as CGI has unlimited supply of materials due to it all being virtual and all the space required in the virtual world. the only similarity is the man hours that will be required to produce either physical or virtual assets. It also took longer to produce my own stop-motion set due to drying times of adhesive and paint where its instantaneous with CGI.

The actual sets for Aardman films were described as being very large resembling live action film sets! this also goes back to my statement about the restrictions of stop-motion animation, these large sets need to be stored somewhere and this costs money where as CGI sets are all housed in one ore several computers which only take up storage space which in relation is a lot cheaper to maintain when needing extra storage space.

One thing Will Becher described was very beneficial to me as I love creating sets and am always looking for new ways to achieve different aesthetics, one aspect I have always been a little wary about was grass, I only use static grass which only really works for very small scale models. Will Becher described the method they used, they got brown teddy bear felt and painted it green which gave an outstandingly realistic effect. but there was one down side that was noticed and that was the unwanted adjustment of the texture by the animator between frames when animating, this creates a distracting twitch in the scenery.

After the sets are created along with all the handmade assets, the characters then start being produced. this starts with plasticine sculpts followed by individual armatures. a fibre glass mould is then created to surround the sculpt, this is then filled with a mould material to produce the master mould. Anything with lots of detail is made out of a hard material to avoid manipulating all of the small details in the animation process, which again isn't an issue with CGI animation, everything else is then made using plasticine.

Into the studio

One of the most difficult things, he went on to say, was animating a puppet walking. This relates to my project as it is definitely one of the hardest things I have come across to animate with CGI rigs due to the constrictions and parenting that happens making it a very careful process.

He stated that 3 seconds of animation took about a week as opposed to the traditional 3 seconds a day due to the number of characters they had in Shaun the sheep making it very time consuming for the animator.

One thing that doesn't differ between CGI and stop motion is the requirement of referencing. for example I have performed my whole storyboard for extended practice to gather the right reference, this is exactly what they did with Shaun the sheep, a group of animators would always be performing in front of a camera to get the right reference. 

"If an animator is working on a shot - its best to start on the right foot."

It was very informative this talk was due to the description of all the set building and techniques they used contributing to my love for hand building and crafting sets, but I could also relate it to my pursuit of CGI animation as there are a lot of similarities in difficulties such as walk cycles being difficult in both techniques despite the very different process./

Brian Cosgrove

The next talk was held by the renowned founder of cosgrove hall which shaped animation and TV, Brian Cosgrove.

He started from the beginning, his animation the Magic Ball. He went ion to say how things were very simple back in the early days of his career, there were very simple graphic designers with no cameras or anything technical. He introduced rostrum cameras to make things richer. His first pilot animation had to be made after the training Brian did all by himself, the only thing Brain didn't do was the backgrounds, which were done by Mark his colleague at the time, but everything else was done by Brian which was a very big feet.

He stressed the importance of a good voice over, which is totally understandable as it could make or break the immersion of the animation.

Brian didn't want to keep creating new characters as children like repetition, so he used the same characters in each show despite the era of television that he was in. This goes back to the decisions when choosing a demographic for animations, you have to know their interests and appeals.

After the Magic Ball, cosgrove hall started developing for temps. Art students started applying and being hired. Due to their artistic background being fine art none of them knew how to animate so the first project that included these temps were the wheelies which were just heads on wheels to make things a bit easier for training purposes.

But as the techniques started to become learnt by the new recruits the models started to get more complex, for example the pide piper was the first animation where the models started "flexing their muscles" with the increased complexity.

"It was a unique period and we dropped into place."

The development of the stop motion puppets got more sought after which cause Mr Saunders to become quite the perfectionist, this sprouted the company Makinnon and Saunders, due to wires poking out of some of the puppets. this made Mr Saunders develop the ball and socket joints that would in turn introduce a highly intricate armature that would serve the right purposes with efficiency and professionalism.

The talk was a great insight into the history of animation in TV, not really relevant to my practice but it did tell me a lot about the development of techniques and processes that were crucial to the development of animation, especially in such a short period of time considering the lack of knowledge due to it being very early in the era of animation.

Tom Moore

My First talk was from Mr Tomm Moore, an Irish born illustrator who co-founded the animation company known as Cartoon Saloon. This talk was based around the creation of a film he directed called Song of the Sea. But also a brief history of his career.

His ability to co-found the animation was due to the boom in animation in Dublin in 1999. Cartoon Saloon put itself on the map with its first animated feature called Secret of the Kells which was in development from 1999 to 2009.

"Creating a film is like chain smoking - you have to have the next on ready before finishing the one you are on."

Most of the team had worked together before so the connections were already made so the creation process wasn't slow to start due to the new finding of friendships and connections.

co-production was his secret to making independent films. There was not one big co-producer that told Tomm what to do.

The financing of his animation projects was labelled as 'franken-finance' where small portions of financing from different people or companies were combined to finance the whole project.

The creation itself of this very appealing form of animation starts with water colour doodles and sketches, and with the inclusion of Photoshop to animate they wanted to still keep the very tangible, hand made aesthetic that made their animations look the way they do, so they used hand crafted textures and lines to achieve this look digitally.

One thing that Tomm wanted to do was to write the whole script by storyboarding it all, but this became too difficult as he started to burn himself out with the amount of work this was for him. This also helped him realise that the script was way too long!

When creating the characters, a whole group would keep drawing the same character in different poses and expressions and when there is an interesting pose or emotion they would then create a character sheet to bring it to life.

The one thing I learnt from this talk was the future of 2D animation. Tomm seemed to think that digital 2D animation was the future and I very much agree with him for these points: There is no smudging of lines or paint, and there are easy ways to get hand drawn textures and lines into the digital process so it would look exactly the same. Also it is easier to achieve tighter in-betweens and effects with digital 2D animation.

Manchester Animation Festival

During the start of the year we had the chance to attend the new animation festival held in Manchester. Due to the closure of Bradford animation festival, which was so dear to our hearts, we still required a way to network and see what great new creations were arising in the animation world. This is why we felt like we couldn't miss this opportunity!

CV Writing Workshop

Being as though my knowledge on how to craft an appropriate CV has been quite limited due to the fact I never had to write one to achieve my previous jobs it was a fairly important workshop that I attended which just set the guidelines of what to include in a CV, this would help me greatly as I could confidently create a CV without worrying whether the content is appropriate or not. So here are the guidelines that were set to help me create my CV

Name and Contact details and how I want to be known 

Living Address

Email      Mobile number  

Split with hyphens to make easier to read 0000-000-000

Personal Profile:

150 or so words that identify what you want , contain: Aims, ambitions and experience.

Skills

Experience:

Employer      Role       Date

Mention clean driving licence

Education:

Degree

Diploma

Hobbies and Interests

References

Another important aspect of the applying process is the inclusion of a cover letter, this is a personalised letter relating to the specific job that I am applying for.

The cover letter should be a short letter introducing yourself, stating why I want to work with them.

Keeping it short - 3 paragraphs 

Explain what I want to do or what I am applying for

Butter them up - Show interest in the company

Be enthusiastic - But not patronising

So with these tips and guidelines I feel quite conformable with the whole process so thought it was time to have a first attempt at my CV.

Elliot Gascoigne

Phone: 07961655306

Email: ElliotGascoigne@hotmail.com

Current Address: 2 Ebor Place, Hyde Park, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS6 1NR

Personal Profile: __________________________________________________________________

                I am a very passionate animator and miniature set designer in the pursuit of my own animation company with a will to be involved in other animation companies to let my skills and abilities of working in a team with a positive but efficient work ethic. I have experience from creating virtual replicas of art galleries to animating in 3D and stop motion animation, but also experience creating sets for various stop motion animations with a drive of perfection that gives my work its sometimes quite unique style.

Qualifications:_____________________________________________________________________

Leeds College of Art, BA(Hons) Animation                          (2013-Present)

Through my time at university I have acquired many skills in different software and techniques that include:

Autodesk Maya both animating and modelling, Photoshop, After Effects, Dragon Frame, Miniature and stop motion set modelling and Photography

Solihull Sixth Form College, BTEC National Diploma in Art and Design (Fine Art)                               (2010-2012)

Through my time at college I learnt the crucial first steps on the road to being an artist where I learnt photography skills all the way to life drawing sessions. I Acquired a DDM (Distinction, Distinction, Merit) .                               

Work Experience:__________________________________________________________________

Datomec Design LTD:                     (2011-Ongoing)

I was responsible to reply to set briefs by art distributor Datomec Design these briefs included: Replicating an art gallery in the town of Solihull in the virtual world using Autodesk Maya where I produced photo-realistic renders of the area including the paintings that were on exhibition there.

Also I created a 3D rendition of the puzzles that the company has on sale to bring more flexibility to the advertisement of the products. Texturing the puzzles with upmost accuracy to make it as photo-realistic as possible.

I usually work for Datomec during the summer periods where I am not at university

Mitchel and Butlers, the Red Lion Knowle                           (2012-2013)

During my time working as a bar tender and food runner I learnt some valuable skills in the service industry such as creating a friendly and welcoming atmosphere whilst helping where I could to create the best experience for the customers.

Hobbies and Interests:________________________________________________________

I am very passionate about creating, whether it is for University, work or even for my own animation projects.

 I enjoy driving and hold a full UK driving license with no points but do not own a car at present

I am very fond of films and my favourites include: Inception, The Lord of The Rings and anything zombie related.

I also enjoy growing vegetables. I like the accomplished feeling of having something large and flourishing that has grown from a seed that I planted.

References:_________________________________________________________________

Mike Smith

Anna Beth Robinson

Mat Clarke

This process has really boosted my confidence in the application process with knowing how to properly formulate my CV, I will acquire some feedback from my tutor to see if I am heading in the right direction.